Smith, a former war crimes prosecutor, was appointed in November 2022, nearly two years after the Capitol attack.
Special Counsel Jack Smith, who led two federal cases against Donald Trump, has resigned from the U.S. Department of Justice ahead of the Republican president-elect’s second term inauguration on January 20th.
The two cases involve Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents after he left the White House and his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election. Trump was indicted in both cases overseen by Smith.
“The special counsel completed his work, filed his final confidential report on January 7, 2025, and became independent from the department on January 10,” the officials wrote in a filing with U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon. Last week, he appealed not to extend the trial. Order blocking publication of Smith’s final report.
The statement about Smith was a footnote in a filing with Cannon that is considering whether to maintain a stay on the special counsel’s report on the two cases.
Smith, a former war crimes prosecutor, was appointed to lead the Justice Department’s two ongoing investigations into Trump in November 2022, nearly two years after the Capitol attack.
He filed two of the four criminal cases that Trump faced after leaving office, but a Trump-appointed Florida judge rejected one case, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the former president had no right to conduct his official duties. The lawsuit reached a deadlock after the court granted immunity from prosecution. Neither case reached trial.
After Mr. Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election, Mr. Smith dropped both cases, citing a longstanding Justice Department rule barring prosecution of a sitting president. In asking the court to dismiss the charges, Smith’s team defended the merits of their case, suggesting only that President Trump’s impending return to the White House made the case untenable.
Smith’s resignation is another sign of the collapse of the criminal case against Trump, which could end with no legal repercussions for the president-elect and spark a backlash that could precipitate Trump’s political comeback. there was.
Meanwhile, President Trump has frequently called Smith “crazy” and said he would fire him soon after taking office, but said he would pursue retribution against Smith and others who investigated him if he returned to office. It suggests possibility.
