The stunning sweep of the mandate Garland conferred on special counsel Jack Smith likely doomed a prompt and focused determination of whether Trump should be indicted.

Despite assurances from Garland that a special counsel will not bog down the investigation, reality suggests otherwise. Smith will oversee not one but two ongoing investigations: The efforts to disrupt the counting of the Electoral College ballots on Jan. 6, 2021, and Trump’s possession of classified documents and presidential records at his Mar-a-Lago home after leaving office.

For the first one alone, the attorney general has directed Smith to investigate whether “any person or entity unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election or the certification of the Electoral College on or about January 6, 2021.”

Looking into “any person or entity” is a very wide scope that is time-consuming and shifts the focus away from Trump.

[Special counsels inevitably turn into roving prosecutors and empire builders. We need to end this practice, full stop. — Ed]