This past weekend, the United States Office of Special Counsel announced that it had launched an investigation into Jack Smith, a former Justice Department special counsel who oversaw two significant federal prosecutions of President Donald Trump after the 2020 election. 

Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith in November 2022. At the time, the Justice Department had already begun investigating President Trump’s actions, and Smith was appointed to separate the investigation from the Justice Department and remove the politicized aspects of it.

Neither of the cases against Trump materialized after a Supreme Court ruling that expanded presidential immunity for actions during office, and some documents were tossed. On top of all of that, President Trump's reelection in the 2024 election made sure that all charges against him were dropped. After all of this, just a few days before Trump’s inauguration, Jack Smith resigned. He is now being investigated for possible violations of the Hatch Act.

The Hatch Act and OSC

According to the OSC, the Hatch Act is a federal law that limits the political activities of federal employees as well as some other government employees and is meant to make sure federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan way and that federal employees are not politically coerced. Suppose the OSC (Office of Special Counsel) concludes that a federal employee has violated the law. In that case, their case is referred to the president, and discipline can range from a reprimand to a removal from federal service altogether.

Former violations of the Hatch Act include some during President Trump’s first term when thirteen of his most senior aides, including his senior adviser Kellyanne Conway and his son-in-law, were found campaigning illegally for his reelection, but they faced no significant consequences. 

Now, after President Trump’s second term began, he recently hired Paul Ingrassia, a former right-wing podcast host, to lead the OSC. Ingrassia has a history of partisan statements, but said in a post on X that he would work to revitalize “Fairness” in the enforcement of the Hatch Act. Although he has not yet been approved, Jamieson Greer, Trump’s trade representative, is the acting head of the office, leading to concerns about the lack of a nonpartisan investigation by Jack Smith.

The Investigation Itself

After being elected, President Trump made it clear that he was planning to fire Smith and his team, and many Republicans accused Smith of bringing the cases forward for his political reasons. Since Trump was inaugurated, the Justice Department has fired multiple individuals connected to both of his cases. 

Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) called explicitly for the investigation in a letter to Jamieson Greer to investigate Smith and see if he “unlawfully took political actions to influence the 2024 election to harm then-candidate President Donald Trump”. Cotton claimed that Smith’s actions were not customary and appeared to have “no rationale”, especially his move to rush to trial.

The circumstances surrounding the investigation raise questions about whether this investigation is genuinely one of merit or one of political strategy. On one side, the investigation seems politically motivated when looking at all of the past violations, the leadership of the OSC, and the relevance of Jack Smith to the current President. However, the hastening of trial procedures by Jack Smith also begs the question of his motives in doing so, making the investigation potentially invalid. 

In both cases, it becomes essential to continue to monitor this investigation to understand the potential fallout and consequences. Perhaps, pursuing a more bipartisan route to investigate would clear doubts and increase the validity of the inquiry in people’s minds, leading to a clear and transparent conclusion, and one that can be used to further justice in our country.