Federal authorities in the U.S. have opened an investigation into Jack Smith, the former special counsel who led two major criminal cases against President Donald Trump before stepping down earlier this year.
The Office of the Special Counsel (OSC) confirmed the probe to the BBC but did not provide further information. Smith had been appointed in 2022 to oversee investigations into Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents and efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
While the OSC cannot file criminal charges, it has the authority to pursue disciplinary action or refer its findings to the Department of Justice (DOJ). As an independent agency, the OSC is tasked with investigating federal rule violations among civil service employees. It operates separately from DOJ special counsel offices like the one previously led by Smith, which do have prosecutorial power.
According to U.S. media reports, the OSC is looking into whether Smith violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from engaging in political activities while on duty. The inquiry was prompted by Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who accused Smith of “unprecedented interference in the 2024 election.”
Smith was appointed by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022. His investigations resulted in criminal charges against Trump, who pleaded not guilty and claimed the prosecutions were politically driven. Those cases were dropped after Trump won the 2024 presidential election, as Justice Department rules prohibit prosecuting a sitting president.
This week, Cotton took to X to criticize the charges and investigations as politically motivated, calling them “nothing more than a tool for the Biden and Harris campaigns.” He suggested the actions may amount to illegal campaign activity.
The BBC has reached out to Smith’s legal team for comment on the ongoing OSC probe.
The investigation follows President Trump’s February dismissal of former OSC head Hampton Dellinger, who had supported reinstating probationary federal employees terminated under Trump’s prior administration. Although a judge later deemed Dellinger’s firing unlawful, a federal appeals court allowed the administration to replace him pending the outcome of his legal challenge.
Dellinger ultimately dropped his case in March, stating he didn’t expect a favorable Supreme Court ruling. At the time, he warned that the agency could suffer “immediate, grievous, and…uncorrectable” harm under a potentially politicized special counsel.
Smith isn’t the only former federal official under scrutiny.
In May, the Secret Service began investigating former FBI Director James Comey over a now-deleted social media post involving seashells, which some Republicans claimed was a veiled threat against Trump. Comey, who led the FBI under President Barack Obama from 2013 to 2017, has denied any wrongdoing.
More recently, media reports indicated that both Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan are also under investigation for allegedly providing false testimony to Congress during inquiries into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Brennan has since told NBC that he sees the investigation as part of a broader effort to politicize the intelligence community under Trump.
