Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 to lead two investigations into President-elect Donald Trump, has resigned, according to a Justice Department court filing.
CBS News recently reported Smith resigned from the Justice Department after completing his duties.
Smith “was separated from the department on January 10,” according to court documents. This fact was revealed in documents filed in federal court. In the ongoing conflict between Justice Department officials and lawyers linked to the president-elect over the release of one of Smith’s two-volume reports.
Lawyers for Trump’s former co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira pursued To extend your order Judge Eileen Cannon Prohibits the Justice Department from releasing any portion of the Smith Report.
The regulations require the special counsel to submit a report to the Attorney General detailing the findings of the investigation and the decision to prosecute. Garland promised to make all reports completed during his tenure available to the public, and has done so to date, including after the investigation. President Biden’s handling of of confidential records.
Court filings earlier this week revealed that Smith submitted the two-volume report to Garland on Jan. 7, just days after lawyers for Trump and his co-defendants reviewed the draft report. Trump’s lawyers later wrote a letter to Garland asking him to remove Smith from his position and block the release of the report, according to court documents.
After review, Trump’s co-defendant’s attorney asked Cannon: First fired. It was one of the lawsuits Smith filed against Trump last July, and a judge in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta sought to block Garland from making the report public.
Smith was appointed in November 2022 to lead two Justice Department investigations into Trump. his actions After the 2020 presidential election, and another Relates to handling confidential records after leaving office. Both incidents led to criminal charges against Trump. He pleaded not guilty and denied the crime.
Smith’s dual lawsuits against Trump are as follows: eventually closed This is after Trump was elected president last year. Prosecutors wrote that Justice Department rules prohibit the prosecution of a sitting president.
At the time, the special prosecutor decided to proceed with an appeal of Cannon’s dismissal of the investigation into classified documents in the Nautawa de Oliveira case. In that case, their attorneys attempted to block the release of the report, arguing that doing so would adversely affect their case.
In response, the Justice Department said the attorney general would not release a report covering the classified documents investigation until the case was fully concluded, but would instead release it to certain members of Congress.
Nonetheless, lawyers and Trump’s legal team urged a federal judge to stop the release of other parts of the report detailing Smith’s 2020 election investigation.
For now, the report remains unreleased after Cannon ordered the Justice Department to keep it secret until at least Sunday. Judges on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a motion by Trump’s co-defendants to further bar prosecutors from releasing the report.
Defense lawyers have now asked Cannon to extend an injunction blocking the release of the report, a move the Justice Department is opposing.
