Jack Smith resigns from Justice Department ahead of Trump’s inauguration

Special Counsel Jack Smith resigned days before President-elect Donald Trump was inaugurated.

The Justice Department said in a filing Saturday that Smith resigned from the Justice Department on Friday after submitting a report on the investigation into President Trump to the attorney general. This move was expected.

Meanwhile, a legal dispute over whether the Justice Department can release portions of a two-volume report focused on President Trump’s efforts to invalidate the 2020 presidential election remains ongoing. After Trump left the White House in January 2021, the department published a separate document about Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, which was filed against two of Trump’s associates. He said he would not make the information public as long as the criminal proceedings continue. The defendant is still in litigation.

Mr. Trump denies wrongdoing and has long criticized two legal proceedings against him that were led by Mr. Smith. Trump previously said firing Smith and his team would be his immediate priority after taking office.

If any of Smith’s reports are made public, President Trump said at a wide-ranging press conference at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on January 7, “It’s a sham investigation.” It will be a false report, just as it was.” . ”

Here’s what you need to know about Smith’s two investigations into Trump.

Confidential document inquiry

Charges are still pending against two of Trump’s co-defendants in a Florida lawsuit accusing Trump of illegally possessing classified documents.

Judge Eileen Cannon, appointed by President Trump to handle the classified documents case, dismissed Smith’s initial investigation into Trump in July, concluding it was illegal.

Mr. Smith is currently appealing a request to have the charges against two people charged with Mr. Trump with obstruction of investigation dismissed.

Reports on the classified documents investigation, once thought to pose the greatest legal threat of all investigations into President Trump, remain almost certain to be released after the Trump Justice Department’s lawsuit against him. Considering that the documents will not be made public, there is a high possibility that they will be made public in the future. The two co-defendants have been resolved.

election interference

The Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity significantly curtails election interference lawsuits.

For the first time, a court ruled that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, making it unlikely that Trump will go to trial before the November election.

Smith’s team abandoned both cases in November after Trump’s presidential victory, citing Justice Department policy barring federal prosecutions of sitting presidents.