WASHINGTON – The Justice Department early Tuesday sent members of Congress a section of special counsel Jack Smith’s report summarizing his investigation into President-elect Donald Trump’s efforts to maintain power after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden and that culminated in the deadly attack on January 6. at the US Capitol, according to a source familiar with the matter.
NBC News obtained a copy of the report, in which Smith defends his decision to impeach Trump.
“While I relied heavily on the advice, judgment and counsel of our team, I want to be clear that the final decision to file charges against Mr. Trump was mine,” Smith wrote in a letter accompanying the report.
The report states that Trump spread claims that were “demonstrably and, in many cases, obviously false,” and that Smith’s office determined that “Trump knew that there was no fraud determining the outcome in the 2020 election, that man the specific claims he said were false and that he had lost the election.”
The report ends a chapter in American history in which, for the first time, a former president was indicted on federal charges, then went on to be re-elected and, within a few days, returned to power. Trump fought to keep the report secret, but last-minute requests to ban publication were rejected.
Smith, who resigned on Friday, also wrote a second volume of his report focused on separate charges brought against Trump for his handling of classified documents, but that part of the report was not released because the charges against two of Trump’s co-defendants They are still pending. earring.
Trump, who was separately convicted of 34 felonies in connection with money payments to an adult film star during his 2016 campaign, had denied wrongdoing in connection with the effort to overturn the 2020 election. A grand jury The federal government charged Trump with four felonies (conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction and attempted obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy against human rights) related to January 6 and the efforts prior to him. Under the Justice Department’s long-standing policy that prevents a sitting president from being tried, the charges were dropped following Trump’s victory in November.
While Trump never publicly admitted that he knew he had lost the 2020 election but continued to insist otherwise, a federal grand jury said the false claims he spread were “baseless, objectively unreasonable and constantly changing.”
The delay strategy used by Trump’s legal team ultimately allowed Trump to avoid trial before American voters elected him again in 2024, and resulted in a Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity that will now grant the incoming president a greater freedom in office.
The report was released as Trump says he is preparing to pardon an untold number of Jan. 6 defendants. More than 1,580 defendants have been charged and more than 1,270 convicted on charges ranging from illegal parades to seditious conspiracy. More than 700 defendants have already served their sentences or were never sentenced to any prison term. When asked if he could forgive rioters who committed violence against police officers, Trump did not rule it out.
Among those seeking a pardon is former Proud Boys President Enrique Tarrio, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy in 2023 and sentenced to 22 years in federal prison, the longest sentence imposed on any defendant on Jan. 6. Vice President-elect JD Vance said over the weekend that those who committed violence “obviously” should not be forgiven. The mother of one of the January 6 rioters who was shot and killed during the attack said she received a call from Trump last week, and the president-elect told the January 6 defendants to “keep their chins.” aloft”.
This is a development history. Please check back for updates.
