Special Counsel Jack Smith resigns from DOJ as Trump's fight to block final report continues

Special counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the prosecution of former President Donald Trump in two federal cases, was the target of a swat attempt at his Maryland residence on Christmas Day.

Ricky Carioti | The Washington Post | Getty Images

Special counsel Jack Smith resigned from the Justice Department on Friday as President-elect Donald Trump and others continued their efforts to block the release of Smith's final report on his criminal investigations into the Republican.

Smith, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022, left his post 10 days before Trump's inauguration.

His departure was expected because Smith had indicated he would leave before Trump took office, and because the president-elect planned to fire the special counsel if he did not resign.

But the timing was not revealed until Saturday, in a brief footnote to a Justice Department court filing with U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon of Florida, who was appointed to the judiciary by Trump.

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

DOJ officials urged Cannon not to extend an order she issued last week that temporarily blocks the agency from releasing Smith's investigation into Trump's interference in the 2020 election results.

Trump's former co-defendants in another criminal case have asked Cannon to extend his order and are trying to block Garland from releasing part of Smith's report to members of Congress.

The DOJ filed an emergency motion Friday asking a federal appeals court to overturn the order, which would allow the prompt release of Smith's report.

Smith had filed two criminal charges against Trump.

One of them, in federal court in Washington, D.C., was charged with crimes related to his attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.

In the other case, presided over by Cannon, Trump was accused of keeping classified government documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after leaving the White House in January 2017, and of his efforts to prevent responsible for retrieving these documents.

Trump's valet, Walt Nauta, and Mar-a-Lago employee Carlos De Oliveira were also defendants in the case, accused of helping Trump try to hide the documents from officials.

Last year, Cannon dismissed the Mar-a-Lago documents case against Trump after ruling that Smith's appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional.

Smith appealed the dismissal. But the DOJ ended up dismissing both criminal charges against Trump after his November election victory due to an agency policy of re-prosecuting a sitting president.

However, the DOJ is appealing the dismissal of the charges against Nauta and De Oliveira.

The DOJ said it would not release the section of the Smith report dealing with the Mar-a-Lago case while it appeals the dismissal of the case against these two other men, and until a subsequent case would be in progress.

CNBC's Dan Mangan contributed to this report.

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