Washington — Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik is urging the Justice Department to launch an inquiry into special counsel Jack Smith, alleging he breached department standards and ethical obligations in his prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
Stefanik's claims arise from the legal case against Trump in Washington, D.C., where the special counsel has accused the ex-president of orchestrating a plot to unlawfully obstruct the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election. Trump has entered a plea of not guilty to the four federal charges against him.
The special counsel's office has declined to provide a statement on the matter.
In a formal correspondence addressed to the head of the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility and dated Tuesday, Stefanik alleged that Smith utilized federal resources to meddle in the 2024 presidential election by advocating for the trial in Washington to occur before the November election. The congresswoman from New York, who leads the House Republican Conference, contended that these actions contravene Justice Department guidelines.
The department's manual states that federal prosecutors "may never select the timing of any action, including investigative steps, criminal charges, or statements, for the purpose of affecting any election, or for the purpose of giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party."
"Jack Smith has not talked about the election in his filings because it is an obviously improper reason to expedite President Trump's trial," Stefanik wrote in her letter to Jeffrey Ragsdale of the Office of Professional Responsibility. "Biden special counsel Jack Smith's actions, however, leave no doubt that the election is driving his timing decisions."
Prosecutors on Smith's team, however, have said that conducting a trial involving Trump weeks before the presidential election would not violate Justice Department policy. During a hearing in early March in the second case Smith has brought against Trump, this one involving his alleged mishandling of sensitive government documents after leaving the White House, a prosecutor said a separate, unwritten Justice Department practice "is tied to the date of the indictment, not the trial."
Called the "60-day rule," it prohibits prosecutorial steps close to an election that could influence voters. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the second prosecution, which is taking place in South Florida.
Stefanik raised concerns that the special counsel had disobeyed a federal district court order that paused proceedings in the 2020 election case. She accused Smith of breaching the D.C. Bar's professional conduct rules, which prohibit lawyers from knowingly defying tribunal rules unless they openly refuse based on a claim of no valid obligation.
"Jack Smith stated that 'no one in this country …is above the law.' If that holds true, then he should be willing to undergo an ethics inquiry regarding his conduct, which seems to potentially breach DOJ policy and various professional conduct rules," Stefanik expressed.
She alleged that Smith's "highly irregular and evidently improper efforts to hasten the trial, along with his clear violation of District Court orders, demonstrate his partisan agenda to sway the outcomes of the 2024 presidential election."
In January, Trump's legal team criticized Smith for the filings he presented in the 2020 election case following the suspension of proceedings by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan. They urged Chutkan to consider holding the special counsel in contempt for allegedly disobeying her directive.
The judge dismissed their request, stating that her order did not explicitly prohibit the government actions Trump objected to. However, she specified that neither Trump nor Smith should file any substantive pretrial motions without prior court approval.
