The special counsel investigating Donald Trump
A special counsel is investigating Donald Trump and he is Jack Smith
Currently, Smith is overseeing two separate criminal investigations into a former American president, but he is no stranger to high-profile cases.
With a mixed record of success, Mr Smith has pursued public officials in the US and abroad for the past two decades.
Since the US Department of Justice appointed him as special counsel in two investigations into Donald Trump, the veteran prosecutor has kept a low profile.
He was referred to by Attorney General Merrick Garland as “the right choice to resolve these matters in an even-handed and timely manner” when he announced his selection last November.
According to Mr Trump, Smith is being pursued by a “political witch hunt” because he is a “deranged” man.
Mr Trump has been indicted by the special counsel for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election. In addition, he has indicted the ex-president on 40 felony counts over alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Mr Smith sat about 20ft from Mr Trump in the front row at Mr Trump’s arraignment hearing in Washington DC on Thursday. There was an exchange of glances between the two.
John Luman Smith is a native New Yorker, just like the man he is investigating.
He began his prosecutorial career in 1994 as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan’s district attorney’s office after graduating from Harvard Law School.
As a prosecutor in Brooklyn, he prosecuted violent gangs, white-collar fraudsters, and public corruption during the following decade.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that he once slept in the hallway of an apartment building to convince a woman to testify in a domestic violence case.
In addition, Mr Smith investigated New York police’s infamous assault of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima with a broomstick during that time period.
According to the New York Times, his work on the team led to his recommendation as special counsel in the Trump cases.
As a junior investigator for the International Criminal Court in 2008, Mr Smith oversaw war crimes investigations in The Hague, The Netherlands.
As chief of the department’s public integrity unit, which prosecutes federal crimes such as public bribery and election fraud, he returned to the justice department two years later.
A 2010 AP interview described his career transition as leaving “the dream job for a better one”.
The unit was recovering from a prosecutorial debacle that had seen a landmark conviction tossed out.
A number of long-running investigations into members of Congress were closed without charges during Mr Smith’s stint, but he continued to pursue other investigations.
During his tenure, prosecutors brought a public corruption case against former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, a Republican, which was unanimously overturned by the US Supreme Court in 2016.
In addition, the unit prosecuted former Democratic vice-presidential nominee John Edwards, but a jury acquitted him on one count and deadlocked on the rest, and he was never tried again.
In addition to slamming Mr Smith for his involvement in a tax scandal involving conservative groups, Mr Trump has seized on these examples for his argument that Mr Smith has “destroyed a lot of lives”.
Breitbart quoted the former president as saying, “What he’s done is just horrible.”. It is prosecutorial misconduct that he has committed.
In addition to his many notable victories, Mr. Smith sent former New York state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to prison for corruption.
He also convicted former Arizona congressman Rick Renzi of corruption. A presidential pardon was later granted to Renzi by President Trump.