Special counsel Jack Smith attended the arraignment of former President Donald Trump in Miami, Florida, marking the first time the two have come face to face since his appointment to investigate the former president’s handling of classified documents.

Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November to lead the investigations into the documents and alleged efforts by Trump and his allies to subvert the 2020 presidential election results.

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The special counsel held a press conference one day after Trump acknowledged he’d been indicted in the classified documents case, saying the former president would be given a speedy trial.

Smith said Friday that “we have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone” and insisted that “adherence to the rule of law is a bedrock principle of the Department of Justice, and our nation’s commitment to the rule of law sets an example for the world.”

The appearance of Smith is significant, given that Jay Bratt, who leads the Justice Department’s counterintelligence division, is listed in court filings as the sole lead attorney in the case.

Smith’s attendance is also notable in that Robert Mueller, who was elevated to special counsel in an investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 elections, never appeared or argued in court during his special counsel investigation. John Durham, who was tasked to investigate the DOJ on that matter, made courtroom appearances but did not argue in court during the trial over former Hillary Clinton attorney Michael Sussmann, though he took an active lead role in arguing the trial against Igor Danchenko.

The former president, who has labeled Smith as a “Trump Hating THUG,” entered the courtroom Tuesday before a magistrate judge where he pleaded not guilty to the 37 criminal charges he is facing.

Trump’s “not guilty” plea pertains to 31 counts for the willful retention of national defense information, one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one count of withholding a document or record, one count of corruptly concealing a document or record, one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation, one count for a scheme to conceal, and one count related to alleged false statements.

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Smith’s indictment alleges Trump knowingly and willfully mishandled classified documents after he departed the White House and resisted efforts to return them to the National Archives and Records Administration.

The government alleges the former president retained 31 documents related to sensitive defense secrets, from nuclear programs to attack plans, shared them with people without clearances on at least two occasions, and was personally involved in the decision to withhold them.

“This is the Thug, over turned consistently and unanimously in big cases, that Biden and his CORRUPT Injustice Department stuck on me,” Trump posted Tuesday on Truth Social. “He’s a Radical Right Lunatic and Trump Hater, as are all his friends and family, who probably ‘planted’ information in the ‘boxes’ given to them.”