Smith: Trump could have been convicted

President-elect blasts release of report on election case from special counsel, he said 'should be in jail'

By: Josh Meyer
Bart Jansen
and Aysha Bagchi
USA Today

WASHINGTON - Special counsel Jack Smith, whose office indicted President-elect Donald Trump on charges of illegally trying to stay in power after losing the 2020 election, said in a bombshell final report released early Tuesday [01/14/2024] that he believed his team had amassed enough evidence to convict Trump if the case went to trail.
..... But Trump's election to a second term in November [2024] made it impossible for the case to go froward, Smith wrote in the 174-page report, which was dated January 7 [2025] and addressed to Attorney Genera Merrick Garland.
..... "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 prosecutions, which the Office stands fully behind," Smith wrote in the report.
..... "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 wrote.
..... Ultimately, the special counsel's office opted against brining charges.
..... Trump and his legal team had fought to prevent the release of the report on various grounds, including saying it would interfere with his plans to take office on January 20. [2025]
.... But late Monday [01/13/2025] night, U.S. district Judge Alleen Cannon in Florida denied Trump's emergency motion to prevent its release.
..... Solon after, the Justice Department delivered it to Congress.
..... The release of the report caps an extraordinary legal saga pitting the Justice Department - and later the special counsel's office after Trump declared his candidacy - against the former president. Investigators, focused on most serious ever levied against an elected official of Trump's stature, including whether he took steps to essentially try to subvert the will of the voters who elected President Joe Biden in 2020 instead of him.
..... After Trump won the 2004 election last November, [2024] judges dismissed the charges at Smith's request, under longstanding Justice Department policy against prosecuting sitting presidents. Special counsels typically write reports explaining what their investigation revealed and the reasoning behind decisions about whether to bring charges.
..... Trump responded to the report's release on Truth Social, attacking Smith and the congressional committee that investigated the attack at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters on January 6, 2021.
..... Trump's lawyers were allowed to read the report before its release. In an exchange of letters, Trump;s lawyers called it a "lawless publicity stunt" and Smith replied that they failed to dispute any facts in the report.
..... Trump's lawyers argued Smith "pillaged" the government for more than $20 million for the investigation they called "politically-motivated work."
..... "Finally, the release of any confidential report prepared by this out-of-control private citizen unconstitutionally posing as a prosecutor would be nothing more than a lawless political stunt, designed to politically hard President Trump and justify the huge sums of taxpayer money Smith unconstitutionally spent on his failed and dismissed case," Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche, email Bove, John Lauro and Gregory Singer wrote.
..... Smith's report provides the fullest description yet about the investigation that led to two federal indictments against Trump before both cases were dismissed. Smith's team previously released a 165-page summary of the election case in October [2024] that included revelations such as Trump allegedly saying "so what?" when Vice President Mike Pence had to be taken to a secure location during the Capitol attack.
..... In an appeals filing, Trump's lawyers described the report as "nothing less than another attempt political hit job which sole purpose is to disrupt the Presidential transition and undermine President Trump's exercise of executive power."
..... Smith, who insisted on having an extremely low profile throughout the course of the case, vehemently denied Trump's claims that ti was politicized.
.... "While I relied greatly on the counsel, judgment, and advice of our team, I want it to be clear that the ultimate decision to bring charges against Mr. Trump was mine. It is a decision I stand behind fully," smith wrote in his letter to Garland.
..... "It is equally important for me to make clear that nobody within the Department of Justice ever sought to interfere with, or improperly influence, my prosecutor decisions making," Smith wrote. "And to all who know me well, the claim from Mr. Trump that my decisions as a prosecutor ere influenced or directed by the Biden administration or other political actors is, in a word, laughable."
..... Smith argued in the report that it was important to bring the election-interference prosecution against Trump in order to protect the United Stats' electoral process.
..... Trump also engaged in threats and encourage violence against those he perceived as his opponents, according to the report, which said 140 law enforcement officers were assaulted on January 6, 2021, with some suffering "significant physical injuries."
..... Trump, Smith suggested, has fueled that violence by telling his supports in a speech that day to go there and "fight like hell."
..... Trump was indicted in Washington for allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 election with baseless claims of widespread fraud. He was also charged with obstructionist Congress from counting Electoral College votes on January 6, 2021, when a riot of his supporters at the Capitol temporarily halted the count.
..... Trump pleaded not guilty in both cases and maintained his innocence.
..... smith resigned form the Justice Department on Friday. [01/10/2025] Trump had said he would fire Smith upon assuming office and that Smith, "should be in jail."
..... "I defeated deranged Jack Smith," Trump said Tuesday. [01/14/2025] "We did nothing wrong."

HOME