WA Post: "If I were the sort of person who could be cowed," said Jack Smith . . .

[pnwmom]

Smith left the job in Brooklyn in 2008 to become a war crimes prosecutor at the ICC. Smith returned to the Justice Department in 2010, taking over the Public Integrity Section at a time when it had been battered by an embarrassing reversal of the conviction of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).

At the time, he described taking a fiercely independent view of the job.

“If I were the sort of person who could be cowed — ‘I know we should bring this case, I know the person did it, but we could lose, and that will look bad’ — I would find another line of work,” he told the New York Times. “I can’t imagine how someone who does what I do or has worked with me could think that.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/11/18/trump-justice-department-mar-a-lago/

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I think that Jack Smith is perfect for the job that he has been called to do. PERIOD. n/t

[SheltieLover]

4. The more I read about him, the more I feel he is perfect for the job.

[RockRaven]

2. Where are these criticisms of Jack Smith's personal qualities that so many, including himself,

seem to be making a point to argue against? I must be rather out of the loop, for I have seen many criticisms of this development but none of them included a criticism of his person.

[pnwmom]

3. I'm not arguing against anything here. I just was happy to read this

and thought others might be interested, too.

I haven't heard people criticizing Jack Smith, but I have in the past heard much criticism of Merrick Garland for being too cautious.

[SheltieLover]

5. Thx for sharing!

This makes me smile.

[pnwmom]

6. Me, too. nt

[SheltieLover]

7. This atty will run rings around tfg's "legal team" & dance on his grave

Metaphorically speaking, of course.

And those sitting in positions of power who were involved.

[PufPuf23]

8. What are specific cases that Smith has prosecuted successfully?

please link

[pnwmom]

9. You can't look yourself? Here's a Lawfare piece about him.

https://www.lawfareblog.com/mr-smith-goes-washington

In 2008, Smith joined the International Criminal Court (ICC), where he served as an investigation coordinator with the Office of the Prosecutor and worked on various investigations of foreign government officials on matters ranging from war crimes to genocide.

Smith returned to the Justice Department in 2010 to serve as the head of the department’s Public Integrity Section, which focuses on the criminal prosecution of public officials for corruption and other offenses. During his time there, the Section pursued several high-profile prosecutions, including the prosecutions of former CIA officer Jeff Sterling for leaking classified information and obstructing justice, former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell for honest services fraud (a conviction later overturned by the Supreme Court), and former Rep. Rick Renzi for bribery and extortion. Smith left the section in 2015 to join the U.S. attorney’s office for the middle district of Tennessee as its first assistant U.S. attorney and ultimately served as its acting U.S. attorney as well.



And this is about the prosecution of Jeff Sterling, the classified information leaker:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-cia-officer-sentenced-42-months-prison-leaking-classified-information-and-obstruction

Jeffrey A. Sterling, 47, of O’Fallon, Missouri, was sentenced today to 42 months in prison for disclosing national defense information and obstructing justice. Sterling disclosed classified information about a clandestine operational program concerning Iran’s nuclear weapons program to a New York Times reporter in 2003.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia and Assistant Director in Charge Andrew McCabe of the FBI’s Washington, D.C. Field Office made the announcement.

“For his own vindictive purposes, Jeffrey Sterling carelessly disclosed extremely valuable, highly classified information that he had taken an oath to keep secret,” said U.S. Attorney Boente. “His attempt to leverage national security information for his own malicious reasons brought him to this sentence today. I would like to thank the trial team and our partners at the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the Central Intelligence Agency for their hard work and commitment to this case.”

[stopdiggin]

10. that sounds good on paper, but ...

In real life .. the department has 'battered' it's own reputation (and lent fuel to the 'politicized' label) with 'set-back' losses - in cases like the one cited. The 'backbone' and purity tests hold up a whole lot better ... When you win.

[LakeArenal]

11. Interesting and encouraging.