Hello and welcome to a very special episode or episodes of the Jack podcast.

It's just after midnight on Tuesday, January 14th, and Merrick Garland has released volume

1 of the Jack Smith Report.

It begins with a letter from Jack Smith delivered by hand to the Honorable Merrick Garland.

It says, Dear Mr. Attorney General, in the fall of 2022, former President Donald J. Trump

was a subject of two separate criminal investigations by the Department of Justice.

The first was an investigation into

whether any person violated the law in connection with efforts to interfere with the lawful

transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election. The second investigation focused on

the possession of highly classified documents at Mr. Trump's Mar-a-Lago Social Club following his presidency.

On November 15, 2022, Mr. Trump declared his candidacy to unseat President Joseph R. Biden,

Jr., who had previously stated his intention to stand for re-election.

Mr. Trump's announcement created a highly unusual situation in which the department,

an agency within the executive branch headed by President Biden, was conducting a criminal

investigation regarding his newly declared challenger, based on a longstanding recognition that,

quote, in certain extraordinary cases, it is in the public interest to appoint a special

prosecutor to independently manage an investigation and prosecution. You, as the Attorney General

promptly did so here to, quote, underscore the department's commitment to both independence

and accountability in particularly sensitive matters.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland remarks on the appointment of a special counsel in

Washington, D.C., November 18, 2022.

On the day I was appointed, I pledged I would exercise independent judgment,

...