Last Friday, the same day President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced in his New York criminal case, the head prosecutor over two of his federal cases resigned. Special counsel Jack Smith resigned from the Justice Department after spending the last two years in legal battles against Trump in the classified documents and election subversion cases — the cases never made it to trial.
Smith’s departure from office was unsurprising — even expected — following Trump’s 2024 presidential election win. However, with Trump entering the White House in a week, Smith’s cases ultimately became otiose, or of no value, since the Department of Justice has long held that a sitting president is protected from legal prosecution.
Trump had previously said he would fire Smith “within two seconds” of entering office. He posted on Truth Social after Smith resigned that the attorney was a “disgrace” to his kin and country, adding that Smith and his prosecution team “were sent packing after spending over $100,000,000, destroying the lives of many people and families, who will never be the same again. Deranged Jack accomplished nothing, except to show what complete losers my political opponents are!!!”
Despite leaving his post, Smith is still trying to have the last word.
Judge grants green light on Smith’s final report
On Monday, the federal judge presiding over the classified documents case in Florida allowed the Justice Department to release part of Smith’s final report. According to court filings, the report is a detailed review of the decisions Smith made in his two indictments against Trump.
Last July, Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the classified documents case where Trump was accused of holding confidential documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, citing the unconstitutionality of the United States Attorney General’s appointment of Smith as Special Counsel. Last week, she also put an emergency stay on the report’s publication after Trump’s co-defendants requested it in the classified documents case due to their ongoing legal cases.
However, in a filing on Monday, Cannon said part one of the final report that discusses the election subversion case can be released, but “that Volume II should not be released to the public because it concerns the continuing legal rights of Defendants Nauta and De Oliveira in this criminal proceeding; but nevertheless seeks permission to make a limited release of Volume II to specified members of Congress, citing generalized congressional interest.”
Volume I of the report apparently delves into Smith’s election subversion case against Trump that accused the former president of attempting to overturn the results of his loss in the 2020 presidential election.
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling last summer granting U.S. presidents immunity over official acts they make while in office, Smith’s election subversion case lost traction.
In a separate post on social media, Trump responded to the release of Smith’s final report being greenlit:
“Why would Deranged Jack Smith be allowed to issue a ‘report’ on a complete and total Witch Hunt against me, strictly for political purposes, when he was thrown off the case and ultimately dismissed by the DOJ. … He has already filled thousands of rejected statements and documents against me, which were a ‘joke,’ and the public just voted for me, in a landslide, to be their President!”
Judge Cannon scheduled an emergency hearing with both parties for Jan. 17 at 2 p.m. ET to discuss the issues surrounding volume II of the final report.
