Special Counsel Report Says Trump Would Have Been Convicted in Election Case
Last edited Tue Jan 14, 2025, 01:41 AM - Edit history (2)
Source: New York Times
Special Counsel Report Says Trump Would Have Been Convicted in Election Case
"But for Mr. Trump's election and imminent return to the presidency, the office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial," the report said.
In August 2023, the special counsel Jack Smith charged Donald J. Trump with three intersecting conspiracy counts accusing him of plotting to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. Doug Mills/The New York Times
By Alan Feuer and Charlie Savage
Alan Feuer and Charlie Savage write about legal issues, including the former criminal cases against President-elect Donald J. Trump.
Jan. 14, 2025, 12:37 a.m. ET
Jack Smith, the special counsel who indicted President-elect Donald J. Trump on charges of seeking to cling to power after losing the 2020 election, said in a final report released early Tuesday morning that he believed the evidence was sufficient to convict Mr. Trump in a trial if his success in the 2024 election had not made it impossible for the prosecution to continue.
"The department's view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a president is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the government's proof or the merits of the prosecution, which the office stands fully behind," Mr. Smith wrote.
He continued: "Indeed, but for Mr. Trump's election and imminent return to the presidency, the office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial."
The Justice Department delivered the 137-page volume -- representing half of Mr. Smith's overall final report, with the volume about the classified documents case still confidential -- to Congress just after midnight Tuesday morning.
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This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Alan Feuer covers extremism and political violence for The Times, focusing on the criminal cases involving the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and against former President Donald J. Trump. More about Alan Feuer
Charlie Savage writes about national security and legal policy. More about Charlie Savage
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/14/us/politics/trump-special-counsel-report-election-jan-6.html
For once, it pays to be an old man and have to get up during the night.
Her's the report. Hat tip, JCF at Joe.My.God.
https://www.joemygod.com/2025/01/chatter-away-overnight-open-thread-2479/#comment-6629577485
https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/76c2c1e8fe2e5ae7/d2d77a9c-full.pdf
From Lazycrockett:
https://www.joemygod.com/2025/01/chatter-away-overnight-open-thread-2479/#comment-6629577040
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25486132-report-of-special-counsel-smith-volume-1-january-2025/#document/p1
Also from Lazycrockett:
https://www.joemygod.com/2025/01/chatter-away-overnight-open-thread-2479/#comment-6629577194
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.260101/gov.uscourts.mad.260101.61.0.pdf
From DreadPikathulhu:
https://www.joemygod.com/2025/01/chatter-away-overnight-open-thread-2479/#comment-6629576909
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25486132-report-of-special-counsel-smith-volume-1-january-2025/#document/p4
= new reply since forum marked as read
And they’ve completely lost the narrative and their fucking minds. Too late to do anything about it. 
Breaking: Special counsel's report on the January 6 case is now public
“{B}ut for Mr. Trump's election and imminent return to the Presidency," the report concludes that a conviction in the Jan. 6 case against Trump was still possible.
Chris Geidner
Jan 14, 2025
Attorney General Merrick Garland released the volume of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s final report addressing the January 6 case (DOJ link here) to members of Congress and then to the public early Tuesday morning, shortly after an injunction purporting to block its release expired.
The first federal prosecutions of a former president had already reached their end for now, soon after Donald Trump was elected to a second term as president in November 2024. The Justice Department, through the Special Counsel’s Office, had dismissed the case brought against Trump related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and dismissed an appeal, as to Trump, of the case involving Trump’s handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after leaving office in 2021.
Smith — who left a job as a prosecutor in The Hague to take on Garland’s appointment as special counsel in November 2022 — had one final task: transmitting a final report to Garland, in accordance with Justice Department regulations. He did so on January 7. ... “While I relied greatly on the counsel, judgment, and advice of our team, I want it to be clear that the ultimate decision to bring charges against Mr. Trump was mine,” Smith told Garland in a letter transmitting the report. “It is a decision I stand behind fully. To have done otherwise on the facts developed during our work would have been to shirk my duties as a prosecutor and a public servant. After nearly 30 years of public service, that is a choice I could not abide.”
Three days after sending the final report, Smith resigned from the Justice Department. ... Four days after that — days full of legal efforts to block the release of the report that echoed the efforts to block the prosecutions themselves — the January 6 case volume was released. Smith’s volume relating to the classified documents case remains out of the public’s eye for now, pursuant to an order issued as part of those efforts.
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