WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump was publicly accused on January 6 of “inciting his supporters to commit acts of physical violence” and deliberately spreading an objectively false narrative about voter fraud in the 2020 election. said Special Counsel Jack Smith in a report defending his investigation. Early Tuesday morning.
The 170-page report summarizes Smith’s investigation into President Trump’s efforts to stay in power after losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden and culminating in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. This is what I did. Mr. Smith’s office conducted interviews with more than 250 people in connection with the investigation, and a federal grand jury heard testimony from more than 55 witnesses as part of the investigation.
Mr. Smith has been the subject of constant criticism from President Trump, with Trump’s allies suggesting that criminal charges should be filed against the special counsel, and Mr. Smith has vigorously defended the decision to file charges. The report was used for
“For those of you who know me well, Mr. Trump’s claims that my decisions as prosecutor were influenced or directed by the Biden administration or other political actors are, in a word, ludicrous.” wrote Mr. Smith.
If President Trump’s election in November had not impeded the prosecution’s progress, the case would have ended with the president-elect’s conviction, Smith wrote.
“Indeed, given Mr. Trump’s election and impending return to office, authorities assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial,” Smith’s report said. ” is stated.
President Trump criticized the report on his website Truth Social, complaining that it was released at 1 a.m. and making false claims about the House committee that investigated it on January 6th. repeated.
“Jack is a stupid prosecutor who couldn’t get a trial before the election,” Trump wrote.
The report concludes a chapter in American history in which a former president was first indicted on federal charges, then reelected and returned to power days later. President Trump fought to keep the report secret, but a last-minute request to ban its publication was denied.
Mr. Smith’s report states that Mr. Trump’s actions, which resulted in the interruption of the United States’ record of peaceful transfers of power, are historically incomparable, and that Mr. Trump’s “political and economic standing” and ” “The outlook for future presidential elections” was the reason for the investigation. It’s more challenging.
President Trump’s “ability and willingness to use his social media influence and following to target witnesses, courts, and department officials” poses a “significant challenge” to the agency, and the special counsel is seeking to “protect witnesses.” “Intimidation and harassment,” the report states.
Smith pointed to President Trump’s continued praise for the Jan. 6 rioters as further evidence that the president-elect intended to incite the attack.
“He called them ‘patriots’ and ‘hostages,’ recalled January 6th as a ‘beautiful day,’ and described the ‘January 6th chorus’ of a group of January 6th defendants who are being held as dangerous. District of Columbia Prison,” Smith wrote.
The report notes that Trump has promoted claims of voter fraud that are “clearly and in many cases demonstrably false,” and that Smith’s office says, “Trump has made false claims that there was fraud that affected the outcome of the 2020 election.” “He did not make any claims and knew that many of the specific claims were fraudulent.” What he said was false and he lost the election. ”
After watching Biden’s speech, Smith said to an aide, “Can you believe I lost to this son of a bitch?” he pointed to testimony in which President Trump privately admitted defeat.
Mr. Smith, who resigned on Friday, also wrote a second volume focusing on separate charges brought against Mr. Trump over his handling of classified documents, although charges against two of Mr. Trump’s co-defendants are still pending. Therefore, that part of the report was not made public.
According to Smith’s report, prosecutors said Trump was determined to allege fraud before the election, regardless of whether it occurred, and that even after he lost, he “continued to stick to that plan, making false claims he knew to be false.” He said that he should have been able to prove that he had been repeating the same thing over and over again. ”
Trump was convicted of 34 felonies related to hush money payments to adult film stars during his 2016 campaign, but has denied any wrongdoing in connection with his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. was. A federal grand jury indicted four felonies related to January 6th and the efforts leading up to it: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstructing and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. Mr. Trump was indicted. that. The charges were dropped with President Trump’s victory in November, based on a longstanding Justice Department policy that prevents the prosecution of sitting presidents.
Smith said in the report that his office considered charging Trump under the Insurrection Act, but ultimately decided against it, given the complex legal definition of “insurrection” and whether there was incitement. , concluded that it would be difficult to prove.
Smith also provided few details about the six unindicted co-conspirators included in the original indictment. The alleged co-conspirators can be identified based on public information, but Smith did not name them. He wrote that the report should not be seen as exonerating them. However, while the special prosecutor continues to investigate the co-conspirators, it has been revealed that he has referred the case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, stating that “the subject of the investigation may have committed an unrelated crime.”
Trump has never publicly acknowledged that he knew he lost the 2020 election, but a federal grand jury found that the false claims he spread were “unsubstantiated, objectively unreasonable, and constantly changing.” “There is,” he said.
The delay strategy used by Trump’s legal team ultimately allowed him to avoid a trial before U.S. voters re-elected him last year, giving him more latitude when he returns to office. The Supreme Court has ruled on presidential immunity.
The report was released as President Trump says he is preparing to pardon numerous defendants on January 6th. More than 1,580 defendants were charged with charges ranging from illegal parading to seditious conspiracy, and more than 1,270 were convicted. More than 700 defendants have already served their sentences or were never sentenced to prison in the first place. Asked if he could pardon rioters who assaulted police officers, President Trump did not rule out the possibility.
Among those seeking clemency is the former Proud singer, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy in 2023 and sentenced to 22 years in federal prison, the longest sentence given to a defendant on Jan. 6. There’s also Boyz president Enrique Tarrio. Vice President-elect J.D. Vance said over the weekend that those who committed violence “of course” should not be pardoned. The mother of a rioter shot and killed in the Jan. 6 attack said she received a call from President Trump last week telling her to “keep your chin up” at the Jan. 6 defendants.
