For nearly two years now, former President Donald Trump has been the target of two overtly partisan federal prosecutions led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was dubiously appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, ostensibly to distance the politically motivated indictments from the Biden-Harris administration.

On Thursday, Trump was asked during an interview if he would fire Smith if re-elected and Trump replied with certainty that he would "fire him within two seconds" as one of his first orders of business upon taking office, The Washington Times reported.

The former and potentially future president further downplayed concerns about possibly being impeached again for terminating the special counsel, as he asserted that everyone in Congress knows that Smith is a "scoundrel" and "dishonest man."

Trump says he'd fire Smith "within two seconds"

Former President Trump on Thursday called in for an interview with conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt and, at one point in the discussion, was asked about the "tough choice" he would have to make if he won re-election about whether to issue a pardon for himself or fire Special Counsel Smith.

"Oh, it’s so easy. It’s so easy. In fact, he’s a crooked person," Trump said of Smith as he proceeded to praise U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon for dismissing Smith's classified documents case against him in South Florida.

"We’re in the process of winning all the other cases, I think. Even sometimes when we have to go to appeal. We got immunity at the Supreme Court," he added a moment later, then returned to the "tough" question about Smith and said, "It’s so easy. I would fire him within two seconds. He’ll be one of the first things addressed."

A few moments later, Hewitt raised the issue again and asked Trump if he was concerned that Congress might try to impeach him again if he pardoned himself or fired Smith, but the former president seemed unbothered by that possibility given Smith's notorious reputation.

"No, I don’t think they’ll impeach me if fire Jack Smith," Trump replied. "Jack Smith is a scoundrel. He’s a very dishonest man, in my opinion, very dishonest man. And he’s a mean man. He’s a mean man, but his problem is, he’s so mean that he always goes too far ..."

"Fact-check" suggests it is "possible but unlikely" that Trump fires Smith if re-elected

Newsweek decided to "fact-check" whether former President Trump could actually fire Special Counsel Smith if he is re-elected to a second term next month, which would begin following an inauguration in January of next year.

The outlet noted that Trump had talked about but never followed through on a threat to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who spent two years investigating the Russian collusion hoax, and suggested that he had backed away from doing so because of concerns expressed by White House attorneys and the threats from Congress, including some Republicans, of impeachment if he did so.

Ultimately, Newsweek concluded that it was "possible but unlikely" that Trump would fire Smith, given that his White House lawyers would probably similarly advise against it as well as the potential threat of another impeachment -- though, after having already survived two impeachments, he likely isn't as worried about that possibility as he was previously.

Further, he may decide that firing Smith is not worth the trouble, given that the classified documents case was already dismissed, the 2020 election-related case was largely "neutered" by the Supreme Court's immunity ruling, and the fact that he couldn't be prosecuted while he is a sitting president.

Harris campaign pounces on Trump's remarks about Smith

Of course, Democrats are acting as if Trump has already written up the order to terminate Smith, as The Hill reported that a Harris campaign spokesperson said of his remarks, "Donald Trump thinks he’s above the law, and these latest comments are right in line with the warnings made by Trump’s former Chief of Staff that he wants to rule as a dictator with unchecked power."

"A second Trump term, where a more unstable and unhinged Trump has essentially no guardrails and is surrounded by loyalists who will enable his worst instincts, is guaranteed to be more dangerous. America can’t risk a second Trump term," the spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris' struggling campaign added.