Trump’s Lawyers Have Assailed Jack Smith. They Could Soon Have Power to Go After Him.

In many ways, the letter that President-elect Donald J. Trump’s criminal defense lawyers sent to the Justice Department this week was a display of legal and political bombast.

The lawyers, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, sought in it to prevent the special counsel, Jack Smith, from releasing a report about his inquiry into Mr. Trump’s mishandling of classified material.

They accused Mr. Smith of “unethical” and “improper” behavior for how he has handled the case, using damning phrases like “dereliction of duty” and accusing the special counsel of “leaking sensitive details” to the news media. Mr. Blanche and Mr. Bove have for many months launched similar attacks against Mr. Smith and his team.

But while the tone of denunciation was familiar, the accusations themselves carry new weight now that Mr. Trump, who has often suggested that Mr. Smith is corrupt and should face consequences for bringing charges against him, has won the election.

And the letter’s aggressive posture was all the more fraught and remarkable because Mr. Blanche and Mr. Bove are now poised to assume senior positions in Mr. Trump’s Justice Department, where they could soon have a say in how to evaluate — or even punish — Mr. Smith and his deputies.

There is no precedent for a situation in which a former president’s criminal defense lawyers go almost overnight from representing him against the federal government to being high-ranking officials in an administration led by that same client — one who has regularly signaled that he wants to use the Justice Department to mete out retribution against his perceived opponents.