Trump Would Have Been Convicted If He Hadn't Been Elected, Justice Department Report Says.
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President-elect Donald Trump Under Investigation by Special Counsel Jack Smith
President-elect Donald Trump would have been convicted of illegally trying to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election — which he lost — if he had not been successfully re-elected in 2024, according to the man leading the U.S. government's investigation into him. .
The evidence against Trump was "sufficient to warrant and support a conviction at trial," special counsel Jack Smith wrote in a partially released report.
Trump responded, saying Smith was "crazy" and his conclusions were "wrong."
Trump has been accused of pressuring officials to overturn the 2020 election results, knowingly spreading lies about election fraud, and seeking to exploit the riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. He has denied any wrongdoing. Trump, who was president at the time of the alleged crimes, spent four years out of office but was successfully re-elected to the White House in November. He will return to the presidency next week.
Following his victory in the 2024 election, the various legal issues he had been grappling with have largely disappeared. The interference issue is now closed.
Some of the content of Smith's report was already known through a public filing in October that detailed Trump's alleged efforts to overturn his defeat and described how Smith could have lost.
But the report, which was released by the Department of Justice (DoJ) to Congress, gives further detail on why Smith pursued the case, and ultimately closed it.
It justifies the case against Trump by accusing him of "unprecedented efforts to unlawfully retain power" through a variety of methods, including "threats and encouragement of violence against his perceived opponents"
The report continues: "The throughline of all of Mr Trump's criminal efforts was deceit - knowingly false claims of election fraud"
The report details "significant challenges" faced by investigators, including Trump's "ability and willingness to use his influence and following on social media to target witnesses, courts, and Department [of Justice] employees"
Addressing why the case was closed, the report acknowledges that the US Constitution forbids the prosecution of a sitting president
The document goes on to explain: "But for Mr Trump's election [in 2024] and imminent return to the presidency, the office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial"
In a letter accompanying the release sent to the attorney general, Smith denies any suggestion the case was politically motivated: "The claim from Mr Trump that my decisions as a prosecutor were influenced or directed by the [President Joe] Biden administration or other political actors is, in a word, laughable"
Smith further reflects in the accompanying letter: "While we were not able to bring the cases we charged to trial, I believe the fact that our team stood up for the rule of law matters"
The 137-page document was sent to Congress after midnight on Tuesday, after a period of legal jostling that culminated in a judge clearing the way for the first part of Smith's report to be released.
The judge, Aileen Cannon, ordered a hearing later in the week on whether to release the second part of the report - which focuses on separate allegations that Trump illegally kept classified government documents at his home in Florida.
Posting on his Truth Social website, Trump maintained his innocence, taunting Smith by writing that the prosecutor "was unable to get his case tried before the election, which I won in a landslide".
Trump added: "THE VOTERS HAVE SPOKEN!!!"
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Smith was appointed in 2022 to oversee the US government investigations into Trump. Special counsels are selected by the Justice Department in cases where there is a potential conflict of interest.
In the interference case, Trump was accused of conspiring to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
That case and a separate issue of classified documents resulted in criminal charges against Trump, who has pleaded not guilty and sought to portray the prosecution as politically motivated.
But Smith dismissed the cases after Trump was elected in November, in accordance with Justice Department regulations that prohibit prosecuting a sitting president.
The report explains: "The Department's view that the [United States] Constitution prohibits the criminal prosecution and indictment of a president is categorical and does not depend on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the government's evidence, or the merits of the prosecution, which the office fully supports."
The report adds that prosecutors are at a crossroads: "The results of the [2024] election raise for the first time the question of the legality of the process when a previously indicted private citizen is elected president."
Tuesday's release comes after a period of legal backlash, during which Judge Cannon temporarily blocked the release of Smith's full report, citing that it could affect the cases of two associates Trump has indicted with him in separate documents. Walt Nauta, Trump's personal assistant, and Carlos De Oliveira, the manager of the Mar-a-Lago property, are accused of helping Trump hide the documents. Unlike Trump, their cases are still ongoing - and his lawyers have argued that releasing Smith's report could prejudice a future jury and trial.
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