Special counsel Jack Smith has resigned from the Justice Department with the fate of his investigative report on President-elect Donald Trump in the hands of the federal courts.
Mr. Trump characterized Mr. Smith’s departure as a termination and called him a “disgrace.”
“Deranged Jack Smith was fired today by the DOJ. He is a disgrace to himself, his family, and his Country,” Mr. Trump said Sunday on social media. “After spending over $100,000,000 on the Witch Hunt against TRUMP, he left town empty handed!”
Mr. Smith announced his resignation from the agency in a court filing with U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon. The resignation, which came 10 days before Mr. Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president, was expected.
The resignation follows the conclusion of two unsuccessful criminal prosecutions against Trump that were withdrawn following Trump’s White House win in November.
“The Special Counsel completed his work and submitted his final confidential report on January 7, 2025, and separated from the Department on January 10,” a footnote on the filing read.
Mr. Smith urged Judge Cannon not to extend her injunction on releasing his two-volume final report, which the judge put in place on Tuesday.
The report details Mr. Smith’s investigations of Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and Mr. Trump’s keeping classified materials at his Mar-a-Lago residence after he left office.
Mr. Trump and his lawyers sought to bury the report, arguing that its release was designed to cause political harm to the president-elect and that it would run afoul of the Presidential Transition Act and Presidential Immunity Doctrine.
Judge Cannon blocked the release of the Smith report while the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit reviewed an emergency request from Mr. Trump’s co-defendants in the documents case, who said the release would cause them irreparable harm.
Prosecutors said they intended to proceed with the release of the election interference volume.
In an emergency motion late Friday, they asked the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to swiftly lift an injunction from Judge Cannon that had barred them from releasing any portion of the report. They separately told Judge Cannon on Saturday that she had no authority to halt the release of the report.
The appeals court on Thursday night denied an emergency defense bid to block the release of the election interference report, which covers Trump’s efforts before the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, to undo the results of the 2020 election. But it left in place Judge Cannon’s injunction that said none of the findings could be released until three days after the matter was resolved by the appeals court.
The Justice Department told the appeals court in its emergency motion that Judge Cannon’s order was “plainly erroneous.”
“The Attorney General is the Senate-confirmed head of the Department of Justice and is vested with the authority to supervise all officers and employees of the Department,” the Justice Department said. “The Attorney General thus has authority to decide whether to release an investigative report prepared by his subordinates.”
Justice Department regulations call for special counsels to produce reports at the conclusion of their work, and it’s customary for such documents to be made public no matter the subject.
William Barr, attorney general during Trump’s first term, released a special counsel report examining Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and potential ties to the Trump campaign.
Mr. Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, has also released special counsel reports, including about Mr. Biden’s handling of classified information before Mr. Biden became president.
• Tom Howell Jr. contributed to this article, which includes wire service reports.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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