By PRFSU Writers 2023-2024 
Grant Golin AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
More than two years after the January 6, 2021 insurrection in the U.S. Capitol Building, the Department of Justice’s investigations into the attack, former President Donald Trump’s efforts to remain in office, and his possession of hundreds of classified and top secret documents at the Mar-a-Lago compound are still ongoing. After Trump declared his candidacy for president of the United States following the 2022 midterm elections, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that a special counsel would be appointed to lead the investigations.
Garland’s appointment of Jack Smith as special counsel came only months after the F.B.I. conducted a search of Mar-a-Lago to find classified documents after Trump and his lawyers had failed to hand over all of the documents following repeated requests by the National Archives and Records Administration. “Such an appointment underscores the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters,” Garland stated in his appointment of Smith.
The inquiry into the classified documents concealed at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, where he resides, is only one facet of the department’s investigation. The investigation into the January 6, 2021 assault on U.S. democracy and Trump’s efforts to halt the peaceful transfer of power is also ongoing. The department has acquired testimony and evidence from the House select committee investigating the attack and efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
After the insurrection in the U.S. Capitol, the select committee was formed in the House of Representatives to inquire into efforts to keep Trump in office by officials within the Trump White House and on Trump’s 2020 campaign. The committee and its lawyers interviewed dozens of senior Trump Administration officials, election officials in swing states, and gathered thousands of text messages and emails in its investigation.
The select committee ultimately referred Trump to the department for criminal charges after completing its investigation for inciting an insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to make a false statement, and obstructing a U.S. government official proceeding. It is up to special counsel Jack Smith whether or not to pursue these charges.
The investigation into what official government material Trump had at Mar-a-Lago was well underway prior to the F.B.I.’s search of the former president’s Palm Beach residence. A federal grand jury was impaneled in spring 2022 to investigate the matter after the National Archives came into possession of boxes of documents from Mar-a-Lago, some of which were marked as classified.
Following the F.B.I. search, the Justice Department released photographs of what was found at Mar-a-Lago. The photographs showed that highly sensitive materials had been located in various rooms at Trump’s home. It was also revealed that in his final days in office, Trump ordered that hundreds of classified documents be sent to Mar-a-Lago.
Special counsel Smith will face a critical choice upon the conclusion of his investigations into Trump: he will have to decide whether or not to indict the former president. If Smith pursues criminal charges against Trump, it will test the strength of the judiciary since it would be the first time that an American president has faced potential criminal prosecution.
Former President Trump is also facing potential indictment in Fulton County, Georgia where the district attorney investigated Trump’s efforts to pressure elected officials in the state to overturn Georgia’s results in the 2020 election. The grand jury investigation there recently wrapped up.
In January, roughly two dozen classified documents were found by the president’s lawyers at President Biden’s post-vice presidency office in Washington, D.C., and at one of his Delaware homes from his time as vice president and from his time as a senator. The president’s lawyers notified the National Archives, turned over the documents, and invited the Justice Department to conduct a search of the president’s home.
Garland then appointed a special counsel, Robert Hur, to investigate the handling of these classified documents. The president and his lawyers have been cooperating with the special counsel’s inquiry. Even so, Democratic and Republican elected officials have been highly critical of the president’s handling of the documents.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into former President Trump are unprecedented in nature. No former president has ever been investigated for attempting to overturn the results of a presidential election, for his role in inciting an insurrection, or for ordering hundreds of classified and top secret documents to be moved to his home upon his leaving office.
The special counsel investigations will continue as Trump begins his 2024 campaign for president and as Biden weighs whether to announce his reelection campaign in the spring, following a timeline similar to that of former President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. These investigations and where they ultimately lead will remain pertinent as the drumbeat for 2024 becomes louder and louder.
References
Feur, A., Haberman, M., Savage, C., & Thrush, G. (2022, November 18). Garland names special counsel for Trump inquiries. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/us/politics/trump-special-counsel-garland.html
Glueck, K., Kanno-Youngs, Z., & Karni, A. (2023, January 25). Biden faces blowback from democrats on classified documents. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/25/us/politics/biden-democrats-documents.html
Haberman, M. & Schmidt, M.S. (2022, May 12). Prosecutors pursue inquiry into Trump’s handling of classified material. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/12/us/politics/justice-department-trump-classified.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article
Jones, D. (2023, January 13). Who is Robert Hur, the special counsel leading the Biden classified documents inquiry. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2023/01/13/1148934429/robert-hur-doj-special-counsel-biden-classified-documents
Mallin, A. (2023, January 6). 2 years after Jan. 6, DOJ faces questions on accountability for Trump, other top figures. ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/nation-marks-2-years-jan-6-attack-garland/story?id=96250339
Reisner, N. (2022, August 9). Outside Trump’s residence, his defenders were making some noise. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/08/08/us/trump-fbi-raid
Strohm, C., & Tillman, Z. (2023, January 5). Trump’s troubles mount as special counsel gets new 2020 evidence. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-05/donald-trump-s-troubles-mount-as-special-counsel-gets-new-jan-6-evidence?leadSource=uverify%20wall#xj4y7vzkg
Treisman, R. (2022, December 19). These are the criminal charges the committee is referring to the Justice Department. NPR. https://www.npr.org/live-updates/jan-6-hearings-committee-criminal-referrals-trump-final-report#these-are-the-criminal-charges-the-committee-is-referring-to-the-justice-department