David Frum
‪@davidfrum.bsky.social‬

Special Counsel report: The incoming president of the United States would have been convicted of violent crimes against the Constitution if his case had been brought in a timelier manner.

January 14, 2025 at 7:25 AM

Jack Smith writes biting defense of Jan. 6 probe, says jury would have convicted Trump

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump "inspired his supporters to commit acts of physical violence" on Jan. 6 and knowingly spread an objectively false narrative about election fraud in the 2020 election, special counsel Jack Smith said in a report defending his investigation made public early Tuesday.

The 170-page report summarized Smith's investigation into Trump's efforts to maintain power after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, which culminated in the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Smith's office conducted interviews with more than 250 individuals in connection with the investigation and federal grand jurors heard testimony from more than 55 witnesses as part of the probe.

Smith has been the subject of unending criticism by Trump, whose allies have suggested the special counsel should now face criminal charges, and he used the report to deliver a full-throated defense of his decision to bring charges.

"To all who know me well, the claim from Mr. Trump that my decisions as a prosecutor were influenced or directed by the Biden administration or other political actors is, in a word, laughable," Smith wrote.

If it wasn't for Trump's election in November that prevented the prosecution from moving forward, the case would have ended in the president-elect's conviction, he wrote.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/justice-dept-sends-congress-jack-smiths-report-trumps-effort-overturn-rcna187492