Special Counsel Jack Smith’s latest report unequivocally outlines the position of federal prosecutors. Donald Trump — who will be named president in less than a week — would have been convicted of multiple crimes for allegedly trying to outlaw the results of the 2020 election had voters not voted to return him to the White House. 2024 elections.
That was one of the main findings included in Smith’s final report on the election interference investigation, released by the Justice Department early Tuesday morning after a federal judge late Monday he cleared the way to release the report.
The report details the investigation that led to Trump being indicted in 2023 for a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election in an effort to subvert democracy and stay in power. Trump He pleaded not guilty to all positions
The case, as well as Smith’s classified documents against Trump, it was thrown After Trump’s re-election in November, a longstanding Justice Department policy barred the president from impeachment.
“The Department’s view that the Constitution prohibits the impeachment and prosecution of a President is categorical and has no bearing on the seriousness of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s evidence, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Bureau fully stands behind,” the report said. “In light of the election of Mr. Trump and his imminent return to the Presidency, the Bureau determined that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.”
After interviewing 250 voluntary witnesses, subpoenaing 55 people to testify before a grand jury, executing dozens of subpoenas and search warrants, and analyzing a terabyte of publicly available data, Smith’s team concluded that they could convince a jury that Trump was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. he committed multiple federal crimes when he tried to overturn the election, the report said.
“The underpinning of all of Mr. Trump’s criminal efforts was deception — knowingly false claims of election fraud — and the evidence shows that Mr. Trump used these lies as a weapon to defeat the democratic function of the U.S. federal government. process,” the report said.
Former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event on April 2, 2024 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Paul Sancy/AP
For the first time, the report shed light on the internal debates among prosecutors who sought to prove that Trump engaged in an “unprecedented criminal effort,” navigating the uncharted legal territory of impeaching a former president.
While prosecutors considered charging Trump with violating the Insurrection Act, Smith wrote that he opposed the approach “because of the litigation risk that using this long-standing statute would present.” According to the report, prosecutors were concerned that Trump’s actions did not amount to rebellion because he was already in power — rather than challenging the incumbent government — when the incident occurred. Smith also stated that his office had not obtained “direct evidence” of Trump’s intent to “inflict the full scope of the violence that occurred on January 6.”
Smith also noted that the case against Trump had unique challenges, including Trump’s “ability and willingness” to use social media to target witnesses, courts and prosecutors with “threats and harassment.” As in any other case involving a conspiracy, the prosecution was concerned with persuading witnesses to cooperate while the defendant still exercised influence and authority over his alleged co-conspirators.
“This dynamic was exacerbated in this case given Mr. Trump’s political and financial situation, and the possibility of a future presidential election,” the report says.
Despite those concerns, Smith’s report detailed how prosecutors planned to rebut Trump’s expected arguments to secure a conviction, laying out a play-through of how the trial would have gone if Trump had lost the election.
By arguing that the former president acted in good faith when he claimed the election was fraudulent, prosecutors would present “strong evidence” that Trump himself knew his fraud allegations were false. The report noted that Trump has repeatedly expressed privately how he lost the election, including calling Vice President Mike Pence “too honest” to question the results, telling his family that “even if you lost the election” “you still have to fight.” , and warned an employee, “Can you believe I lost to this guy?” After seeing Biden on TV.
“This was not just Mr. Trump misrepresenting one or two isolated incidents. Time and again, he and the conspirators used specific and knowingly false claims about election fraud,” the report said.
If Trump argued that he was following the advice of his lawyers, prosecutors planned to present evidence showing that his lawyers were acting as accomplices to the crime, preventing Trump from being able to legally use the argument.
And while Trump argued that he was exercising his First Amendment rights when he challenged the election, prosecutors wanted to point out that Trump used his statements to commit other crimes, including using false statements to defeat a government function, obstructing an official proceeding and causing injury. the right to vote
“The office was aware of Mr. Trump’s free speech rights during the investigation and would not have brought charges if the evidence indicated that he engaged in pure political exaggeration or dirty politics,” the report said. “The conduct of Mr. Trump and his co-conspirators, however, went beyond speaking through our legal system or contesting election results.”
In the report, Smith detailed multiple conversations with several so-called “fake voters” who said they wanted to vote for Trump, and admitted they would not have done so “had they known the true extent of the conspirators’ plans.” .”
Smith described how investigators obtained Signal messages in which “Co-Conspirator 4” — previously identified by ABC News as former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark — sent a message to Rep. Scott Perry saying he had received highly classified information about foreign interference. The 2020 election “did nothing” to back up allegations of a stolen election.
“Consequently, there is nothing helpful for P,” Clarke’s message said, according to the report.
The report cites handwritten notes obtained by former Vice President Mike Pence’s special counsel, about which Smith wrote: “In daily conversations, day after day, Mr. Trump pressured Mr. Pence to use his position as Senate President to change the outcome of the election, often citing false claims of election fraud as justification, even as he falsely told Mr. Pence that “the Department of Justice was finding major violations. were doing”.
Regarding the House Select Committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the report said that investigation “included only a small portion of the Bureau’s investigative file, and the facts upon which the Bureau relied in making its charging decision were developed or verified. through several steps”.
The first volume of Smith’s final report was released to the public early Tuesday after US District Judge Aileen Cannon, following a week-long court battle, he ordered on Monday That the Department of Justice can release him.
Trump’s former co-defendants in the classified documents case, longtime aide Walt Nauta and staffer Carlos De Oliveira, sought to block the release of the classified documents and the January 6 volume, but Cannon last year. dismissed the classified documents case — authorized the Jan. 6 volume to be released to the public after determining that its contents are unrelated to evidence or charges related to the ongoing case against Nauta and De Oliveira.
After speaking with Smith, Garland determined that he would not publicly release Volume Two of the classified documents investigation because Nauta and De Oliveira’s cases were technically still under appeal.
In the case of classified documents, Trump He pleaded not guilty After leaving the White House in 2023 to 40 criminal charges related to the handling of classified material, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to turn over hundreds of documents containing classified information. The former president, along with Nauta and De Oliveira, declared him innocent replacing the prosecution For trying to delete surveillance footage at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Smith resigned as special prosecutor on Friday after collecting the cases and submitting his report to Garland.
