New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik filed an ethics complaint Tuesday alleging Special Counsel Jack Smith’s rushed lawfare campaign against former President Donald Trump is tantamount to election interference. Smith, Stefanik said, has been “abusing the resources of the federal government to unlawfully interfere with the 2024 presidential election.”
The complaint, filed with the Office of Professional Responsibility within Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ), argues Smith is attempting to rush the trial of Trump regarding his speech about the 2020 election ahead of this November’s rematch, in violation of the DOJ’s Justice Manual.
Section 9-85.500 of the manual stipulates “federal prosecutors … may never select the timing of any action … for the purpose of affecting any election, or for the purpose of giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party.”
Stefanik argues Smith violated the statute in August of 2023 when “he petitioned the District Court for a January 2, 2024, trial date.” Stefanik cites the roughly 13 million pages of discovery Trump’s team had to review, alongside other evidence, to argue that Smith’s intended five-month turnaround was an obvious attempt to rush a complex case to get a judgment before Election Day.
“It’s obvious to any reasonable observer that Jack Smith is trying to interfere with the 2024 election and stop the American people from electing Donald Trump,” Stefanik said in a statement. “At every turn, he has sought to accelerate his illegal prosecution of President Trump for the clear (if unstated) purpose of
