Left: Jack Smith speaks about an indictment of former President Donald Trump, Aug. 1, 2023, at a Department of Justice office in Washington (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File). Right: Donald Trump speaks to members of the media before departing Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 6, 2024, in New York (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, Pool).
The Department of Justice on Tuesday morning released former special counsel Jack Smith’s report on his office’s investigation into Donald Trump’s alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election. The report was accompanied by a letter from Smith to Attorney General Merrick Garland in which Smith proclaimed that he stood behind his office’s decision to prosecute Trump — and called the president-elect’s claim that the Biden administration directed his actions “laughable.”
The highly-anticipated 137-page report was released shortly after a temporary injunction put in place by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon expired. Cannon, a Trump appointee, on Monday evening rejected an eleventh-hour request from the president-elect to extend the injunction until at least Friday.
In his letter to Garland, Smith lauded his team at the special counsel’s office as being “without peer in terms of accomplishment, capability, judgment, and work ethic” as well as exemplifying “the highest personal integrity.”
Smith asserted he was confident that the evidence gathered through his investigations showed that Trump committed federal crimes in his alleged effort to undermine Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election and in his alleged mishandling and refusal to return classified documents stored in his Mar-a-Lago residence.
“As set forth in my Report, after conducting thorough investigations, I found that, with respect to both Mr. Trump’s unprecedented efforts to unlawfully retain power after losing the 2020 election and his unlawful retention of classified documents after leaving office, the [Principles of Federal Prosecution] compelled prosecution,” the former special counsel wrote. “Indeed, Mr. Trump’s cases represented ones ‘in which the offense [was] the most flagrant, the public harm the greatest, and the proof the most certain.””
Smith was also unambiguous in stating that the “ultimate decision” on bringing criminal charges against Trump was made by him, saying it was “a decision I stand behind fully.” He also made it clear that “nobody” at the Justice Department “ever sought to interfere with, or improperly influence” his decisions as special prosecutor, particularly when it came to the charges against Trump.
“The regulations under which I was appointed provided you with the authority to countermand my decisions, but you did not do so,” the letter states. “Nor did you, the Deputy Attorney General, or members of your staff ever attempt to improperly influence my decision as to whether to bring charges against Mr. Trump. And to all who know me well, the claim from Mr. Trump that my decisions as a prosecutor were influenced or directed by the Biden administration or other political actors is, in a word, laughable.”
While the charges against Trump were ultimately dropped due to long-standing DOJ policy against indicting and prosecuting a sitting-president, Smith concluded his report by reiterating that he was confident his investigation would have led to Trump being convicted of federal felony crimes.
“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 states in the closing paragraph. “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.”
