The U.S. federal agency formally investigated former special counsel Jack Smith, who oversaw two criminal investigations into U.S. President Donald Trump after his first term in office at the White House.
The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) confirmed to Reuters that it is investigating whether Smith violated the Incubation Act, which prohibits federal employees from using their political activities. The decision comes after a request from Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton.
The OSC is an independent agency that can investigate the conduct of federal employees but does not have the authority to authorize crime. This is different from the type of special counsel offices previously supervised by Smith, who was appointed by the Department of Justice to file a criminal case.
The office’s investigation, first reported by The New York Post, is the latest in a series of actions taken by Trump and his allies against their perceived political enemies.
Smith resigned in January after Trump’s election victory and he was unable to comment immediately.
Earlier this week, Cotton accused Smith of a series of posts on social media platform X, aiming to damage his presidential campaign in order to damage his presidential campaign, calling Smith “a political actor” in Smith, who called Smith’s case a “political actor.”
“That’s why I requested this unprecedented intervention in the 2024 election,” Cotton wrote.
A former war crimes prosecutor for Smith filed two criminal cases against Trump — one accusing him of illegally retaining confidential materials and another one related to Trump’s attempt to overturn his losses in the 2020 election, an effort sparked a January 6, 2021 attack that struck the U.S. Capitol.
No case was delayed by a series of legal challenges and aides, including a conservative majority ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court that granted widespread immunity to the former president.
Smith dropped both cases after his election last November won a long Justice Department policy against prosecution of the incumbent president, but published a report in January saying the evidence he collected was enough to get Trump convicted at trial.
Trump denied wrongdoing and attacked prosecutions for political motives designed to undermine his campaign.
