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Jack Smith, the architect of some of the most serious criminal charges against Donald Trump, has resigned from the US Department of Justice, bringing to a close historic federal efforts to convict a former president.
US attorney-general Merrick Garland in 2022 appointed Smith as special counsel to oversee criminal cases in which Trump was ultimately charged with seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election and mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House.
The two indictments marked the first time a former US president faced federal criminal charges. They unleashed a fierce legal battle with Trump that captivated the country and dominated the political debate leading up to the 2024 general election, which Trump won.
Smith “separated from the Department on January 10,” according to a filing in the classified documents case.
The DoJ and Smith, who was expected to resign before Trump returned to the White House, declined to comment.
The president-elect had pledged to fire Smith at the onset of his second term, after labelling the special counsel a “deranged lunatic”.
Smith’s departure comes as Trump has largely sidestepped the criminal cases mounted against him — four in total, at state and federal level.
Smith in November moved to dismiss the two DoJ cases before Trump’s inauguration on January 20, citing a long-standing DoJ policy against indicting and prosecuting a sitting president. The documents case had already been dismissed by a federal judge, and Smith had appealed against the dismissal.
“That prohibition 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 government stands fully behind,” he wrote at the time in relation to the DoJ’s policy.
Trump was found guilty in a “hush money” case brought by the Manhattan district attorney, which will make him the first convicted felon to be sworn in as president. But no fine or imprisonment was imposed against Trump at his sentencing hearing on Friday.
An indictment obtained by the state of Georgia accusing Trump of meddling with the 2020 polls is at a standstill after the district attorney who brought the charges was disqualified for failing to disclose a romantic relationship with an outside lawyer working on the case.
A report on Trump’s cases would mark the final chapter in Smith’s role as special counsel. But Trump’s co-defendants in the classified documents case are fighting its release, as it relates to their case.
Garland has said the DoJ would make public the portion of the report covering the elections case, while the section linked to the classified documents proceedings would only be shared with the leaders of specific congressional committees.
The matter is now before a US appellate court.
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