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Donald Trump said he would “fire” special counsel Jack Smith within “two seconds” of his first day in office, if elected, suggesting that the Republican presidential nominee intends to force law enforcement agencies and the courts to drop two federal cases against him.
Right-wing radio host Hugh Hewitt asked Trump on Thursday whether he would pardon himself or “fire” the special counsel appointed to oversee the criminal cases against the former president.
“Oh, it’s so easy. It’s so easy. He’s a crooked person … I would fire him within two seconds,” Trump said.
“I don’t think they’ll impeach me if I fire Jack Smith,” Trump later said on the program. “He’s a scoundrel … He’s so mean.”
Hewitt also asked Trump whether he would pardon President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, who was convicted of tax and gun charges in separate cases this year.
“I wouldn’t take it off the books. … Hunter’s a bad boy, there’s no question about it,” Trump said. “But I happen to think it’s very bad for our country … I could’ve gotten Hilary Clinton very easily. … I could’ve had her put in jail.”
Trump also praised District Judge Aileen Cannon as the “brave and brilliant judge in Florida” after she dismissed the classified documents case this summer in a bombshell ruling that agreed with Trump’s argument that the special counsel’s office is unconstitutionally funded and operated.
The former president suggested that he could have jailed his former Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, who is routinely the subject of “lock her up” chants at his rallies.
“I could’ve gotten Hilary Clinton very easily,” he told Hewitt. “I could’ve had her put in jail.”
“Donald Trump thinks he’s above the law, and these latest comments are right in line with the warnings made by Trump’s former chief of staff that he wants to rule as a dictator with unchecked power,” according to a statement from Kamala Harris’s campaign.
“A second Trump term, where a more unstable and unhinged Trump has essentially no guardrails and is surrounded by loyalists who will enable his worst instincts, is guaranteed to be more dangerous,” rapid response director Ammar Moussa said.
Trump is currently facing obstruction and conspiracy charges for his efforts to reverse his loss in the 2020 presidential election. That case was revived following a Supreme Court ruling that shields Trump from criminal prosecution for actions tied to “official” duties in office. He has pleaded not guilty.
Smith’s lengthy narrative supporting the case argues that Trump and his co-conspirators were acting in their “private” roles supporting his campaign, and not performing official duties under the presidency.
The special counsel’s office has also appealed Judge Cannon’s dismissal of the case involving Trump’s allegedly unlawful hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago compound after leaving office.
That office and the Department of Justice are not involved in two state-level criminal cases against the former president, including an election interference case in Georgia and the so-called hush money case in Manhattan, where Trump was convicted of felony charges of falsifying business records earlier this year. He is scheduled to be sentenced next month, after Election Day.
