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Special counsel Jack Smith has completed his reports on his criminal investigations into Donald Trump and resigned from the Department of Justice.
Smith — a chief prosecutor at The Hague who was appointed to handle investigations into the president-elect for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and withhold classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago compound — delivered his final reports to Attorney General Merrick Garland on January 7.
He then “separated” from the Justice Department on Friday, prosecutors revealed in a court filing on Saturday.
His departure was expected following the conclusion of his investigations. Trump had also threatened to “fire” him if his work continued into the next administration.
Justice Department lawyers are urging a Trump-appointed federal judge to reject attempts from the former president and his now-former co-defendants in the Mar-a-Lago case to keep Smith’s report secret.
An order from Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon has temporarily blocked the release of the entire two-volume report, including the results of his investigation into Trump’s election subversion — a case that played out in an entirely different court in Washington, D.C.
After months of delays, appeals and Supreme Court decisions that bought Trump time and broad “immunity” from criminal prosecution, the cases were ultimately upended by Trump’s victory against Kamala Harris, throwing the courts and the Justice Department into unprecedented territory that brushed up against policy that prevents the prosecution of a sitting president.
The Justice Department has agreed that Garland will not publicly release Smith’s report on the classified documents investigation while the case against Trump’s co-defendants remains pending, according to federal prosecutors.
Trump, meanwhile, spent his 2024 campaign raging against Smith, labelling him “deranged” and “crooked” and threatening to fire him “within two seconds” of taking office. Trump said Smith should be “thrown out of the country.”
A federal grand jury indictment in 2023 charged Trump with conspiracy and obstruction for his efforts to reverse his election loss and failure to stop a mob of his supporters from breaking into the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, as lawmakers convened to certify Joe Biden’s victory.
On October 2, 2024, Smith’s team unveiled the fullest account yet of Trump’s alleged crimes in that case, laying out across 165 pages Trump’s “increasingly desperate efforts” to cling to power with “knowingly false claims of election fraud.”
The lengthy filing traces the history of Trump’s bogus narrative of fraud, characterized as an attempt to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election, despite knowing that his claims were false.
The filing then documents the state-by-state efforts by Trump, his unindicted co-conspirators and allies to pressure state officials, election workers and others to validate his scheme to reverse the loss, then organize allies to submit fraudulent election certificates falsely stating that he won.
Trump was separately charged in 2023 with mishandling reams of classified documents hoarded inside Mar-a-Lago, and then obstructing attempts from federal authorities to get them back.
In a shock decision, Judge Cannon ultimately dismissed the case after agreeing with Trump’s attorneys that Smith was unconstitutionally appointed and funded. Smith’s team appealed that decision, but then dropped Trump as a defendant after his election. The case against his co-defendants is ongoing.
