The prosecutor appointed to investigate Donald Trump’s alleged effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election has left the US Department of Justice, officials said in a court filing on Saturday.
Jack Smith “completed his work and submitted his final confidential report on Jan 7 2025 and separated from the department on Jan 10”, according to a document submitted to Aileen Cannon, the US district judge, which urged her to not extend an order last week blocking the release of Mr Smith’s final report.
The statement was a footnote in the filing to Mrs Cannon as she considers whether to maintain a hold on the special counsel’s report concerning Mr Trump’s role in the insurrection at the US Capitol on Jan 6 2020 and his alleged withholding of classified documents after he left the White House.
With the hold set to expire in the coming days and Mrs Cannon reviewing an extension, the protracted legal fight over the report on Trump-related cases will come down to the week or so before the president-elect is inaugurated on Jan 20.
‘He left town empty-handed’
Mr Trump suggested in a late night post on his Truth Social platform that Mr Smith was “fired” by the Department of Justice.
“He is a disgrace to himself, his family and his country. After spending over $100,000,000 on the Witch Hunt against TRUMP, he left town empty-handed!” he said.
Mr Smith had accused Mr Trump of conspiracy to defraud the US and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding – the session of Congress called to certify Biden’s election win that was violently attacked by a mob of the Republican leader’s supporters.
However, Mr Smith dropped the cases against Mr Trump after he won November’s presidential election.
On Jan 7, the special counsel finalised his confidential report to Merrick Garland, the US attorney general, and the Justice Department said last week that Mr Garland plans to publicly release the findings.
Department officials have argued that Mrs Cannon does not have the power to block the attorney general from releasing Mr Smith’s report.
