By William J. Furney
A furious Donald Trump has again taken aim at Special Counsel Jack Smith, the man investigating alleged criminal activity by the former president that could land him in prison.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social account that the investigator should be retired and his office defunded. He suggested that democracy and election integrity might be at risk if that didn’t happen.
Trump said, referring to US Attorney General Merrick Garland and using his derogatory nickname for President Biden: “Deranged Jack Smith, who is a sick puppet for A.G. Garland & Crooked Joe Biden, should be DEFUNDED & put out to rest. Republicans must get tough, or the Dems will steal another Election. MAGA!”
Trump Investigations, Indictments
Attorney General Merrick appointed Smith last year to investigate two federal cases against Trump. One relates to the 2020 election that Trump lost to Joe Biden. In that case, Trump has been indicted for allegedly trying to overturn the result of the vote and block the transfer of power. The second case, for which Trump has also been indicted, claims Trump unlawfully removed classified documents from the White House and kept them at his home in Florida.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges and claims they are due to a “politically motivated witch hunt” by Democrats who want to stop him from becoming president again. Trump is the leading GOP candidate for its nomination for the 2024 presidential election.
Trump raged on Truth Social: “As my poll numbers go higher & higher, the Communists, Marxists, & Fascists get more & more crazy with their ridiculous Indictments & Election Interference plans & plots, all controlled by an out of control, & very corrupt, DOJ/FBI.”
Trump added: “They have weaponized law enforcement in America at a level not seen before.”
Smith a ‘Sleazebag’
In a separate post on his social media platform — which he set up after being banned from Twitter — the former president said Smith was “a major SleazeBag put up by the corrupt DOJ to damage the Republican Party.”
Trump has also been indicted in Georgia over his alleged election interference and is facing charges of racketeering, along with several of his former lawyers, some of whom have taken plea deals to avoid prison terms. A fourth indictment alleges that Trump paid hush money via a former lawyer to prevent an alleged affair from being disclosed.
Greene Call for Defunding
Trump is not the only Republican calling for Special Counsel Smith to be defunded because the indictments against Trump amount to an attack by Democrats on his presidential campaign. Ardent Trump supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene has also made such a call, saying it should be done via “the appropriations process.”
The outspoken Georgia congresswoman said: “This is a weaponized government attempt to take down the top political enemy and leading presidential candidate of the United States, Donald J. Trump. We cannot allow the government to be weaponized for political purposes.”
Trump, 77, is likely to be nominated as the Republican Party candidate for the 2024 presidential election, in primaries in January, as he is leading the GOP nominee pack by around 50 points in national polling. His nearest rival, by contrast, is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is polling in the low teens after his campaign suffered a series of setbacks.
‘Political Earthquake’
In a new post on Truth Social, Trump appeared confident of winning next November. “One year from now, the American People are going to FIRE Crooked Joe Biden and the anti-Democratic Party in a political earthquake that will echo around the world!” he wrote.
Biden, 81, is seeking re-election, along with Vice President Kamala Harris as his running mate. The president is polling nationally at around 70 percent voter support, with rivals trailing far behind, in single digits.
If Biden and Trump do receive their parties’ nominations for the 2024 race, it would effectively set the stage for a re-run of the 2020 election. That vote, which Trump continues to insist he won, ultimately led to deadly rioting at the US Capitol, on January 6, 2021, after Trump called on his supporters to protest there as Biden was being confirmed the winner.
The Age Issue
But both Biden and Trump are facing calls to abandon their campaigns for the presidency, due to what a growing number of people see as their advanced ages. Biden is already the oldest person to have been elected US president and both men have recently made a series of blunders, including forgetting which city they were in and stumbling while walking, that further raised voters’ fears over their ages.