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The Justice Department has released special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on President-elect Donald Trump’s election interference case, about the federal investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
In his 170-page report, Smith, who has been relentlessly criticized by Trump and his allies, forcefully defended his decision to bring charges, writing: “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.”
Smith also wrote that he believes Trump would have been convicted for his alleged crimes in the case if not for his election in November.
“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 stated.
Trump was indicted in August 2023 — and then again in 2024 — on four felony counts for his attempts to reverse his loss in the 2020 election. He pleaded not guilty. Smith moved to dismiss the case in November after Trump won the election, in accordance with a long-standing Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Trump’s attorneys fought hard to prevent the release of Smith’s report, which is split into two volumes, one on Trump’s election interference case in D.C. and another on his classified documents case in Florida. The Justice Department said it does not intend to make public the portion of the report related to the classified documents case while it remains pending against Trump’s former co-defendants.
Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who dismissed his classified documents case in July, temporarily blocked the report’s publication. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday that the Justice Department can release the report but upheld Cannon’s three-day delay to allow for further appeals. The DOJ subsequently told her that it is appealing the order that imposed the delay.