The special counsel industrial complex
Special counsels have proven themselves, more often than not, to serve a hungry press corps happy to report salacious and unproven details, and not serious, independent investigations that produce meaningful consequences or assure the public that accountability can be achieved. The latest press catnip is over allegations of misconduct by Jack Smith who was appointed special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland on November 18, 2022, the same week Trump announced his new presidential bid. His remit was to investigate Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his retention of classified material at Mar-a-Lago. A Republican-controlled Congress now has to decide what to do with a special counsel who may have perjured himself while testifying about those investigations.
