Special counsel Jack Smith concluded that Donald Trump engaged in an 'unprecedented criminal effort' to hold onto power after losing the 2020 election, but his imminent return to the presidency on January 20th prevented a trial.
US special counsel Jack Smith concluded that Donald Trump engaged in an 'unprecedented criminal effort' to retain power after losing the 2020 election . However, Smith's ability to bring the case to trial was thwarted by Trump's victory in the November election. The report details Smith's decision to indict Trump on four counts, alleging he conspired to obstruct the collection and certification of votes following his 2020 defeat by Democratic President Joe Biden .
It concludes that the evidence would have been sufficient to convict Trump at trial but his imminent return to the presidency on January 20th made that impossible. Smith, who has faced relentless criticism from Trump, also defended his investigation and the prosecutors involved. In a letter outlining his report, Smith stated that the claim from Trump that his decisions were influenced or directed by the Biden administration or other political actors was 'laughable.' Following the report's release, Trump, in a post on his Truth Social platform, labeled Smith a 'lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the election.' Much of the evidence cited in the report has previously been made public.A second section of the report details Smith's case accusing Trump of illegally retaining sensitive national security documents after leaving the White House in 2021. The Justice Department has committed to keeping this portion confidential while legal proceedings against two Trump associates charged in the case continue. Smith, who left the Justice Department last week, dropped both cases against Trump after his 2022 election victory, citing a longstanding Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president. Neither case reached trial. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges. Trump regularly attacked Smith as 'deranged,' portraying the cases as politically motivated attempts to damage his campaign and political movement. Trump and his two former co-defendants in the classified documents case attempted to block the release of the report days before Trump's return to office on January 20th. Courts rejected their demands to prevent its publication. US district Judge Aileen Cannon, who presided over the documents case, has ordered the Justice Department to temporarily halt plans to allow certain senior members of Congress to privately review the documents section of the report. Prosecutors provided a detailed account of their case against Trump in previous court filings. A congressional panel in 2022 published its own 700-page account of Trump's actions following the 2020 election. Both investigations concluded that Trump spread false claims of widespread voter fraud following the 2020 election and pressured state lawmakers not to certify the vote. Ultimately, he also sought to use fraudulent groups of electors pledged to vote for Trump in states actually won by Biden, in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying Biden's win. The effort culminated in the January 6th, 2021 attack on the US Capitol when a mob of Trump supporters stormed Congress in a failed attempt to stop lawmakers from certifying the vote. Smith's case faced legal hurdles even before Trump's election win. It was paused for months while Trump argued that he could not be prosecuted for official actions taken as president. The Supreme Court's conservative majority largely sided with him, granting former presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution
Donald Trump 2020 Election Jack Smith Special Counsel Criminal Charges Joe Biden January 6Th Justice Department
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