Trump Says He’d Fire Special Counsel Jack Smith if Re-Elected
The former president said on the Hugh Hewitt podcast on Thursday that he’d fire Smith “within two seconds.”
Drew Angerer
Former President Donald Trump says he will “fire” Special Counsel Jack Smith “within two seconds” if voters send him back to the White House.
Conservative podcast host Hugh Hewitt asked Trump on Thursday what he’d do given the choice between pardoning himself during his second term or firing Smith.
“Oh, it’s so easy. It’s so easy… I would fire him within two seconds,” Trump said.
Smith has brought felony conspiracy charges against Trump for his efforts to over the 2020 election. The special counsel was selected by Attorney General Merrick Garland to lead the Justice Department’s investigation into Trump’s election interference and his mishandling of classified documents. The classified documents case has been dismissed, but Smith is appealing the ruling.
Smith is also pushing forward with the election interference case despite the Supreme Court ruling that presidents are immune from prosecution over official acts. Smith is arguing that Trump’s actions were that of a private citizen, not a president.
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The president doesn’t have the power to directly fire a special counsel, but Trump’s attorney general pick would. Trump’s attorney general would likely dismiss the charges against him.
Trump also floated the idea of pardoning Hunter Biden.
“I wouldn’t take it off the books,” Trump told Hewitt. “See, unlike Joe Biden, despite what they’ve done to me, where they’ve gone after me so viciously, despite what—and Hunter’s a bad boy. There’s no question about it. He’s been a bad boy... But I happen to think it’s very bad for our country.”
Biden has said that he would not pardon his son, who was found guilty on federal gun charges in June. Hunter Biden is the first child of a sitting president to be convicted of criminal charges.
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