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Trump Report Submitted: Special Counsel Jack Smith Resigns
Special counsel Jack Smith has resigned from the Justice Department after submitting his investigative report on President-elect Donald Trump. The resignation comes amid legal wrangling over how much of that document can be made public in the days ahead.
The department disclosed Smith's departure in a court filing, saying he had resigned one day earlier. The resignation follows the conclusion of two unsuccessful criminal prosecutions against Trump that were withdrawn following Trump's White House win in November.
At issue now is the fate of a two-volume report that Smith and his team had prepared about their twin investigations into Trump's efforts to overturn the results of his 2020 election and his hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The Justice Department had been expected to make the document public in the final days of the Biden administration, but a Trump-appointed judge granted a defense request to at least temporarily halt its release. Two of Trump's co-defendants in that case, Trump valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira, had argued that the release of the report would be unfairly prejudicial.
“The Attorney General is the Senate-confirmed head of the Department of Justice and is vested with the authority to supervise all officers and employees of the Department," said the Justice Department. "The Attorney General thus has authority to decide whether to release an investigative report prepared by his subordinates."
Justice Department regulations call for special counsels to produce reports at the conclusion of their work, and it's customary for such documents to be made public no matter the subject.
Barr, attorney general during Trump's first term, released a special counsel report examining Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and potential ties to the Trump campaign.
Biden's attorney general, Merrick Garland, has also released special counsel reports, including about Biden’s handling of classified information before Biden became president.