Special Counsel Jack Smith plans on stepping down and releasing a report before Trump takes office.
Last week Jack Smith asked a judge to ‘pause proceedings’ in Trump’s cases to assess ‘unprecedented circumstance.’
Jack Smith’s office made the announcement last Friday after President Trump won the 2024 election in a historic landslide.
“As a result of the election held on November 5, 2024, the defendant is expected to be certified as President-elect on January 6, 2025, and inaugurated on January 20, 2025. The Government respectfully requests that the Court vacate the remaining deadlines in the pretrial schedule to afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy,” Jack Smith wrote.
Jack Smith continued, “By December 2, 2024, the Government will file a status report of otherwise inform the Court of the result of its deliberations. The Government has consulted with defense counsel, who do not object to this request.”
Excerpt from Fox News:
Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith is expected to resign before President-elect Trump is inaugurated in January, the New York Times reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Smith is aiming to bring to an end his cases against Trump and step down before the new president takes office as a way to get ahead of the Republican’s promise to fire him “within two seconds.”
Smith is required under DOJ regulations to submit a report of his findings and an explanation of the charges the prosecutor considered and ultimately filed – even though neither case made it to trial.
Under a crunched timeline, it is unclear if Attorney General Merrick Garland would make that report public before the end of President Biden’s term or defer to the incoming Trump administration, according to the Times.
Sources close to the matter told the Times that Smith has no intention of dragging his feet, and has informed career prosecutors and FBI agents on his team not directly involved in preparing the report that they can plan their exits in the coming weeks.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith as special counsel to investigate whether criminal charges should be filed against Trump in November 2022 just one day after Trump announced a 2024 White House run.
Jack Smith spent over $50 million of taxpayer money to hunt down Trump for non-crimes.
Jack Smith indicted Trump on 37 federal counts in Miami in June 2023 for lawfully storing presidential records at his Mar-a-Lago estate which was protected by Secret Service agents.
Trump was charged with 31 counts under the Espionage Act of willful retention of national defense information and 6 other process crimes stemming from his conversations with his lawyer.
In July 2023 Jack Smith hit Trump with 3 additional charges in the investigation into classified documents stored at Mar-a-Lago. The superseding indictment, filed in the Southern District of Florida, claims Trump was part of a scheme to delete security footage from Mar-a-Lago.
In September 2023 Trump was hit with 4 counts in Jack Smith’s January 6 case up in DC: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
