DOJ releases Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on Trump election

The Justice Department made public Volume I of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s final report on his now-closed investigations into President-elect Donald Trump, days before he is set to be sworn into office. 

Attorney General Merrick Garland released the first volume, which focuses on the election case against Trump, of Smith’s report on Tuesday at midnight after back-and-forth in the federal court system.

An opening letter from Smith to Garland said that it is “laughable” that Trump believes the Biden administration, or other political actors, influenced or directed his decisions as a prosecutor, stating that he was guided by the Principles of Federal Prosecution.

“Trump’s cases represented ones ‘in which the offense [was] the most flagrant, the public harm the greatest, and the proof the most certain,’” Smith said, referencing the principles.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH FROM RELEASING FINAL REPORT

In the lengthy report, Smith said his office fully stands behind the decision to bring criminal charges against Trump because he “resorted to a series of criminal efforts to retain power” after he lost the 2020 election.

Smith said in his conclusion that the parties were determining whether any material in the “superseding indictment was subject to presidential immunity” when it became clear that Trump had won the 2024 election. The department then determined the case must be dismissed before he takes office because of how it interprets the Constitution.

“The Department’s view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a President is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Office…