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The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is investigating former special counsel Jack Smith, the OSC has confirmed to Fox News.
Smith was tapped in 2022 by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland to serve as special counsel regarding two probes pertaining to then-former President Donald Trump.
The OSC is investigating Smith for allegedly violating the Hatch Act, which bars government employees from partaking in political activities. It is not a criminal investigation.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on Saturday, but did not receive a response.
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Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to members of the media at the Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 1, 2023. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
The OSC is not the same as a special counsel appointed by an attorney general, as Smith was, but “is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency,” according to its website.
“OSC’s statutory authority comes from four federal laws: the Civil Service Reform Act, the Whistleblower Protection Act, the Hatch Act, and the Uniformed Services Employment & Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA),” the website explains.
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President Donald Trump boards Air Force One on Friday at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas recently asked the OSC to look into whether Smith illegally engaged in political activity to influence the 2024 election against Trump.
“I write requesting the Office of Special Counsel to investigate whether Jack Smith, Special Counsel for Attorney General Merrick Garland, unlawfully took political actions to influence the 2024 election to harm then-candidate President Donald Trump,” Cotton wrote in a July 30 letter to…
