# Trump's Former Special Counsel Now Under Investigation for Potential Ethics Violations

The latest news connecting **Jack Smith** and **Donald Trump** is that Smith, who led the federal classified-documents and Jan. 6 investigations into Trump, is now being investigated by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel over whether his work violated the Hatch Act, which limits political activity by federal employees.[1] The review was triggered by a referral from Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, who argued Smith’s pre-election investigative and prosecutorial actions were intended to affect Trump’s political prospects.[1] That development comes after Trump’s 2024 election win changed the legal landscape around the criminal cases Smith brought. According to reporting on the Trump transition, the special counsel dropped the federal cases against Trump-elect, citing the long-standing principle that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted in the same way as a private citizen.[2] A federal judge had also previously granted Smith’s request to pause the 2020 election interference case while prosecutors weighed next steps after Trump’s victory.[4] The broader picture is that Trump’s return to power has been followed by a wave of legal and political counterpressure around the investigations that once targeted him. ABC News reports that Smith is among several Trump-era adversaries now facing scrutiny, while Trump allies describe these moves as accountability and critics describe them as retaliation.[1] Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has also said Trump “would have gone to prison” had he lost the 2024 election, underscoring how central Smith’s prosecutions were to the final phase of Trump’s legal battles.[2] At this stage, the most important development is not a new indictment of Trump, but the fact that the prosecutor who brought the federal cases against him is now under federal ethics scrutiny himself.[1]