Washington: On Friday, a new judge was appointed to lead the US trial court in Washington, inheriting control of the covert proceedings involving the criminal investigations of the special counsel into the retention of classified documents by the late President Donald Trump and his campaign's efforts to reverse his loss in the 2020 election.

Judge Beryl Howell's seven-year term as chief judge of the US District Court for the District of Columbia came to an end, and James "Jeb" Boasberg took her place.

Federal grand jury proceedings that are kept secret are entirely at the chief judge's discretion. That implies that Boasberg immediately assumes control over handling specific issues that might come up in the special counsel investigations involving Trump, who declared his candidature for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in November.

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If a grand jury is convened in a separate special counsel investigation into President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents after leaving the vice presidency, Boasberg would also take on the same obligations. The Democrat Joe Biden is anticipated to run for office again in 2024.

Boasberg, the chief judge, will soon make a decision regarding some legal issues brought up during the grand jury investigations, such as attempts to limit witness testimony. Public access to grand jury proceedings is prohibited.

Boasberg declined to speak about his upcoming responsibilities as grand jury oversight in an interview. The court was fortunate to have Howell as its leader "in this very fraught period," he said, praising his predecessor.

She has "led the court in a terrific way through COVID and dislocations, and she also has maintained a very cohesive court not driven by partisan divides," according to Boasberg.

Boasberg has been a member of the court since 2011, when Democratic President Barack Obama appointed him. Previously, Republican President George W. Bush chose him to serve on the D.C. Superior Court in 2002. Both times he was easily confirmed by the US Senate.

Multiple grand juries are hearing testimony from Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November to lead the two Trump investigations. Trump's decision to keep sensitive documents at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago after he leaves office in January 2021 and his attempts to obstruct the orderly transition of power after losing to Biden are at issue.

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Garland appointed Robert Hur as a second special counsel in January to look into the classified documents discovered at Biden's Delaware home.

No president, living or dead, has ever been charged with a crime. According to other judges and his former law clerks, Boasberg, a tall and deep-voiced former player for Yale's basketball team, is well-equipped to handle the cases and guide the court through the intense scrutiny any indictment would bring.

Boasberg is "exactly the kind of independent thinker you would want in that position," according to US District Judge Casey Cooper in Washington, who has known him since they were classmates at Yale. Cooper also described Boasberg as "incredibly balanced, thoughtful, and fair."

Howell commended Boasberg for being willing to tackle controversial and high-profile issues, "whether arising out of the grand jury or not, that draw the spotlight of national attention."

Howell frequently heard legal arguments in special counsel investigations while serving as chief judge.

These included a challenge to a grand jury subpoena issued by then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller as he looked into the contacts between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russians and, more recently, Republican congressman Scott Perry's attempt to prevent investigators from accessing his mobile and messages relating to actions involving the 2020 election results.

Speaking at a ceremony Friday to mark the chief judge transition was US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who had previously worked on the D.C. trial court alongside Howell and Boasberg. According to Jackson, the judges on the court were aware that Howell provided "the best leadership of a court in crisis anywhere in this country" during that time.

Boasberg has previously been given challenging tasks. He presided over the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which hears requests from the government for covert surveillance warrants, in the years 2020 and 2021. After failings in the department's procedure for obtaining the covert warrants were brought to light by the internal watchdog of the Justice Department, he was appointed.

Boasberg oversaw Special Counsel John Durham's criminal case against former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who pleaded guilty in 2020 to altering an email used to justify a government wiretap of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Boasberg sentenced Clinesmith to a year of probation and 400 hours of community service.

Boasberg rejected a challenge from Republican state lawmakers and others who were contesting Trump's victory and had asked him to prevent congressional certification following the 2020 election.

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Boasberg referred the case's attorney, Erick Kaardal, to the court's grievance committee for acting with "potential bad faith" and stated that courts "are not instruments through which parties engage in such gamesmanship or symbolic political gestures."