Judge clears way for Trump election interference report
President-elect Donald Trump will be convicted of illegally trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election – which he lost – if he fails to win re-election in 2024, according to a report announced by the Ministry of Justice to the National Assembly.
“Admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial,” said Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report.
Smith was “deranged” and his findings were “fake,” Trump said after the report was released.
The 137-page document was sent to Congress after Judge Aileen Cannon cleared the way for the first of two parts of Smith’s report – on election interference – to be released.
She ordered a hearing later this week on whether to release the report on allegations that Mr. Trump illegally retained classified government documents.
The president-elect will take office on January 20.
Special prosecutor Jack Smith resigned last week.
Smith was appointed in 2022 to oversee the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigations into Trump. Special attorneys are selected by the Department in cases where there is a potential conflict of interest.
Trump is accused of illegally keeping documents and in some cases storing them in rooms at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, which he owns. In the interference case, he was accused of plotting to overturn the 2020 election results.
Both cases resulted in criminal charges against Trump, who pleaded not guilty and sought to paint the prosecutions as politically motivated.
But Smith closed the cases after Trump’s election in November, under Justice Department rules that prohibit prosecuting a sitting president.
Indeed, in the published report, Smith said: “Department [of justice] view that the Constitution’s prohibition against further indictment and prosecution of a president is unequivocal and not based on the seriousness of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s evidence, or the merits of the prosecution prosecution, which the office fully supports.”
Since then, there has been a legal back and forth over documents related to the case.
Last week, Judge Cannon halted the release of Smith’s full report over concerns that it could affect the cases of two Trump associates charged in the classified documents case.
Walt Nauta, Trump’s personal assistant, and Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager at Mar-a-Lago, are accused of helping Trump hide documents.
Unlike Trump’s case, their lawsuits are still pending — and their lawyers argue that the release of Smith’s report could prejudice future juries and trials .
