Former President Donald Trump celebrated the comments made by a former attorney general this week that singled out Special Counsel Jack Smith and the entire Department of Justice for their role in indicting and prosecuting him.
In an amicus brief that was filed last week, Edwin Meese – who served as attorney general during the Reagan administration – decried the decision made by current Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint Smith as a special counsel to lead multiple criminal investigations into Trump.
The brief was filed by Meese along with Steven Calabresi, the co-chair of the Federalist Society, and Gary Lawson, a professor of constitutional law. They wrote that Smith’s position is in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Appointment Clause.
In their brief, the three wrote:
“Even if one somehow thinks that existing statutes authorize appointment of stand-alone special counsels with the full power of a U.S. Attorney, Smith was not properly appointed to such an ‘office.’”
The point they made in their amicus brief is that even if the attorney general possessed the power to appoint Smith to the role of special counsel, the president would’ve had to nominate him before the Senate confirmed him.
Trump, naturally, agreed with the trio’s sentiments. In a social media post on his Truth Social page, Trump posted a link to an article about the brief, adding the comment:
“Biden’s Flunky, Deranged Jack Smith, should go to HE**. He is helping his Corrupt and Incompetent President to destroy America through Weaponization and ELECTION INTERFERENCE!
“Smith is a Crooked Prosecutor who shouldn’t even be allowed to be in the position he is in–It is Prosecutorial Misconduct. The Great Ed Meese from the Ronald Regan Era has him figured perfectly!”
The brief that Meese and the others wrote was done so to discourage the Supreme Court from taking on any of Smith’s cases. It also implies that every prosecution that’s led by Smith as special counsel needs to be questioned.
Smith’s office is leading to cases against Trump.
The first is an election interference case that’s based in Washington, D.C. The trial for that case is scheduled to begin in March, but could end up being delayed significantly as Trump’s legal team has appealed a decision by lower courts that he is not immune from prosecution in the case.
The Supreme Court recently rejected an effort by Smith to have them take up the question on an expedited basis, which means it’ll have to proceed through the normal process in the court system.
The other case Smith’s team is heading was filed in Miami, Florida. It revolves around Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents that he kept at his residence in Mar-a-Lago following his time in the White House.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in both of those cases, as well as the two other state-level criminal cases that he’s facing in New York and Georgia.
All four of those cases are expected to carry out as Trump runs as the presumptive favorite in the GOP race for president.
