WASHINGTON — Special counsel Jack Smith said his team “defends the rule of law” as it investigates President-elect Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, writing in a highly anticipated statement . report said Tuesday that he fully supports his decision to pursue criminal charges that he said would have resulted in a conviction if voters had not returned Trump to the White House.
“The common thread running through all of Mr. Trump’s criminal efforts was deception – knowingly false claims of election fraud – and the evidence shows that Mr. Trump used those lies as a weapon to defeat a function of the federal government fundamental to the democratic process of the United States. » specifies the report.
The report, arriving just days before Trump returns to power on Jan. 20, calls new attention to his frantic but unsuccessful efforts to cling to power in 2020. With the lawsuits having been seized thanks to Trump’s election victory, the document should be published. the Justice Department’s final chronicle of a dark chapter in American history that threatened to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, the bedrock of democracy for centuries, and complements previously released indictments and reports.
Trump responded early Tuesday with a post on his Truth Social platform, saying he was “totally innocent” and calling Smith a “lame prosecutor who couldn’t get his case tried before the election.” He added: “THE VOTERS HAVE SPOKE!!! »
Trump had been indicted in August 2023 for working to overturn the election, but the case was delayed by appeals and ultimately significantly narrowed by a conservative-majority Supreme Court that ruled for the first time that former presidents benefited from total immunity from criminal prosecution. official acts.
Although Smith sought to save the indictment, the team rejected it entirely in November due to the Justice Department’s long-standing policy that sitting presidents cannot be subject to federal prosecutions.
“The Department’s view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a president is categorical and does not depend on the seriousness of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s case, or the merits of the prosecution. , which the Office fully supports. ”, says the report. “Indeed, absent the election of Mr. Trump and his imminent return to the presidency, the Office found that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and maintain a conviction at trial.”
The Justice Department sent the report to Congress Tuesday morning after a judge refused a defense attempt to block its release. A separate volume of the report devoted to Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, actions that formed the basis of a separate indictment against Trump, will remain secret for now.
Although most of the details of Trump’s efforts to overturn the election are already well established, the document includes for the first time a detailed assessment by Smith of his investigation, as well as a defense of Smith against criticism of Trump and his allies that the investigation was politicized or that he was working in collaboration with the White House — an assessment he called “laughable.”
“While we have not been able to bring the cases we have charged to trial, I believe our team has stood up for the rule of law,” Smith wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland attached to the report . “I believe the example our team has set for others to fight for justice without worrying about personal costs is important. »
The special prosecutor also laid out the challenges he faced in his investigation, including Trump’s assertion of executive privilege to try to prevent witnesses from providing evidence, which forced prosecutors into secret court battles before before the case is charged.
Another “significant challenge” was Trump’s “ability and willingness to use his social media influence and following to target witnesses, courts and prosecutors,” leading prosecutors to request a hush-up for protect potential witnesses to harassment, Smith wrote.
“Mr. Trump’s use of intimidation and harassment during the investigation was not new, as demonstrated by his actions during the alleged plots,” Smith wrote.
“A fundamental element of Mr. Trump’s conduct that underlies the accusations in the election case was his tendency to use social media – at the time, Twitter – to publicly attack and seek to influence officials, judges and state and federal election workers who refused to do so. support false claims that the election was stolen or that resisted any complicity in Mr. Trump’s scheme,” he added.
Smith also explained for the first time the thought process behind his team’s prosecutorial decisions, writing that his office decided not to charge Trump with incitement in part because of free speech concerns, or insurrection because he was a sitting president at the time and there was doubt about whether he could proceed to trial for the offense – for which there was no record of having been prosecuted before.
—Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
