Former President Donald Trump said his plans for a second term in the White House include firing special counsel Jack Smith.
Mr. Trump pointed to Mr. Smith’s unsuccessful track record prosecuting politicians, though Mr. Smith’s charges against the ex-president have yet to be adjudicated.
“I wouldn’t keep him,” Mr. Trump, who is the leading candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, told Breitbart News on Thursday.
“Jack Smith? Why would I keep him? He is — look, he’s gone after other people. He’s been overturned unanimously in the Supreme Court. He’s destroyed a lot of lives. Lives have been destroyed. He’s destroyed people — he’s destroyed lives.” Mr. Trump said.
He noted Mr. Smith while serving as the DOJ’s public integrity section chief, was involved with Internal Revenue Service’s Lois Lerner in efforts to target conservative groups.
“This is a guy — he’s a wild man. I call him deranged,” said Mr. Trump.
The former president also faulted Mr. Smith for overturned corruption convictions against Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell.
On Thursday, Mr. Smith’s team added more charges against Mr. Trump in a case about his alleged mishandling of classified government documents.
Mr. Trump was originally charged in June with 37 felony counts, including willful retention of national defense information, obstruction and false statements. Walt Nauta, an aide to the former president, has also been indicted in the investigation.
The new charges were for willful retention of national defense information and two more obstruction counts. Mr. Smith’s additional charges bring the total to 40 criminal counts against Mr. Trump.
Another employee of Mr. Trump, Carlos de Oliveira, was also added as a defendant.
“What he’s done is just horrible,” Mr. Trump said of the special counsel. “The abuse of power — it is prosecutorial misconduct.”
Mr. Smith has worked in the Justice Department for more than a decade and led the public integrity office from 2010 to 2015, managing a team of 30 prosecutors.
His record has come under scrutiny for the high-profile charges that fall apart.
• Mr. Smith’s conviction against Mr. McDonnell, a Republican accused of accepting payments and gifts in violation of federal public corruption laws, was overturned by the Supreme Court.
• The case against former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, a Democratic presidential candidate accused of illegally using campaign cash to conceal his mistress and love child, ended with a hung jury and mistrial.
• The prosecution of Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat accused of taking bribes, collapsed in a mistrial.
• The conviction of New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, on federal corruption charges was overturned by an appeals court. He was convicted during a second trial, but an appeals court threw out three of the six guilty verdicts. He died last year.
Mr. Smith’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Mr. Trump’s vow to fire him.
The Trump classified documents case is set to go to trial in December amid the 2024 presidential race. Legal experts say the trial likely will be postponed until next year.
Meanwhile, the former president’s lawyers wrapped up a meeting on Thursday with federal prosecutors over a possible third stack of indictments against Mr. Trump for his involvement in attempting to overturn the 2020 election and events that lead up to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers warned after the meeting that another indictment against him would be unjustified, and destroy an already divided country.
• Jeff Mordock and Alex Miller contributed to this report.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.