The legal tussles over whether and to what extent (former) Special Counsel Jack Smith’s “Final Report” regarding his investigation and prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump have been fast and furious. They remain ongoing as to Volume 2 of the report, the portion dealing with the classified documents case in the Southern District of Florida.
But on Monday, Judge Aileen Cannon cleared the path for Volume 1 of the report to be released. That volume goes to the 2020 election interference case brought by Smith in the D.C. Circuit Court.
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Early Tuesday morning, Attorney General Merrick Garland released that first portion of the report.
Attorney General Merrick Garland released the first volume, which focuses on the election case against Trump, of Smith’s report on Tuesday at midnight after back-and-forth in the federal court system. The report was released at midnight because that was when the original hold on Volume One expired.
An opening letter from Smith, who resigned last week, to Garland said that it is “laughable” that Trump believes the Biden administration, or other political actors, influenced or directed his decisions as a prosecutor, stating that he was guided by the Principles of Federal Prosecution.
“Trump’s cases represented ones ‘in which the offense [was] the most flagrant, the public harm the greatest, and the proof the most certain,’” Smith said, referencing the principles.
In the lengthy report, Smith said his office fully stands behind the decision to bring criminal charges against Trump because he “resorted to a series of criminal efforts to retain power” after he lost the 2020 election.
Smith said in his conclusion that the parties were determining whether any material in the “superseding indictment was subject to presidential immunity” when it became clear that Trump had won the 2024 election. The department then determined the case must be dismissed before he takes office because of how it interprets the Constitution.
“The Department’s view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a President is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Office stands fully behind,” the report stated.
As noted by Washington Examiner correspondent and Fox News contributor Byron York, the report explains why Trump was not charged with “insurrection” — namely, that Smith didn’t believe he could prove Trump guilty of such.
New Jack Smith report reveals why Smith didn’t charge Donald Trump with insurrection: Because January 6 was not an insurrection. Or at least Smith was not confident he could convince even a deep-blue DC jury that it was. And whatever it was, he could not prove Trump incited it.…
— Byron York (@ByronYork) January 14, 2025
Following the report’s release, Trump took to Truth Social to share his view of the report and the man who prosecuted him.
Deranged Jack Smith was unable to successfully prosecute the Political Opponent of his “boss,” Crooked Joe Biden, so he ends up writing yet another “Report” based on information that the Unselect Committee of Political Hacks and Thugs ILLEGALLY DESTROYED AND DELETED, because it showed how totally innocent I was, and how completely guilty Nancy Pelosi, and others, were. Jack is a lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the Election, which I won in a landslide. THE VOTERS HAVE SPOKEN!!!
To show you how desperate Deranged Jack Smith is, he released his Fake findings at 1:00 A.M. in the morning. Did he say that the Unselect Committee illegally destroyed and deleted all of the evidence.
Given its release on virtually the eve of his (re)taking office, the impact of the report is likely to be on par with that of the pleadings Smith’s office filed with the court in October, ahead of the election, laying out their arguments as to why presidential immunity ought not apply to Trump’s alleged conduct. Which is to say…minimally, outside the too-online lawfare set. The focus Tuesday will be on Trump’s Secretary of Defense nominee, Pete Hegseth and the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing regarding his confirmation.
The full report may be viewed here.
