The Office of Special Counsel is launching an investigation into the former Special Counsel, Jack Smith, for supposedly violating the Hatch Act, a law designed to prevent federal employees from participating in certain election-related activities. 

Senator Cotton asked the acting head of special counsel office, Jamieson Greer, who is also America’s trade representative, to launch the investigation into whether Mr. Smith’s two probes of Mr. Trump interfered with the 2024 presidential election. 

Hatch Act penalties include a possible $1,000 fine and disqualification from future federal service.

In his letter to Mr. Greer last week, Mr. Cotton questioned the timeline of Mr. Smith’s 2022 investigation that led to indictments in 2023. Mr. Cotton specifically noted Mr. Smith’s request for an expedited trial and his filing of a brief within 60 days of the November 5, 2024, election, among others, as cause for the probe.

“These actions were not standard, necessary, or justified — unless Smith’s real purpose was to influence the election. In fact, throughout Special Counsel Smith’s tenure, he regularly used far-fetched and aggressive legal theories to prosecute the Republican nominee for president,” he wrote.

Mr. Smith, who worked as a special counsel for Attorney General Merrick Garland, launched two investigations in 2022 — one of President Trump’s handling of classified documents after he left the White House and another over whether Mr. Trump’s actions on January 6, 2021, were an attempt to overturn the 2020 election. 

In July 2023, Mr. Trump was charged with 37 felony counts related to the classified documents case, including making false statements and obstruction of justice. In August 2023, Mr. Trump was hit with four felony counts in relation to the January 6 events. 

After the president’s 2024 victory, a federal court granted Mr. Smith’s request to dismiss without prejudice the documents case. Mr. Smith attempted to proceed with the documents case against two of the president’s co-defendants and asked the court to allow him to release details of the case to the public.

In January 2025, a federal judge dismissed the charges and excoriated Mr. Smith for attempting to deny the co-defendants a fair trial.

In June, the president called for a special prosecutor to look into his claim that the 2020 election was rigged. In July, Attorney General Bondi fired 20 Justice Department employees for their connection to the Smith prosecutions. Fourteen others had previously been dismissed. 

The Office of Special Counsel is a separate agency than the Special Counsel appointment that Mr. Smith held within the Justice Department. It only investigates federal employee civil cases.