The Georgia congresswoman spelled out exactly what a second Trump term would mean for prosecutors investigating him
Published October 3, 2024 8:34PM (EDT)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., holds her “Make America Great Again” hat during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Marjorie Taylor Greene has an idea for the first item on Donald Trump’s second-term agenda: prosecute Special Counsel Jack Smith.
“What Jack Smith is doing is completely illegal. He should be prosecuted,” Greene said in an appearance on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast on Thursday. “After we win on November 5, Jack Smith should be prosecuted.”
Smith’s office unveiled a damning filing on Wednesday, making public some of the most extreme allegations and evidence of election interference against the former president. Smith has served as an independent special counsel since 2022, tasked with investigating Trump’s election interference scheme and classified documents case, the latter of which was ultimately tossed by Trump-appointed judge Aileen Cannon.
Greene’s suggestion that Smith’s appointment was illegal was one that Cannon used as justification to toss that case, though judges in other Trump cases, including D.C. Judge Tanya Chutkan, have rejected the argument.
In the clip, Greene also called for prosecution against U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, who prosecuted participants in the Jan. 6 riots. Greene filed articles of impeachment against Graves last year.
The comments also suggest a worrying attitude towards prosecutorial independence in a possible second Trump term. The remarks come as Trump plots for a return to the White House, detailing plans to install loyalists in a possible attempt to influence investigations.
Trump reportedly already trialed the practice of weaponizing the Justice Department in his first term as president, directing it to investigate critics and seize reporters’ phones, and threatening to fire opponents.
But proposals within Project 2025, and Trump’s own remarks, indicate that the candidate would have an unprecedentedly vocal role in the Department of Justice’s business, filling the agency with staffers who would be more willing than the old-guard officials of his first term to go after political opponents.