The Special Advisor Office says it has opened the investigation of Jack Smith’s Hatch Law

The United States Special Advice Office confirmed on Saturday that he opened an investigation into former special lawyer Jack Smith and if he violated Hatch’s law through his criminal investigations on President Donald Trump.

The investigation follows a reference by Republican Senator Tom Cotton by Arkansas earlier this week that asked the OSC to investigate Smith for his research and prosecuting activities before the 2024 elections, which Cotton argued that they were destined to damage Trump’s political perspectives.

Both Smith and former Attorney General Merrick Garland maintained repeatedly before the departure position that none of the actions taken in the investigation of classified documents or the investigation of Trump’s efforts to subvert their electoral loss of 2020 were promoted by politics.

Trump declared himself innocent and denied all irregularities in both cases.

A spokesman for Smith’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comments on Saturday on OSC’s investigation. Smith’s cases against Trump were dismissed after the 2024 elections due to a long -standing justice department policy that prohibits the prosecution of a acting president.

The OSC is an independent agency that is not empowered to investigate criminal issues: it is separated from the special lawyer position that Smith previously served under the Justice Department.

OSC operates mainly as an agency to help government complainants to inform accusations of waste or irregularities, and also enforces the hatch law that imposes restrictions on government employees participating in partisan political activities.

It is not clear which course of action would have to take the OSMH against Smith if your investigation determined that it violated the Hatch law, since Smith is no longer an employee of the government.

Although he could send his findings to the DOJ, the department has already publicly said that he is investigating Smith and other prosecutors who chased Trump through his so -called “weapons work group” that is led by the former interim prosecutor of US DC, Ed Martin.

The announcement of the investigation also occurs when the administration has been found under greater scrutiny about its management of the release of presentations related to the deceased sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein, with the senior officials of the entire administration who seem anxious to change the issue.