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Special Counsel Jack Smith, tasked with investigating former President Donald Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election and mishandling of classified documents, has released a final report on his findings.
Some shit you should know before you read: Back in 2022, Special Counsel Jack Smith was appointed to investigate two high-profile cases involving former President Donald Trump: one centered on Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and the other on his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving office. Trump consistently dismissed these investigations as a politically motivated “witch hunt,” accusing Smith and the Department of Justice of partisan bias. Despite Smith’s claims of having sufficient evidence to secure convictions in both cases, they were ultimately dropped in late 2024 after Trump won reelection, as longstanding DOJ policy prohibits the indictment or prosecution of a sitting president.

What’s going on now: In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Special Counsel Jack Smith defended his investigations and prosecution decisions, emphasizing their independence and adherence to the rule of law. “The ultimate decision to bring charges against Mr. Trump was mine. It is a decision I stand behind fully,” Smith wrote, rejecting Trump’s claims of political interference as “laughable.” Smith stressed that neither Garland nor anyone else in the Department of Justice influenced his prosecutorial decisions, stating, “Nobody within the Department of Justice ever sought to interfere with, or improperly influence, my prosecutorial decision making.”
Smith also said his case against Trump was strong, noting, “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.” He described Trump’s efforts to retain power as centered on “deceit—knowingly false claims of election fraud—and the evidence shows that Mr. Trump used these lies as a weapon to defeat a federal government function foundational to the United States’ democratic process.”
Smith ended his letter by affirming his commitment to the justice system and the principle that no one, regardless of power or position, is above the law: “My Office had one north star: to follow the facts and law wherever they led. Nothing more and nothing less.”
Trump reacts: Following the news, President-Elect Donald Trump took to social media to criticize the special counsel. He said, “Deranged Jack Smith was unable to successfully prosecute the Political Opponent of his “boss,” Crooked Joe Biden, so he ends up writing yet another “Report” based on information that the Unselect Committee of Political Hacks and Thugs ILLEGALLY DESTROYED AND DELETED, because it showed how totally innocent I was, and how completely guilty Nancy Pelosi, and others, were. Jack is a lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the Election, which I won in a landslide. THE VOTERS HAVE SPOKEN!!!”