The report produced by special counsel Jack Smith has been released, with the prosecutor defending his decision to bring criminal charges against now President-elect Donald Trump and his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The report was released at midnight Tuesday, according to Fox News. It was when the original hold on the report expired.
Smith said that his team “stood up for the rule of law” during the investigation, The Associated Press reported. He went further to say that he believes that Trump would have been convicted if he was not reelected as the 47th president. Trump will be sworn in on Monday for his second term in the White House.
“The throughline of all of Mr. Trump’s criminal efforts was deceit — knowingly false claims of election fraud — and the evidence shows that Mr. Trump used these lies as a weapon to defeat a federal government function foundational to the United States’ democratic process,” the report said.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that he was “totally innocent” and that Smith was “a lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the Election.”
Trump was indicted in August 2023, but the case never went to trial after appeals and the Supreme Court ruling that presidents have immunity from prosecution for official acts. Smith tried to keep the indictment alive after that ruling but dropped it once Trump won reelection under the long-standing Department of Justice policy that does not prosecute sitting presidents.
Trump had been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, violation of an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights, all of which he pleaded not guilty to, Fox News reported.
“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 stands fully behind,” the report said. “Indeed, but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the Presidency, the Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.”
Smith also spelled out challenges he and his team faced when dealing with Trump including his use of executive privilege to prevent people from testifying and Trump’s “ability and willingness to use his influence and following on social media to target witnesses, courts, prosecutors.”
The special counsel also said that he did not charge Trump with incitement because of free speech protections and insurrection because Trump was president on Jan. 6, 2021, and that there was no record of it being prosecuted in the past the AP reported.
A second report focusing on the alleged mishandling of classified documents after Trump left office will not be released, for now. A hearing on the release of the second volume is scheduled for Friday in front of Judge Aileen Cannon. The classified documents case against Trump was dismissed in July 2024 after Cannon ruled that Smith was unlawfully appointed to the special counsel position, Fox News reported.
Smith resigned last week as special counsel after being appointed in November 2022, Fox News reported. Smith was an assistant U.S. attorney and chief to the Department of Justice’s public integrity section.
Read the entire report, uploaded by the AP:
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