Donald Trump has accused special counsel Jack Smith of being a "terrorist" as he continues his attacks on the federal prosecutor overseeing the classified materials criminal investigation involving the former president.
In an appearance on The Mark Levin Show on Thursday, Trump called on Smith to resign and end his probe into allegations the former president mishandled top secret materials found at his Mar-a-Lago resort, and attempted to obstruct the federal attempts to retrieve them.
Trump said that Smith has a conflict as his wife, Katy Chevigny—who worked as a producer on the Michelle Obama documentary Becoming and twice donated to Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign—also "hates" him, and is friends with Andrew Weissmann, who worked on special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia inquiry.
"The prosecutor should resign, he's got a conflict," Trump said. "He is a terrorist. He is a Trump hater. His best friends are Weissmann and all of these characters, Lisa Monaco at the Justice Department, one of the top officials. This is a disgraceful situation. He should resign!
"His wife hates Trump, probably even beyond him. And his wife has a sister who openly hates like a level that you can't even believe."
Trump made the remarks after Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed special counsel Robert Hur to head an investigation after classified documents from Biden's time as vice president were found at a think tank office in Washington, D.C., and in a garage at Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware.
Biden's lawyers subsequently handed over the materials to the National Archives, with counsel Richard Sauber confirming that, unlike in Trump's case, none of the materials were being sought by the government.
Trump and his legal team are accused of defying a subpoena to return all the classified materials which were removed from the White House in January 2021, resulting in the FBI raiding his Florida home in August 2022.
Trump has defended his actions, and repeatedly pushed the disputed claim that he declassified all the materials seized from Mar-a-Lago—an act Biden could not have done with the documents found in D.C. and Delaware as he would not have the authority to do so as vice president.
In a post on Truth Social soon after the announcement of Hur's appointment, Trump demanded that Garland "immediately" end the investigations into "anything related to me because I did everything right" and also to appoint a special counsel to investigate Biden who hates "Biden as much as Jack Smith hates me."
The Republican has frequently attacked Smith and suggested he is compromised and therefore should be fired from heading the classified documents case. Smith is also heading parts of the inquiry into Trump's actions in and around the January 6 attack.
In a series of posts on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump wrote: "The Special 'Prosecutor' assigned to the 'get Trump case,' Jack Smith(?), is a Trump Hating THUG whose wife is a serial and open Trump Hater, whose friends & other family members are even worse.
"Smith is known as 'an unfair Savage,' & is best friends with the craziest Trump haters, including Lisa Monaco who runs 'Injustice.' The Boxes Scam is a HOAX.
"Fire a man who may very well turn out to be a criminal, Jack Smith. His conflicts, unfairness, and mental state of derangement make him totally unfit for the job of 'getting Trump.'"
The Department of Justice has been contacted for comment.
Correction 01/13/23, 5:48 a.m. ET: This article was updated to correct the first name of special counsel Robert Hur.
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About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
