Trump’s promise to fire Jack Smith is a final warning ahead of the 2024 election

Donald Trump told a conservative radio host on Thursday that if elected he would fire special counsel Jack Smith “within two seconds.” It’s hard to hear this without thinking of how another Republican president, Richard Nixon, tried the same maneuver as a last-ditch effort to avoid having to comply with a special prosecutor’s subpoena for what turned out to be incriminating audio tapes. Nixon’s directive to fire then-special prosecutor Archibald Cox led to the “Saturday Night Massacre,” when Nixon’s attorney general and deputy attorney general resigned rather than carry out Nixon’s order.

But Trump may have devised a plan to avoid the Nixon-era messy optics of multiple resignations.

In November 2022, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith as special counsel and authorized him to conduct two investigations. The first concerned possible crimes committed by Trump in connection with his efforts to maintain the power of the presidency after losing the 2020 election, while the second concerned possible crimes surrounding the safekeeping of classified documents in Florida. As a result of this appointment, Smith has charged Trump on four counts for crimes allegedly committed on and around January 6, 2021, and forty counts in the classified documents case.

It’s no surprise that Trump has attacked Smith since his appointment and is now promising to fire Smith as one of his first acts if he is elected to a second term.

Not being a student of history, Trump may not know that a president cannot fire a special counsel — at least not directly. Only the Attorney General can fire a special counsel. This is why in 1973, when Nixon wanted to shut down Cox, he ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to do so. Richardson refused and immediately resigned. Nixon then turned to his deputy attorney general, William Ruckelshaus, and ordered him to fire Cox. Ruckelshaus also refused and resigned. Nixon then went to the third man at the Justice Department, Attorney General Robert Bork, and ordered it Cox to fire. However, Bork did a court would later rule that the shooting was unlawful.

Trump has previously considered firing a special prosecutor. During Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, Trump considered asking Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to fire Mueller (Attorney General Jeff Sessions had recused himself from overseeing the investigation). But his White House lawyer Don McGahn threatened to resign, and even loyal Republicans like Senator Lindsey Graham warned that “any attempt to go after Mueller could be the beginning of the end of Trump’s presidency.”

This time, Trump may have a plan to get a Justice Department official to do his dirty work. ABC News recently reported that Trump’s transition team has shortlisted none other than Judge Aileen Cannon to become Trump’s attorney general. NBC News and MSNBC have not yet confirmed this the reportwhich “cited sources familiar with the matter.” But Cannon’s appeal to Trump is obvious, as she might be the person Trump could count on to fire Smith.

Cannon was nominated (and confirmed) to the federal bench by Trump. after he lost the 2020 election). When the FBI seized classified documents from Trump’s Florida property, Mar-a-Lago, Trump filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the seizure. Cannon was assigned to preside over the trial, and her ruling, appointing a special captain to the case, effectively halted the criminal investigation. When the Justice Department appealed, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Cannon not once but twice for abuse of her judicial discretion.

After Smith indicted Trump for crimes including unlawfully retaining classified materials, obstructing justice, and violating our nation’s espionage laws, the trial was unfortunately assigned to Cannon. After months of dithering, she dismissed the charges against Trump and concluded that special counsels are unconstitutional. Cannon made this ruling despite the fact that the criminal justice system dating back to the 1800s has used special counsel and special prosecutors, and every judge and court that has ever litigated this issue has found them to be legal and constitutional .

It’s fair to say that Trump hit the jackpot by letting Cannon preside and dismissing his criminal case. He certainly thinks so: While Trump has relentlessly and often viciously criticized virtually all the other judges presiding over his criminal and civil cases, he has lavishly praised Cannon every step of the way.

Now the kicker: Let’s assume Trump nominates Cannon as attorney general and she is confirmed by the Senate. Trump probably won’t even have to tell Cannon to fire Smith, because she’s essentially already done so. Trump could avoid the messy “Saturday Night Massacre” debacle that was part of Nixon’s downfall.

Trump’s promise to fire Smith is a final warning to voters that he is proudly and enthusiastically corrupt to his core. Should voters return him to office, he will undoubtedly once again be willing to use the powers of that office to avoid criminal responsibility. And given that the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling has given Trump a blueprint on how to do that continue To avoid criminal responsibility, it is not an exaggeration to conclude that the health of American democracy is at stake in the upcoming election.