Donald Trump vows to fire Special Counsel Jack Smith

WASHINGTON- Former President Donald Trump It became official on Thursday: He will be impeached if re-elected. Special Counsel Jack Smiththe person who prosecutes the cases against him.

“I would fire him in two seconds,” Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt.

Smith is the lead prosecutor in two cases against Trump; One is about efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and the other is about obtaining classified documents when he leaves office.

In the interview Thursday, Hewitt asked Trump if he would pardon him or fire Smith; Trump said he would do the latter.

Trump’s comments drew swift condemnation from some legal experts as violating the norm that presidents allow the Justice Department to operate independently.

“Mr. “Trump has made clear over and over again that he considers himself above the law,” Bradley P. Moss, an attorney who specializes in national security issues, told USA TODAY. “He will rule as if he is above the law.”

Trump has previously attacked Smith and said he would fire him.

“I won’t keep him” Trump told Breitbart News in July 2023:. “Jack Smith? Why would I hold him? He’s off balance.”

Trump also said in a post on Truth Social that Smith should be in prison. “They should put the unstable Jack Smith and the Thug Prosecutors in jail,” Trump wrote.

During his first administration Trump tried to fire Special Counsel Robert MuellerAccording to Mueller’s report, he was investigating Russia’s efforts to aid Trump’s 2016 election campaign and obstruct Mueller’s investigation.

Trump says he will use Justice Department prosecuting dissidents for unspecified crimes.

Trump’s comments about Smith came one after another new evidence against Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who was released last week in an election interference case I tell the New York Times this week Trump “fits the definition of fascist.”

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Hewitt noted that Smith’s removal could lead to an impeachment inquiry, just as it has in the past. President Richard Nixon After firing Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox in October 1973.

Trump said he didn’t think Congress would impeach him for firing Smith.