CNN
—
Special Counsel Jack Smith resigned from the Justice Department effective Friday, according to court filings.
The filing follows Attorney General Merrick Garland’s release of the special counsel’s investigation report into then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and the alleged mishandling of classified documents after Trump left office. The move comes amid a legal battle to prevent the move.
Mr. Smith submitted his final two-volume report to the attorney general on Tuesday. Garland has indicated that he will not release the portion of the report that deals with the investigation into classified documents, but believes it should ultimately be made public.
Mr. Smith’s office has been in the downsizing process for several weeks, and his resignation before Mr. Trump’s inauguration would not be unexpected. In addition to completing the report and sending it to the attorney general, Smith’s team has turned over an ongoing appeal over the special counsel’s mandate to other Justice Department lawyers, citing Trump’s return. Two federal criminal cases against Trump were dismissed. To the president.
The attorney general has also informed Congressional committee leaders that he intends to give them confidential access to Mr. Smith’s documents related to the classified documents case, and this weekend and next week will be the time for Merrick Garland’s transparency efforts. An important window into intent.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department is battling in court with Mr. Trump and former co-defendants over whether to release Mr. Smith’s report, as the clock ticks down to the Jan. 20 inauguration. President Trump plans to appoint some members of the defense team that argued against publication in court to senior positions at the Justice Department.
An appeals court on Friday rejected a request from Mr. Trump and his allies to keep the report secret. The Justice Department has since appealed Judge Eileen Cannon’s temporary stay on the release of the report, and the former defendants have asked the judge to extend the stay, or else It expires Sunday night.
Due to the ongoing legal battle, the Justice Department may be able to release Smith’s first volume to the public on Sunday or Monday. But Cannon asked the Justice Department for more information by Sunday morning about the contents of Volume 1 and whether any of it relates to the classified documents case.
Smith was appointed by Garland to lead the dossier and election destruction investigation in November 2022, after President Trump announced he would seek re-election. Smith, a former federal prosecutor, most recently served as war crimes prosecutor in The Hague.
He indicted Trump in both investigations in 2023, but prosecutors in both had legal stumbles and the president-elect was removed from the case following voters’ decision to return Trump to the White House.
One of the legacies of the Smith investigation is the Supreme Court’s sweeping presidential immunity ruling in election-subversion cases, which sets a very high bar for prosecuting a former president for acts in his official capacity. is set.
President Trump and his allies on the Hill have publicly discussed the investigation they plan to launch with a special counsel.
The report could be the final word on the findings of Smith’s investigation and its legal reasoning. Aside from the current court battle, there are other avenues by which the report could be made public. Congress could take steps to obtain the report and information from it. There is also the potential for Freedom of Information Act requests and litigation resulting from those requests to compel disclosure of details of the report.
Trump’s former co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos Deoliveira, could be harmed if Judge Cannon dismisses the indictment against Smith, so the report is important to Congress and the public. They argue that it should not be made public. The appointment was made in violation of the Constitution, but it was reinstated by the Court of Appeals.
A new filing from the Justice Department points to Garland’s decision not to make that report public, and lawmakers who would be allowed to see it under Garland’s plan would be prohibited from sharing details of the report. He refuted this claim by pointing out that.
Mr. Trump and his allies also claim that Mr. Cannon’s decision to disqualify Mr. Smith stripped him of his authority to write the report and prevented Mr. Garland from releasing his report.
This article has been updated with additional reporting.
