Special counsel Jack Smith spent $5.4 million on Trump probes through March

Special counsel Jack Smith's bureau spent much than $5.4 cardinal during the 4 and a fractional months since helium took implicit 2 transgression probes centered connected erstwhile President Donald Trump, the Department of Justice said Friday.

Most of that sum, astir $4.6 million, went toward unit salaries and benefits and paying for contractual services, including IT and "litigation/investigative support," according to a report posted by the DOJ.

Smith's cognition spent the remainder of the wealth connected travel, rent, printing, supplies, acquisition of equipment, according to the connection of expenditures. The study covers the play from Nov. 18 done the extremity of March.

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith successful mid-November to pb 2 transgression investigations. One probe, into Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents aft leaving the White House, has yielded an unprecedented national transgression lawsuit against the erstwhile president. Trump has pleaded not blameworthy successful that lawsuit to 37 counts of crimes including willful retention of nationalist defence accusation and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Smith's different probe, into perchance amerciable efforts to interfere with the transportation of powerfulness to President Joe Biden aft the 2020 election, is ongoing.

The DOJ connected Friday besides released abstracted spending reports for 2 different peculiar counsels, Robert Hur and John Durham.

Hur, who was tasked successful mid-January with investigating classified documents discovered astatine Biden's bureau and backstage residence, has spent $615,962 implicit astir 3 and a fractional months, according to the DOJ.

Durham, who was probing the origins of the DOJ's probe into Trump's 2016 campaign, spent much than $1.1 cardinal from past October done the extremity of March, the bureau reported.

Durham had been appointed successful October 2020. The sum of his 5 expenditure reports implicit that clip play equals $7.7 million.

The peculiar counsels' activities are funded by the imperishable appropriation for autarkic counsels, the reports note.

The FBI and U.S. Marshals Service besides incurred a combined $3.8 cardinal successful enactment of Smith's probes, but that fig is not included successful the $5.4 cardinal full due to the fact that the agencies paid their ain respective costs. Smith's spending study notes that the FBI and USMS are not legally required to way those expenditures.