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Trump was asked during an interview with conservative radio host
Hugh Hewitt whether he would first pardon himself or terminate
Smith to remove the legal cloud hanging over him. Smith, who was
appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022, has
charged the former president over his efforts to overturn the
2020 election and his mishandling of classified documents.
“It’s so easy. I would fire him within two seconds,” Trump
responded. “He’ll be one of the first things addressed.”
Trump, who regularly assails Smith and has suggested before that
he would fire him if he were president, called Smith a “crooked
person.”
Trump, if elected, could order the Justice Department to remove
Smith. Trump probably would not be able to do it on his own
because Smith is not a presidential appointee.
When Trump, while president, was investigated by special counsel
Robert Mueller, Trump urged his then-White House counsel, Don
McGahn, to press the Justice Department to terminate Mueller.
McGahn refused.
Smith has brought two federal cases against Trump. One, accusing
him of illegally retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago
estate in Florida, was dismissed in July, a decision that Smith
is appealing. The other, charging him with plotting to overturn
the 2020 presidential election, has been delayed by a Supreme
Court opinion conferring broad immunity for official acts made
while president.
After Trump said he would fire Smith, Hewitt raised the
possibility that Congress could impeach Trump over that move.
Trump said he did not believe that would happen.
“I don’t think they’ll impeach me if I fire Jack Smith,” Trump
said. “Jack Smith is a scoundrel.”
Democrat Kamala Harris’ campaign has sought to use revelations
from Smith’s investigations into Trump against the Republican
candidate. They released an ad earlier this month that featured
video from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and headlines
from Smith’s investigation.
“He knew what he was doing,” the ad shows on screen.
While Trump criticized Smith, he praised U.S. District Judge
Aileen Cannon, the Trump appointee who dismissed the classified
documents case against the former president in July.
“We had a brave, brilliant judge in Florida,” Trump said. “She’s
a brilliant judge, by the way. I don’t know her. I never spoke
to her. Never spoke to her. But we had a brave and very
brilliant judge.”
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