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Special Counsel Jack Smith Resigns After Concluding Trump Investigations

Special Counsel Jack Smith has resigned from the Department of Justice (DOJ) after completing two high-profile criminal investigations into President-elect Donald Trump. Smith’s departure, announced in a court filing on Saturday, comes just days before Trump’s inauguration.

Appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022, Smith submitted his final confidential report on January 7, 2025, and officially left the DOJ on January 10. The disclosure was made in a footnote of a filing submitted to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida.

“The Special Counsel completed his work and submitted his final confidential report on January 7, 2025, and separated from the Department on January 10,” the filing stated.

Smith’s resignation was anticipated after Trump’s reelection in November, as both investigations into the president-elect were dismissed. DOJ policy prohibits the prosecution of a sitting president, effectively ending the cases before Trump’s inauguration.

Trump had publicly attacked Smith throughout the investigations, declaring he would fire the special counsel upon taking office and suggesting that Smith should be “thrown out of the country.”

The filing also highlighted DOJ efforts to release Smith’s investigation into Trump’s alleged interference in the 2020 election. DOJ officials urged Judge Cannon not to extend her order, which temporarily blocks the release of the report. Some of Trump’s former co-defendants have requested an extension of Cannon’s order, aiming to prevent parts of the report from being shared with Congress.

The DOJ filed an emergency motion late Friday, asking a federal appeals court to overturn Cannon’s order and expedite the release of Smith’s findings.

Judge Cannon, who had previously dismissed the Mar-a-Lago documents case against Trump, ruled that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional. This decision had further complicated the DOJ’s attempts to pursue legal action against the president-elect.

Smith’s resignation marks the end of a contentious chapter in the DOJ’s handling of Trump-related investigations. While his findings remain under wraps for now, the battle over the release of his report underscores the ongoing legal and political tensions surrounding Trump’s return to the presidency.

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