Who is Jack Smith, the special counsel investigating Donald Trump?

WASHINGTON — Jack Smith, the newly named special counsel in the Trump investigations, most recently served as the chief prosecutor for the special court in The Hague, where he investigated war crimes committed during the Kosovo War. 

Before The Hague, Smith served as the vice president of litigation for the Hospital Corporation of America, the nation’s largest nongovernmental health care provider.

Smith began his prosecutorial career in 1994 as an assistant district attorney with the New York County District Attorney’s Office. In 1999, he became an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, where he worked for nine years prosecuting issues such as gang murders of police officers as well as civil rights violations, according to a bio from the Justice Department.

From 2008 to 2010, Smith worked at the International Criminal Court where he oversaw war crimes investigations.

In 2010, Smith returned to the Justice Department where he worked as chief of the Public Integrity Section, overseeing public corruption and elections-related investigations. In 2015, he served as the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee before becoming the acting United States attorney.

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Attorney General Merrick Garland said Friday that Smith would be returning to the U.S. from his position at The Hague, and would begin his role as special counsel immediately.