The Department of Justice and special counsel Jack Smith have spent over $9 million of taxpayer dollars in just fourth months investigating former President Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents and on a January 6-related investigation into the former president.
The amount spent by the DOJ and Smith dwarfs the amount reportedly spent by special counsel Robert Hur and DOJ agencies on investigating President Joe Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents, a number that is closer to $1.2 million.
Smith spent about $5.5 million from November 18, 2022 to March 31, 2023 while other DOJ agencies spent closer to $3.8 million assisting the investigation. In the Biden documents case, Hur spent $615,962 from January 12 to March 31, 2023, while other DOJ agencies chipped in about $572,185.
According to Smith’s expenditures, nearly $2.7 million was spent on compensation to those investigating, with another $1.9 million going toward contractual expenses.
The January 6 investigation is looking “into whether any person or entity violated the law in connection with efforts to interfere with the lawful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election or the certification of the Electoral College vote held on or about January 6, 2021.”
John Durham’s two-and-a-half-year investigation into the shoddy Trump-Russia collusion allegations cost about $7.6 million.
In a Friday Truth Social post, Trump slammed Smith and the investigations into him, characterizing them as election interference.
“Deranged Jack Smith, the wacko prosecutor that Corrupt Joe Biden and his Thugs stuck on me during the political campaign in which Biden is losing ‘BIG’ (an absolute No, No!), just announced that he has spent over 9 million dollars, already, on this continuing Witch Hunt. Biden’s Special Prosecutor, by comparison, has spent almost nothing. Prosecutorial Misconduct for purposes of Election Interference!” Trump wrote.
Trump is not yet facing any charges related to January 6 but has been charged with 37 counts in the document investigation, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing documents or records, and making false statements.
The former president and his lawyers have consistently maintained his innocence, saying that Trump is being targeted in politically motivated probes.
“I will say that Jack Smith, I think, absolutely wants to rain hellfire down on this president and his supporters – not just people in his orbit, but also his supporters. And he’s going to stop at nothing,” Trump lawyer Jesse Binnall told Just the News on Thursday. “This is not a good guy … Unfortunately, the people that he tends to work with are zealots.”
Hur was appointed to investigate Biden after several batches of classified documents were found at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., and in a garage in his home in Wilmington, Delaware.
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