Former President Donald Trump criticized special counsel Jack Smith after he received a letter from the Department of Justice (DOJ) informing him that he was the subject of an investigation regarding the aftermath of the 2020 election. The probe may result in a second set of indictments from Smith against the former president.
Trump made the comments during a town hall event with Fox News host Sean Hannity in Iowa Tuesday. According to the special counsel’s letter, Trump was informed that he was a “target” of a federal investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 protests.
The former president will be subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury investigating the case within four days of the letter’s receipt.
“This guy is a deranged prosecutor who has had tremendous failures all over the place. He’s a nasty, horrible human being,” Trump said.
The special counsel did not announce pending charges against Trump at this time, but the former president said that such a letter “almost always means and arrest and indictment.”
Furthermore, Trump called the letter an example of “election interference.”
“Never been done like this in the history of our country, and it’s a disgrace,” he said. “I guess they want to try and demean and diminish and frighten people, but they don’t frighten us because we’re going to make America great again.”
Trump described the country as heading into an almost “communistic state, and I think maybe we’re even there.”
He said that the investigation could be described as “fascist” or “Marxist.” He added his belief that the Department of Justice had been weaponized.
There's a big crowd for Trump's Town Hall with Sean Hannity tonight. pic.twitter.com/6WTkLaYj6W
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 19, 2023
“They’re in a rush because they want to interfere. It’s interference with the election — it’s election interference,” he said.
The potential charges would not be the first presented by Smith against the former president. The special counsel’s office indicted Trump on 37 charges last month related to the alleged handling of classified documents.
Trump denies any wrongdoing and plead not guilty to the first set of charges.
Separately, Fulton County, Georgia is investigating Trump in relation to the aftermath of the 2020 election regarding his conversation with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R).
