(Reuters) – U.S. special counsel Jack Smith has resigned as the Republican president-elect prepares to return to the White House.
Smith resigned from the Justice Department on Friday, asking her to revoke a court order she issued blocking the release of his final report, according to a court document filed Saturday with U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon.
Notification of Smith’s resignation appeared in a footnote in the document, which said the special counsel completed its work, submitted its final confidential report on Jan. 7 and “separated” from the Justice Department on Jan. 10.
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Smith, a former war crimes prosecutor, brought two of the four criminal cases Trump faced after leaving office, but a Florida judge appointed by Trump dismissed one of the cases and the U.S. Supreme Court, where three Trump appointees Judge), these cases gradually ground to a halt. Neither case went to trial.
Smith dropped both cases after Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election, citing the Justice Department’s long-standing rule against prosecuting a sitting president. In asking the court to dismiss the charges, Smith’s team defended the merits of the case they brought, suggesting only that Trump’s impending return to the White House made them untenable.
Smith’s departure is another sign of the failure of criminal cases against Trump that could end without any legal consequences for the incoming president and spark a backlash that could help fuel his political comeback. .
Smith’s resignation from the Justice Department was expected. Trump, who has often called Smith “unhinged,” has said he will fire him immediately upon taking office on January 20 and has suggested he may retaliate against Smith and others who investigated him once he returns to office.
In 2023, Trump became the first current or former U.S. president to face criminal prosecution, first in New York on charges he tried to cover up hush-money payments to porn stars during his 2016 presidential campaign. Smith was subsequently charged with accusing Trump of illegally withholding classified material after leaving office and trying to overturn his 2020 defeat, which sparked the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Georgia prosecutors also accused Trump of trying to overturn his election defeat in the state.
Trump claims political motivation
Trump has denied wrongdoing and alleged that the prosecution was a politically motivated attempt to undermine his campaign. His court appearances have raised millions of dollars in campaign donations and he has used the cases to push a powerful narrative that the political establishment is attacking him and his supporters.
The Justice Department has defended the cases, saying they are run by career prosecutors who operate without political influence.
Garland appointed Smith in November 2022, nearly two years after the Capitol attack, to lead two ongoing Justice Department investigations into Trump. Just a few days ago, Trump announced that he would return to the White House in the 2024 election.
Garland, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden, said Smith would provide a degree of independence in the highly sensitive investigation. Garland rejected earlier calls to appoint a special counsel, insisting he could properly oversee the Trump investigation.
Smith returned to Washington from The Hague, where he prosecuted war crimes cases stemming from the 1998-99 Kosovo war. He previously led the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section and worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, New York, where he earned a reputation as a tenacious investigator.
In The Hague, Smith convicted former Kosovo Liberation Army commander Salih Mustafa, who ran a prison where torture took place during the conflict.
historic first
The indictments, the first federal case against a former U.S. president, accuse Trump of taking highly sensitive national security documents to his Florida resort and using false claims of voter fraud to try to undermine the 2020 election following his defeat. Collection and certification of ballots.
“The attack on our nation’s Capitol on January 6, 2021 was an unprecedented attack on the seat of American democracy. As the indictment states, it was fueled by lies — lies by the defendants designed to hinder the basic functions of American democracy. United States government,” Smith said when he announced the election indictments in August 2023, one of his only two public appearances during the investigation.
Smith had a tight timeline to complete both prosecutions because it was clear that Trump would be able to end both prosecutions if he won the election. Both face legal hurdles.
In the classified documents case, Trump nominee U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida dismissed all charges in July after ruling that Smith was improperly appointed as special counsel.
Smith’s office appealed the decision. After Trump’s victory, prosecutors dropped Trump-related appeals but said they would continue efforts to reinstate charges against two Trump associates accused of obstructing the investigation.
The election case was put on hold for months while Trump’s lawyers filed a presidential immunity appeal. The U.S. Supreme Court largely sided with Trump in August, ruling that he could not be prosecuted for many of his official actions as president and triggering more delays in the case.
Smith acknowledged in court documents that his team faced “unprecedented circumstances” after Trump won the election over Democrat Kamala Harris. His office concluded that neither case could proceed to trial.
Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records following a hush-money trial brought by New York state prosecutors. His sentencing was postponed indefinitely after he won the election, and Trump’s lawyers are seeking to have the verdict dismissed entirely.
The Georgia case, which also includes charges against 14 Trump allies, remains pending while an appeals court decides whether lead prosecutor Fani Willis must be found guilty of inappropriate conduct for her romantic relationship with a former top deputy Disqualified. The case against Trump is unlikely to move forward while Trump remains president.
(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Additional reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
