(FiveNation.com)- Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed to oversee the two investigations into former President Donald Trump, has issued a bunch of subpoenas as part of his work.
Officials across seven states have received subpoenas from him, even though he was appointed by Merrick Garland, the attorney general, only a few weeks ago.
The most recent subpoena that was disclosed publicly went to officials in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County, reports said. A spokesperson with the county told CNN this week:
“Yes, we received a subpoena from the Department of Justice’s special counsel regarding the 2020 election. We have nothing further to share or provide.”
Smith is a veteran prosecutor of war crimes. In being named special counsel in November, he was tasked with heading up the investigations into how the former president handled government documents when he left the White House, as well as what led to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
The subpoenas that Smith has sent recently are apparently all in reference to the election interference and Capitol riot investigation. Other subpoenas that have been sent — and are known to the public — went to officials in Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Georgia and Arizona.
In all of those states, some of Trump’s allies — and even Trump himself — tried to challenge the election results from 2020.
One of the officials who has reportedly received a subpoena is Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state in Georgia. Trump pressed Raffensperger on a phone call that was recorded to “find” the 11,780 votes he needed in Georgia to reverse the outcome of that state’s election from Democrat Joe Biden to him.
The audio of that phone call was leaked to the media not long after it took place. It has become the subject of not just Smith’s investigation but a separate investigation being led by the Fulton County District Attorney’s office in Georgia.
For his part, Trump has sent broad denials of wrongdoing in either of the cases. He told Fox News that he “won’t partake” in Smith’s inquiry, and described it as the “worst politicization of justice in our country.”
Smith hasn’t wasted any time at all in getting to work. He has assembled a team that is almost double the size of the team that Robert Mueller did when he served as special counsel in the infamous investigations from a few years ago.
Smith’s full team includes 20 prosecutors, and they will all eventually work directly under the special counsel, CNN has reported.
Elie Honig, who is a former federal prosecutor and serves as a legal analyst for CNN, commented recently:
“Mueller was starting virtually from scratch, whereas Jack Smith is seemingly integrating on the fly into an active, fast-moving investigation.”
CNN reported that the special counsel has already brought some of the former president’s associates before a Washington grand jury. He also requested that a judge hold Trump in contempt of court after he failed to comply with a subpoena that was issued a few months ago. The judge didn’t agree to do that, though.
