On Tuesday, the Biden Administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) released the first volume of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on his failed case against President-elect Donald Trump.
As reported by Fox News, outgoing Attorney General Merrick Garland decided to release Volume One of Smith’s report at midnight after a court cleared the way for the report’s release. In a letter to Garland accompanying the final report, Smith claimed that the Biden White House had no control or influence over his decision to prosecute the former and future president.
“Trump’s cases represented ones ‘in which the offense [was] the most flagrant, the public harm the greatest, and the proof the most certain,’” said Smith in his letter.
In the report, Smith said he defends his decision to file charges against the 45th and 47th president, claiming without evidence that President-elect Trump “resorted to a series of criminal efforts to retain power” after the 2020 election. President Trump and many of his supporters suspected that the election was stolen in favor of Biden after widespread evidence emerged of fraudulent or otherwise suspicious activities in polling centers across the country.
Smith also summarized the DOJ’s decision to dismiss the case due to President Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, which guarantees presidential immunity for him once again.
“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,” Smith conceded.
In a post on Truth Social after the report’s release, President Trump mocked Smith as “desperate” and “deranged,” denouncing the report itself as “fake findings.”
Smith was appointed by Garland to oversee the cases against President Trump regarding the 2020 election, as well as his alleged possession of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The latter case was dismissed in July of 2024, after District Court Judge Aileen Cannon determined that Smith’s appointment was unlawful. The DOJ filed to dismiss the election case in November after Trump’s victory, with the motion being granted by Judge Tanya Chutkan.