Jack Smith Smacks Down Donald Trump's 'Conspiracy Theory'

Weekend Staff Writer

Special Counsel Jack Smith hit back against former President Donald Trump in a Monday filing, strongly denouncing the conspiracy theory that the criminal investigations against him have been "secretly directed" by President Joe Biden.

Context

Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, is currently embroiled in numerous legal battles, including four criminal indictments leveled against him last year. These are the first-ever criminal charges brought against a former president of the United States. Two of the cases are at the federal level, concerning Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving office and his alleged hand in the efforts to overturn his loss to Biden in the 2020 election that ultimately led to the January 6 Capitol riot.

Trump himself has pleaded not guilty to all 91 of the criminal charges leveled against him and claimed that all of the investigations are politically motivated schemes to hurt his ongoing presidential campaign. These claims echo the wider accusations among Republicans that the U.S. legal system has been "weaponized" against conservatives, which have been heavily scrutinized or outright debunked by Democrats, Department of Justice (DOJ) officials, and legal experts.

What We Know

Smith was appointed by the DOJ to serve as the special counsel overseeing all investigations pertaining to Trump. In a filing from Monday, Smith strongly denounced Trump's claims about the cases being politically motivated, specifically denying the conspiracy that they have been "secretly directed" by Biden in order to target a political rival.

"They contend that the incumbent president has secretly directed this prosecution—using the Special Counsel as a 'puppet' or 'stalking horse,'" Smith's filing read. "In order to retaliate against Trump for exercising his right to criticize him and run against him."

The filing continued: "But the sources on which they rely, even if taken at face value, undercut rather than support this conspiracy theory as they repeatedly emphasize that the prosecutorial decisions made by the Department of Justice generally, and the Special Counsel specifically, have been made on the basis of the facts and the law, not political considerations.," Smith said in the filing. "The defendants offer no evidence to the contrary, because there is no such evidence."

Newsweek reached out to Trump's office via email for comment on Monday afternoon. Any responses received will be added to this story in a later update.

Views

Smith's Monday filing was made in relation to the classified documents case, which many observers have declared to be the most legally damning of the criminal cases leveled against Trump. In particular, lawyer Jonathan Turley, who has frequently defended Trump in the past, said after the indictment first dropped last summer that the indictment's deep detail helped refute claims that the case was politically motivated.

"The Special Counsel knew that there would be a lot of people who were going to allege that the Department of Justice was acting in a biased or politically motivated way. This is clearly an indictment that was drafted to answer those questions," Turley said during a Fox News appearance. "It's overwhelming in detail."

What Happens Next

The classified documents case is tentatively scheduled to go to trial on May 20, though recent pre-trial motions are anticipated to delay that date. Smith has accused Trump and his legal team of working to delay the trial date as much as possible.