Jack Smith, the Justice Department’s special counsel to oversee two criminal investigations into Donald Trump, resigned from the department on Friday.
Smith’s resignation came hours after the department asked a federal appeals court to take swift action in overturning a judge’s order blocking the release of his investigative report focused on Trump’s alleged efforts to sway the 2020 presidential election. to be undone before he returns to power on January 20.
The release of a second Smith-authored report on Trump’s handling of classified documents after he left the White House in 2021 is currently on hold pending the outcome of criminal proceedings against two of Trump’s co-defendants, personal assistant Walt Nauta and Mar-a -Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira.
Smith’s firing was revealed in a footnote to a lawsuit filed Saturday afternoon with U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, as first reported by Politico, in which the now-former special counsel urged Cannon to revoke a court order she had last week issued seeking the release of his final report.
Justice Department officials say Cannon’s order exceeded her authority and that she does not have the power to stop the Attorney General, Merrick Garland, from releasing Smith’s findings. The Trump-nominated judge had previously dismissed the documents case after ruling that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional.
On Friday, the Justice Department asked an appeals court to throw out Cannon’s order entirely, calling it “clearly erroneous” and arguing that only Garland “has the authority to decide whether an investigative report prepared by his subordinates , is released”.
Smith was expected to leave the Justice Department before Trump took office, but his resignation will likely be seen as an acknowledgment of the reality that the two reports are unlikely to be released until Trump is sworn in as the 47th U.S. president. It is also unlikely that the reports will be released under Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi.
In his letter to the court, Smith said: “[T]The Special Counsel completed his work and submitted his final confidential report on January 7, 2025, and separated from the department on January 10.”
