DOJ boosts spending on security for Jack Smith

Security costs for special counsel Jack Smith, the prosecutor leading the two federal criminal cases against Donald Trump, have risen dramatically in recent months, with nearly a third of the expenses on his investigations being security-related over the latest reporting period.

Between April and September of last year, the Justice Department spent more than $14.6 million on Smith’s work, according to a spending report released Friday. More than $4.4 million of that money covered the U.S. Marshals Service, which provides security for Smith and his team, a Justice Department spokesperson told POLITICO.

The new data represents a jump from Smith’s security costs in the first four-and-a-half months of his tenure. During that initial period — Nov. 18, 2022 through March 31, 2023 — nearly $2 million went to U.S. Marshals protection, according to a person familiar with the data.

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.