Special counsel Jack Smith resigns from DOJ as Trump’s fight to block final

Special Counsel Jack Smith resigned Friday from the Department of Justice as President-elect Donald Trump and others continued efforts to block the release of Smith’s final report on his criminal investigations of the Republican.

Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022, left his post 10 days before Trump’s inauguration.

His departure was expected, as Smith indicated he would leave before Trump took office, and because the president-elect planned to fire the special counsel if he did not resign.

But the timing of it was only disclosed Saturday, in a brief footnote of a DOJ court filing to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon of Florida, who was appointed to the bench 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,” the filing reads.

DOJ officials urged Cannon not to extend an order she issued last week, which is temporarily blocking the agency from releasing Smith’s investigation into Trump’s interference in the 2020 election results.

Trump’s former co-defendants in another criminal case asked Cannon to extend her order, and are trying to keep Garland from releasing a portion of Smith’s report to members of Congress.

The DOJ filed an emergency motion late Friday asking a federal appeals court to reverse the order, which would allow for the swift release of Smith’s report.

Smith had filed two criminal cases against Trump.

One, in federal court in Washington, D.C., charged with crimes related to his attempt to overturn his loss in the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.

In the other case, which Cannon presided over, Trump was charged with retaining classified government records at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after leaving the White House in January 2017, and with his efforts to prevent officials from recovering those documents

Also charged in that case were Trump’s valet, Walt Nauta, and Mar-a-Lago worker Carlos De Oliveira, who were accused of helping Trump try to hide the documents from officials.

Cannon last year dismissed the Mar-a-Lago documents case against Trump after ruling that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional.

Smith appealed that dismissal. But the DOJ ended up dismissing both criminal cases against Trump after he won November’s election because of an agency policy again prosecuting a sitting president.

However, the DOJ is appealing the dismissal of the charges against Nauta and De Oliveira.

The DOJ has said that it will not release the section of Smith’s report dealing with the Mar-a-Lago case while it appeals the dismissal of the case against those two other men, and while any subsequent case is pending.

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