Trump unloads on special counsel Jack Smith in speech hours after arraignment

Editor’s note: This report has been updated to note that a state judge is overseeing former President Trump’s hush money case in Manhattan.

Former President Trump unleashed a torrent of insults directed at special counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday, hours after Trump pleaded not guilty to a 37-count indictment brought by Smith over the former president’s handling of classified materials after leaving office.

Trump, in a meandering and falsehood-filled speech from his Bedminster, N.J., property, levied personal attacks at Smith, who is overseeing the investigation into the former president.

Trump called Smith a “deranged lunatic,” a “thug,” and a “raging and uncontrolled Trump hater.”

“The prosecutor in the case, I will call our case, is a thug. I have named him ‘Deranged Jack Smith,’” Trump said. “He’s a behind-the-scenes guy, but his record is absolutely atrocious. He does political hit jobs.”

“He’s a raging and uncontrolled Trump hater, as is his wife, who happened to be the producer of that Michelle Obama puff piece. This is the guy I’ve got,” Trump said.

Smith, who previously prosecuted war crimes at The Hague, is married to Katy Chevigny, a documentary filmmaker who worked on a 2020 documentary about the former first lady.

The special counsel was reportedly in the courtroom earlier Tuesday as Trump entered his plea.

The former president’s diatribe against Smith aligns with what has become a habit of attacking judges and prosecutors who investigate his conduct or oversee his cases; a state judge overseeing Trump’s hush money case in Manhattan received death threats after the former president attacked him as a “Trump-hating judge.”

Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday afternoon to charges on 37 counts following a Department of Justice indictment alleging he violated the Espionage Act and obstructed justice in taking classified records from his presidency and refusing to return them.

Trump was indicted Thursday in connection with the investigation led by Smith, with the unsealed charging document revealing Trump would also be facing charges on concealing documents and making false statements.

The indictment alleged that Trump kept the documents in various rooms of his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, which frequently hosted large events and gatherings. It also alleged Trump on two separate occasions spoke about specific classified materials with staffers at his New Jersey club who did not have security clearances.

In his only public remarks on the indictment, Smith last week noted Trump should be presumed innocent until proven guilty and urged Americans to read the indictment for themselves.

“The men and women of the United States intelligence community and our Armed Forces dedicate their lives to protecting our nation and its people,” Smith said. “Our laws that protect national defense information are critical to the safety and security of the United States, and they must be enforced. Violations of those laws put our country at risk.”

Updated June 14 at 6:17 a.m. EDT.

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