Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, who is overseeing the prosecution of former President Donald Trump in two federal cases, was the target of a swatting attempt at his Maryland home on Christmas Day.
Ricky Cariotti | Washington Post | getty images
Special counsel Jack Smith resigned from the Justice Department on Friday as President-elect Donald Trump and others continued efforts to block the release of Smith’s final report on the Republican criminal investigation.
Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022, He left 10 days before Trump’s inauguration.
Smith’s departure was expected, as he had said he would leave before President Trump took office and had planned to fire the special counsel if the president-elect did not resign.
But the timing was only revealed Saturday in a brief footnote the Justice Department filed with U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon of Florida, a judge appointed by Trump.
“The special counsel completed his work and submitted his final confidential report on January 7, 2025, and separated from the department on January 10,” it reads.
Justice Department officials urged Cannon not to extend the order he issued last week, which temporarily blocks the Justice Department from disclosing Smith’s investigation into Trump’s interference in the 2020 election results.
Trump’s former co-defendants in another criminal case have asked Cannon to extend the order and are trying to block Garland from releasing parts of the Smith report to members of Congress.
The DOJ filed an emergency motion late Friday asking a federal appeals court to vacate the order. Smith’s report could then be made public quickly.
Smith has filed two criminal lawsuits against Trump.
One person has been charged in federal court in Washington, D.C., with crimes related to his attempt to overturn Joe Biden’s loss in the 2020 presidential election.
In another case Cannon presided over, Trump was accused of storing classified government records at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after he left the White House in January 2017 and trying to prevent officials from recovering those documents.
Trump’s deputy Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago employee Carlos De Oliveira were also charged in the case. They were accused of helping Trump attempt to hide documents from officials.
Cannon dismissed the Mar-a-Lago Papers case against Trump last year after ruling that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional.
Smith appealed that dismissal. But the Justice Department dismissed both criminal cases against Trump after he won the November election because of the agency’s policy of re-indicting sitting presidents.
However, the DOJ is appealing the dismissal of the charges against Nauta and De Oliveira.
The DOJ said it would not release sections of Smith’s report covering the Mar-a-Lago case while it appealed the dismissal of the cases against the other two men and while subsequent cases were pending.
— CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.
