From 2010 to 2015, Smith served under Obama’s Attorney General, Eric Holder, leading the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section.
Prior to the Supreme Court's rulings in the Trump-related cases this term, Smith has incurred more than one high-profile loss.
Most notably, in 2016, he scored a conviction against former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell on corruption charges. But that conviction was unanimously overturned in an 8-0 ruling by the Supreme Court.
"There is no doubt that this case is distasteful; it may be worse than that. But our concern is not with tawdry tales of Ferraris, Rolexes, and ball gowns. It is instead with the broader legal implications of the Government’s boundless interpretation of the federal bribery statute," the court wrote.
The court in that decision warned that the "uncontrolled power of criminal prosecutors is a threat to our separation of power."
