Special counsel Jack Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 to lead two investigations related to President-elect Donald Trump, according to a court filing Saturday by the Justice Department. He resigned.
CBS News recently reported Smith planned to resign from the Justice Department after completing his duties.
Smith “separated from the department on January 10,” according to court documents. The revelation was made in a federal court filing. Amid ongoing conflict The release of the first volume of Mr. Smith’s two-volume report was a battle between Justice Department officials and lawyers associated with the president-elect.
Lawyers for President Trump’s former co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira I looked for it To extend your order by Judge Eileen Cannon The Justice Department was barred from releasing parts of Smith’s report.
Regulations require the special prosecutor to submit a report to the attorney general detailing the findings of the investigation and the prosecutor’s decisions. Garland has promised to make all reports completed during his term available to the public, and has done so in the past, including after investigations. President Biden’s response of confidential records.
Court filings earlier this week show that Smith submitted the two-volume report to Garland on January 7, days after lawyers for Trump and his co-defendants reviewed the draft report. It became clear. Mr. Trump’s lawyers then sent a letter to Mr. Garland asking him to fire Mr. Smith and block the release of the report, according to court filings.
After the review, lawyers for President Trump’s co-defendants questioned Cannon. first was fired In July, Smith filed one of the lawsuits against Trump, and judges on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta blocked the release of Garland’s report.
Smith was appointed in November 2022 to lead two Justice Department investigations into Trump. his act After the 2020 presidential election, And one more thing It had to do with the handling of confidential records after leaving office. Both incidents led to criminal charges against Trump. He has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
Smith’s dual lawsuit against Trump It ended up being closed After Trump won last year’s presidential election. Prosecutors wrote that Justice Department rules prohibit prosecuting a sitting president.
The special counsel at the time chose to hold off on appealing Cannon’s denial of a classified document search in the Nauta and de Oliveira cases. In this case, their lawyers sought to block the release of the report, arguing that doing so would prejudice their case.
In response, the Justice Department announced that the attorney general will not release the report on the classified documents investigation until the case is fully concluded, and instead will make it available only to some members of Congress.
Still, his lawyers and Trump’s lawyers asked a federal court to block the release of other parts of the report detailing Smith’s investigation into the 2020 election.
The report has not been made public at this time because Cannon ordered the Justice Department to keep it secret until at least Sunday. Judges on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a bid by President Trump’s co-defendants to block further release of the prosecutor’s report.
The defense team is now asking Cannon to extend the injunction preventing it from releasing the report, but the Justice Department opposes this.