Trump says he’d ‘fire’ special counsel Jack Smith in ‘two seconds’ if elected again
Posted on 10/24/2024
Former president Donald Trump said Thursday that he would “fire” special counsel Jack Smith on his first day back in the White House if he is elected again, making clear that he would push to drop a pair of federal cases against him.
In an interview Thursday morning with conservative podcast host Hugh Hewitt, Trump was asked what he would do if he had to choose between firing Smith or pardoning himself at the start of a second term.
“Oh, it’s so easy. It’s so easy. … I would fire him within two seconds,” Trump said of Smith, who is leading the Justice Department’s investigations into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and the hoarding of classified documents.
As part of the election-related investigation, Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2023 on four criminal counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.
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The classified-documents case has been dismissed, but Smith is appealing.
The authority to hire and fire a special counsel falls to the attorney general. But if Trump wins the election, he is expected to appoint an attorney general who would dismiss both federal cases against him.
Smith was appointed special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee both investigations.
Trump also claimed it would be easy to “fire” Smith because “we got immunity at the Supreme Court,” referring to a July ruling in which the high court said presidents have “absolute” immunity for clearly official acts but no immunity for unofficial acts.
Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign said Thursday that Trump’s latest comments indicate that the former president thinks he is above the law, while also pointing to a recent interview in which former Trump White House chief of staff John F. Kelly said he believed Trump met the definition of a fascist. Harris has said she agrees with that assessment.
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“A second Trump term, where a more unstable and unhinged Trump has essentially no guardrails and is surrounded by loyalists who will enable his worst instincts, is guaranteed to be more dangerous,” Harris campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa said in a statement. “America can’t risk a second Trump term.”
Smith and the Justice Department are not involved in two state criminal cases that Trump has faced, including his conviction this spring in Manhattan of fraud related to a hush money payment ahead of the 2016 election. In a pending case, he faces an indictment in Georgia for alleged election interference in that state.
Trump has referred to the investigations into his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and classified documents found in his Mar-a-Lago home as part of a “witch hunt” against him, and he has attacked prosecutors and judges.
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Trump has also escalated attacks on perceived enemies, promising to exact retribution if he gets a second term. He recently suggested that the military could be sent after fellow Americans whom he calls “the enemy from within.” He proposed last year appointing his own special prosecutor to go after Joe Biden and his family to chants of “Lock him up!” from his audience.
Trump has justified his calls for retribution by pointing to the court cases against him. Asked whether he would “lock up” his foes, he told Glenn Beck last year, “The answer is you have no choice, because they’re doing it to us.”
He has continued to repeat those claims — which Harris’s campaign and other Democrats have pointed to as warnings that a second Trump term would be worse than the first. Last month, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California) and other Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation that would prevent a president “from controlling the conduct of an investigation into” him or herself by the Justice Department. However, the bill has little chance of advancing in a GOP-majority House.
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In June, Trump said prosecutions of his political opponents would be “wrong” but that he also would have “every right” to do so if reelected.
“Look, when this election is over, based on what they’ve done, I would have every right to go after them,” Trump said then, days after a jury convicted him on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in his New York hush money case.
In an interview Thursday morning with conservative podcast host Hugh Hewitt, Trump was asked what he would do if he had to choose between firing Smith or pardoning himself at the start of a second term.
“Oh, it’s so easy. It’s so easy. … I would fire him within two seconds,” Trump said of Smith, who is leading the Justice Department’s investigations into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and the hoarding of classified documents.
As part of the election-related investigation, Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2023 on four criminal counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.
Advertisement
Skip to end of carousel
Election 2024
Follow live updates on the 2024 election and Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump from our reporters on the campaign trail and in Washington.
Check out how Harris and Trump stack up according to The Washington Post’s presidential polling averages of seven battleground states. We’ve identified eight possible paths to victory based on the candidates’ current standing in the polls.
We’ve collected Harris’s and Trump’s stances on the most important issues, including abortion, economic policy and immigration.
The Post broke down the eight races and three long shots that could determine whether Democrats lose control of the Senate. Ten competitive races will determine whether Republicans retain their narrow control of the House.
Sign up for The Campaign Moment, reporter Aaron Blake’s guide to what you really need to know about the election.
1 / 5
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The classified-documents case has been dismissed, but Smith is appealing.
The authority to hire and fire a special counsel falls to the attorney general. But if Trump wins the election, he is expected to appoint an attorney general who would dismiss both federal cases against him.
Smith was appointed special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee both investigations.
Trump also claimed it would be easy to “fire” Smith because “we got immunity at the Supreme Court,” referring to a July ruling in which the high court said presidents have “absolute” immunity for clearly official acts but no immunity for unofficial acts.
Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign said Thursday that Trump’s latest comments indicate that the former president thinks he is above the law, while also pointing to a recent interview in which former Trump White House chief of staff John F. Kelly said he believed Trump met the definition of a fascist. Harris has said she agrees with that assessment.
Advertisement
“A second Trump term, where a more unstable and unhinged Trump has essentially no guardrails and is surrounded by loyalists who will enable his worst instincts, is guaranteed to be more dangerous,” Harris campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa said in a statement. “America can’t risk a second Trump term.”
Smith and the Justice Department are not involved in two state criminal cases that Trump has faced, including his conviction this spring in Manhattan of fraud related to a hush money payment ahead of the 2016 election. In a pending case, he faces an indictment in Georgia for alleged election interference in that state.
Trump has referred to the investigations into his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and classified documents found in his Mar-a-Lago home as part of a “witch hunt” against him, and he has attacked prosecutors and judges.
Advertisement
Trump has also escalated attacks on perceived enemies, promising to exact retribution if he gets a second term. He recently suggested that the military could be sent after fellow Americans whom he calls “the enemy from within.” He proposed last year appointing his own special prosecutor to go after Joe Biden and his family to chants of “Lock him up!” from his audience.
Trump has justified his calls for retribution by pointing to the court cases against him. Asked whether he would “lock up” his foes, he told Glenn Beck last year, “The answer is you have no choice, because they’re doing it to us.”
He has continued to repeat those claims — which Harris’s campaign and other Democrats have pointed to as warnings that a second Trump term would be worse than the first. Last month, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California) and other Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation that would prevent a president “from controlling the conduct of an investigation into” him or herself by the Justice Department. However, the bill has little chance of advancing in a GOP-majority House.
Advertisement
In June, Trump said prosecutions of his political opponents would be “wrong” but that he also would have “every right” to do so if reelected.
“Look, when this election is over, based on what they’ve done, I would have every right to go after them,” Trump said then, days after a jury convicted him on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in his New York hush money case.
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