CNN
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Special counsel Jack Smith resigned from the Justice Department effective Friday, according to a court file.
The complaint comes amid a legal battle to block Attorney General Merrick Garland from releasing the special counsel’s report on his investigations into then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and over alleged mishandling of classified documents after Trump left office.
Smith submitted his two-volume final report to the attorney general on Tuesday. Garland said he would not release the portion of the report regarding the investigation into classified documents, but believes it should eventually be made public.
Smith’s office has been shuttering for weeks, and his resignation before Trump takes office is not unexpected. In addition to finalizing its report and sending it to the attorney general, Smith’s team had also referred a pending appeal regarding the powers of the special prosecutor’s office to other Justice Department attorneys and rejected both federal criminal cases against Trump due to his comeback. to the presidency.
The attorney general also told congressional committee leaders that he intends to give them confidential access to Smith’s volume on the classified documents affair – making this weekend and next week a window crucial to AG Merrick Garland’s transparency intentions.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department is battling in court with Trump and his former co-defendants over whether Smith’s report can be made public, with the clock ticking until the Jan. 20 inauguration. Trump is considering appointing some members of his defense team, who argued in court against the publication, to senior positions within the Justice Department.
An appeals court on Friday rejected a request by Trump and his allies to keep the report secret. The Justice Department has since appealed Judge Aileen Cannon’s temporary stay on the release of the report, and the former defendants have asked her to extend that stay, which otherwise expires Sunday evening.
As the legal fight stands, the Justice Department may be able to release Smith’s first volume on Sunday or Monday. Cannon, however, requested more information from the Justice Department by Sunday morning about the contents of Volume 1 and whether it all relates to the classified documents matter.
Smith was appointed by Garland to take over election subversion documents and investigations in November 2022, after Trump announced his re-election campaign. A former federal prosecutor, Smith had most recently served as a war crimes prosecutor in The Hague.
He brought charges against Trump in both investigations in 2023, but both suits suffered legal setbacks and, with voters’ decision to return Trump to the White House, the president-elect was dismissed from the charges.
One of the legacies of Smith’s investigations is the Supreme Court’s sweeping presidential immunity ruling in the election subversion case, which set the bar for prosecuting a former president for his official acts in office. of its functions.
Trump and his allies on the Hill have publicly discussed investigations they intend to launch as part of the special counsel probes.
The report potentially constitutes Smith’s final word on the findings of his investigations and their legal reasoning. Aside from the current legal fight, there are other ways the report could be made public. Congress could take action to obtain the report or information. There is also the possibility that Freedom of Information Act requests and litigation arising from such requests may require disclosure of the details of the report.
Trump’s former co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos DeOliveira, argue that the report should not be shared with Congress or the public because it would be prejudicial if the case against them – dismissed by Judge Cannon on the grounds that Smith was unconstitutionally appointed – was reinstated by an appeals court.
The new DOJ filing countered that argument by highlighting Garland’s decision not to release that report and noting that lawmakers who would be allowed to see it, under Garland’s plan, would not be allowed to share it the details.
Trump and his allies also argue that Cannon’s decision disqualifying Smith stripped him of the authority to write the report and prevents Garland from releasing it.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.