Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Trump attacks ‘super radical left special counsel’ now handling criminal investigations

Former president made comments just hours after Jack Smith handed control over probes

Graeme Massie
Los Angeles
Saturday 19 November 2022 04:18 EST
Comments
Trump attacks ‘super radical left’ special counsel now handling investigations

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Donald Trump attacked the appointment of “super radical left special counsel” Jack Smith as the former president insisted he was “one of the most honest and innocent people in the history of our country.”

Mr Trump made his inflammatory comments just hours after the Justice Department handed control over the multiple investigations into the one-term president to the former war crimes prosecutor.

The former president told an audience at his Mar-a-Lago home on Friday night that he was being subjected to “witch hunts that started a long time ago.”

“I thought the investigation into the document hoax was dying, dead or over. And January 6 and my very peaceful and patriotic speech, I thought that was dead, only to find that the corrupt and highly political Justice Department just appointed a super radical left special counsel.”

And he added: “No collusion, they want to do bad things to the greatest movement in the history of our country and particularly bad things to me. But I have got used to it luckily. This is a rigged deal just like the 2020 election was rigged and we cannot let them get away with it.”

Mr Trump went on to attack Joe Biden, calling the president “a corrupt and incompetent political hack” and branding his son, Hunter Biden, a “corrupt drug addict and implementer for his father.”

“We are innocent, they are not innocent by any stretch of the imagination, the proof is out there for anyone to see. Why isn’t a special counsel being set up for them? They are corrupt, they are criminals, I have done nothing wrong.”

Mr Trump called the investigations into him “double jeopardy” and falsely claimed that he had “won” the “false impeachment hoax.”

And he finally added: “This will not be a fair investigation, but again I thought this was done or close to being done. These people are corrupt and they go after innocent people.”

Special Counsel Smith is a former head of the Department of Justice public integrity section and who has held positions at the International Criminal Court and the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in