Attorney General Merrick Garland has turned over to Congress a portion of former special counsel Jack Smith's final report on the investigation of President-elect Donald Trump, according to a source familiar with the matter, barring a court order blocking its release at midnight Tuesday. has ended.
In his report, Smith wrote that his office began prosecuting Trump “because it concluded that admissible evidence would be sufficient to obtain and maintain a conviction.”
report It was sent to Congress and immediately made public after a few days of legal wrangling over whether it – or parts of it – should be disclosed to the public. U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon on Monday rejected Trump aide Walt Nauta and former Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira requested to prevent the first section of Smith's final report from becoming public.
That part relates to Trump's alleged efforts to thwart the transfer of power after the 2020 election. Volume two highlights allegations that the President-elect illegally classified documents and obstructed the Justice Department's investigation after the end of his first term in 2021.
In a letter to Garland accompanying the report, Smith defended his decision to pursue charges against the president-elect and rejected Trump's allegations that his actions were influenced by the top ranks of the Justice Department.
“For those who know me well, Mr. Trump's claims that my decisions as a prosecutor were influenced or directed by the Biden administration or other political actors are, in a word, ridiculous,” Smith later reported. Wrote adding. The office had “no interest in influencing the presidential election.”
Smith used the first section of his report to defend his work and investigative findings, alleging, “The central purpose of all of Mr. Trump's criminal efforts was fraud – the intentional making of false claims of the election.”
Much of the 137-page section includes information that has already been made public through court filings during the now-dismissed case against Trump filed in Washington, D.C., and includes images of the violence that broke out at the U.S. Capitol in January. Are included. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters broke into the building in an attempt to prevent Congress from confirming Mr Biden's victory.
Prosecutors alleged that the rioters who stormed the Capitol were “inspired and directed by Trump,” a claim Trump has denied. The former special counsel wrote that his office was “prepared” to prove that “Trump knowingly attempted to disrupt and disrupt the proceedings by summoning his supporters to Washington, DC”.
Still, Smith wrote his office, “direct evidence of Mr. Trump's subjective intent to cause the full scope of violence that occurred on January 6 – such as explicit admissions or communications with co-conspirators – did not develop.”
Smith revealed that through voluntary interviews of more than 250 individuals and grand jury testimony of 55 people, his office was able to gather evidence that pointed to Trump's alleged guilt, including allegations that He tried to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to delay. Vote certification on January 6, 2021, and he supported the organization of false lists of voters.
The former special counsel also detailed the ways he alleged Trump tried to pressure the Justice Department at the time to investigate false claims of fraud. At one point, Trump reportedly told his acting attorney general to “just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and Republican congressmen,” according to the report.
A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Trump on four counts. He pleaded not guilty on all counts. But Smith wrote that his office considered filing other charges — and ultimately decided against it. One possible charge was under the Insurrection Act, a Civil War-era law that bars people who incite rebellion against the United States from holding federal office.
But Smith said that while courts have described the Jan. 6 attack as an “insurrection,” his office was “aware of the risk of litigation that would arise from invoking this long-dormant statute.”
Trump was accused of participating in the crimes with at least six unnamed co-conspirators, and Smith wrote that his office had determined there was some shared criminal culpability with the president-elect. Smith said that after Trump is convicted in August 2023, his office will continue to look into whether any of the other alleged participants should face charges. He said he referred evidence to the U.S. attorney's office for further investigation that a man may have committed unrelated crimes.
Smith's office had made an “initial determination” that admissible evidence might justify pursuing charges against some of Trump's co-conspirators and had begun considering how to proceed. But because his team did not reach any conclusions or seek any further indictments, Smith wrote that the report “should not be read to allege that any particular individual other than Mr. Trump committed a crime, nor should it Must be read to exonerate a particular individual.” ,
Legal battle over Smith's report on Trump
The Justice Department's publication of the second volume of Smith's report marked the culmination of a fast-moving legal battle that had been ongoing since last week and just days before Trump was sworn in for a second term. If the fighting had continued by the time the President-elect returned to the White House on January 20, it is unlikely that the special counsel's report would have been released publicly.
Canon, who was appointed to oversee the document case, issued a temporary order Last week it temporarily blocked the Justice Department from making the report public, after a federal appeals court refused to stop its releaseThe order of the District Judge expired at 12 midnight on Tuesday.
Garland has said he will not publicly release the second part of the report as the proceedings involving Nauta and de Oliveira continue.
Blacksmith resigned his post last Friday as special counsel, and Justice Department prosecutors have taken over the ongoing cases arising from his investigation. Smith's two investigations led to separate prosecutions of Trump, but they were discontinued due to his victory in the November presidential election.
As is required of the special counsels, Smith prepared and submitted a final report to the Attorney General last week. Garland vowed to make public all special counsel reports completed while he was Attorney General, and has followed through on that pledge so far, including after President Biden's investigation Management of classified documents. He released the special counsel's final report on the investigation Hunter Biden's Tax evasion and gun possession cases on Monday night.
Last week, Garland informed Congress said Smith had completed his investigation and submitted a two-volume report. It is unclear whether the second volume, related to the classified documents case, will ever be disclosed to the American people.
Smith's term as special counsel begins in November 2022, when Garland tapped him To take over the ongoing investigation related to Trump. The president-elect repeatedly vowed to fire the special counsel upon returning to the White House.
A federal grand jury returned two indictments against a president-elect, marking the first time that a former president had been charged with federal crimes. 2020 election case brought to Washington, DC, Trump faced four chargesWhich includes conspiracy to deceive America and conspiracy to obstruct official proceedings. In terms of documents, the President-elect was Charged in 40 casesWhich includes knowingly possessing national defense information and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges and accused Smith of launching a politically charged investigation against him because he was a political rival of Mr Biden.
The 2020 election case came before the Supreme Court with Trump claiming that he was entitled to presidential immunity that protected him from prosecution, because the conduct that gave rise to the charges occurred during his first term in office.
In July, the High Court delivered a historic verdict It found that former presidents could not face charges for official actions, but were not immune from prosecution for unofficial actions. The decision led to further proceedings before the federal district court overseeing the case.
But charges dismissed That's because a long-standing Justice Department policy prohibits prosecuting a sitting president, after Trump was elected to a second term in November.