White House Hits Back At Trump Attack On Special Counsel During Briefing — With Shot At Trump Administration

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre took several veiled shots at the Trump administration in response to former President Donald Trump’s complaints about the appointment of a special counsel.

On Friday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of Jack Smith as Special Counsel to handle Justice Department probes into Trump’s mishandling of classified information under the Espionage Act and his conduct surrounding the January 6 insurrection.

At Friday’s White House briefing, CNN White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond asked KJP for a response to comments Trump made complaining about the decision. Jean-Pierre made veiled references to Trump’s attempts to politicize the DoJ during his presidency:

MR. DIAMOND:Thanks, Karine. First of all, on the appointment of the special counsel today, former President Trump reacted to this news in an interview calling this the, quote, “worst politicization of justice.” He said that this was an unfair and political decision. I’m wondering if you have a response to that.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I will say this, and I’ve said this many times before: We do not politicize the Department of Justice. That is something that the President said during the campaign. That is something that the President said in his early days of — of being in the White House. And that continues to be true.

We were not involved in this — in this particular issue. We were not involved in — let me just say that more broadly — we’re not involved in criminal investigations that are done independently by the Department of Justice. We were not given advance — advance notice.

Again, I would refer you to the Department of Justice on any — any questions on this. But this is not an administration — the President has been very clear — that will politicize the Department of Justice.

Earlier in the briefing, KJP also made clear that President Biden did not even have advanced warning of the announcement:

Q Okay. Was the President aware of the Attorney General’s decision to name a special counsel to oversee the investigations into former President Trump? And is there any reaction from him to that decision?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So just, first, I can just tell you: No, he was not aware. We were not aware. As you know, the Department of Justice makes decisions about its criminal investigation independently. We are not involved. We are not — we have not been aware about this particular investigation or any criminal investigation. I would refer you to the Department of Justice on any questions on this.

But again, we were not given advance notice. We were not aware of this — of this investigation.

Q And any reaction from the President?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: No reaction. Again, this is going to be up to the Attorney General, up to the Department of Justice, as it relates to a criminal investigation. But I can tell you that the President was not aware, we were not aware. We were not given advance notice. And I would refer you to the Department of Justice.

Watch above via The White House.