(BBC News) US federal officials say they have opened an investigation into former special counsel Jack Smith, who led two federal criminal cases against President Donald Trump before resigning from his post earlier this year.
The Office of the Special Counsel (OSC) confirmed to the BBC that an investigation into Smith is underway, but declined to add further details.
Smith was appointed as special counsel in 2022 to investigate Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents and his alleged attempt to interfere in the 2020 election.
The OSC does not have authority to lay criminal charges against Smith, but it can initiate disciplinary action or refer its findings to the Department of Justice.
As an independent federal agency, the OSC’s main function is to investigate and address federal rules violations by members of the US civil service.
It operates separately from special counsel’s offices under the Department of Justice – such as the one formerly headed by Smith – which, unlike the OSC, can lay federal criminal charges under the Department of Justice.
US media reported on Saturday that the OSC is investigating Smith for alleged violations of the Hatch Act, a law that prohibits political activities by government officials.
It comes after Tom Cotton, a Republican senator from Arkansas, called on the OSC to investigate Smith for “unprecedented interference in the 2024 election.”
Smith was tapped by former Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 to oversee federal investigations into Trump.
Both of the cases he investigated led to criminal charges being laid against Trump, who pleaded not guilty and sought to cast the prosecutions as politically motivated.
The cases were later closed following Trump’s presidential election win in November 2024, as Justice Department regulations forbid the prosecution of a sitting president.
In a post on X earlier this week, Cotton cast the investigations and charges as “nothing more than a tool for the Biden and Harris campaigns.”
“It is very likely illegal campaign activity from a public office,” Cotton wrote.
The OSC investigation comes after Trump fired its former head, Hampton Delligner, in February after Dellinger advocated for probationary federal employees laid off by the Trump administration to be reinstated.
A judge later ruled that Dellinger’s firing was unlawful, but a federal Circuit Court ruled that the Trump administration could replace Dellinger while his legal battle against his removal makes its way through the courts.
Dellinger abandoned the legal case in March, saying that he did not expect the Supreme Court to rule in his favour.
“Meanwhile, the harm to the agency and those who rely on it caused by a Special Counsel who is not independent could be immediate, grievous, and, I fear, uncorrectable,” he warned in March.
Smith is not the first former government official to be investigated under the Trump administration.
In May, the Secret Service launched an investigation into former FBI director James Comey after he shared then deleted a social media post of seashells that Republicans alleged was an incitement to violence against Trump. Comey, who was FBI director from 2013 to 2017 under Barack Obama, has denied the allegations.
Earlier this month, US media reported that Comey and former CIA director John Brennan were under investigation for allegedly making false statements to Congress as part of their probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Brennan later told NBC that he believes the investigation into him is an “example of the continued politicization of the intelligence community” under Trump.
