House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik is hitting special counsel Jack Smith with an ethics complaint. (Getty Images)
Smith's case against Trump, stemming from accusations he tried to overturn the 2020 election, was supposed to go to trial in March but has been stuck in limbo as the Supreme Court weighs the ex-president's claim he is immune to criminal prosecution for actions taken while in the White House.
The former U.S. attorney and human rights prosecutor petitioned the high court multiple times to reject Trump's immunity claims and bid to delay his trial, including most recently on April 8.
Stefanik's complaint accused him of first trying to influence the election in August 2023, when Smith petitioned for a Jan. 2, 2024 trial.
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Rep. Elise Stefanik accused special counsel Jack Smith of trying to influence the 2024 election against former President Trump. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, Pool)
"There exist approximately thirteen million pages of discovery for President Trump to review, plus thousands of hours of camera footage. Prosecutors bringing a case of this complexity — with so many consequential and novel legal issues to sort out — would normally never seek to bring it to trial within five months," she argued.
"The only reason to push for such an early trial date was to work to get the case tried before the November election, and the Justice Department Manual clearly forbids Jack Smith from taking any action on that basis."
She also cited Smith's petitions with the Supreme Court and used his own comments in court that no American is "above the law" as further argument that he should support an investigation into his conduct.
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"If that is true, then he should be open to, and welcome, an ethics investigation into conduct that, on its face, implicates potential violations of DOJ policy and multiple rules of professional conduct," Stefanik said. "Biden special counsel Jack Smith’s highly unusual and clearly improper attempts to expedite trial, and his blatant violation of District Court orders, evidence his partisan attempt to influence the results of the 2024 presidential election."
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The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, heard arguments in Trump's immunity case last week. A final decision is expected in June — with the likelihood of a trial before the presidential election being slim.
Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ for comment.
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
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