DOJ boosts spending on security for Jack Smith

The increase comes as the special counsel has alleged in court papers that Trump’s frequent rhetorical attacks have sparked threats to his team. Trump regularly calls Smith “deranged” and impugns the integrity of the prosecutors working for him.

Special counsels are required to regularly release data about their expenses. The reports include two categories of expenses: money that Smith’s office spent from its official budget and money that other Justice Department agencies spent to assist the special counsel’s office without getting reimbursed from the office.

Smith’s office spent more than $7 million out of its own budget during the most recent reporting period, according to Friday’s report. That brings the total reported amount that Smith’s office has spent out of its own budget to more than $12 million.

Smith is overseeing two cases against Trump: one in Washington charging him with seeking to undermine the 2020 election and one in Florida charging him with hoarding classified documents after his presidency.

The increase in security spending for Smith’s team comes as numerous law enforcement and judicial officials close to politically sensitive probes have described facing threats.

The U.S. attorney for Washington — who is overseeing prosecutions of Jan. 6 rioters —
told lawmakers that his office has faced “pervasive” threats from around the country.

Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump’s D.C. prosecution, has received heightened protection.

And Lesley Wolf, a former prosecutor who worked on the investigation of Hunter Biden, told lawmakers last month that she worried about her family’s safety because of harassment and threats she faced.

“[A]t times it has made me feel and worry about the safety of my family,” she said, according to a transcript of her interview reviewed by POLITICO. “We’ve changed the way we do some things at home because of that.”

Smith has discussed the threats to his office in court. “[T]he Special Counsel has been subject to multiple threats, and the specific Special Counsel’s Office prosecutor that the defendant has targeted through recent, inflammatory public posts has been subject to intimidating communications,” reads
a recent filing.

Trump has long used invective to target law enforcement officials investigating him. During special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, Trump
retweeted a meme that showed Mueller and another top DOJ official behind bars. Since facing criminal charges as a private citizen, he has lobbed a fusillade of attacks on social media against prosecutors. He has, for instance, accused Smith without evidence of abusing illegal drugs.

Kyle Cheney contributed to this report.