U.S. Special Counsel and Trump prosecutor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jack-smith" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jack Smith</a> resigned from the Department of Justice on Friday, according to Politico.
Smith&#8217;s <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/11/jack-smith-resigns-justice-department-trump-criminal-investigation-00197694" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resignation</a> comes as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House at the end of January, leading Smith to drop both of the criminal cases after they hit significant roadblocks from Trump-appointed judges. Most significant was the Supreme Court ruling in Trump&#8217;s favor against Smith, granting former presidents significant immunity from prosecution for official acts, according to Politico.
Despite <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-prosecutor-jack-smith-resigns-justice-department-politico-reports-2025-01-11/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dropping</a> the cases, Smith defended the charges on their merits, only saying that Trump&#8217;s re-election made them &#8220;untenable&#8221; due to DOJ policy against prosecuting sitting presidents, per Reuters.
Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 to lead the DOJ&#8217;s investigations into Trump allegedly attempting to overturn the 2020 election and mishandling classified documents.
Trump denied all wrongdoing, calling the prosecutions politically motivated retribution from the Biden administration, and raised millions in campaign contributions off the back of the cases against him. Many of Trump&#8217;s supporters saw the prosecutions from Smith and others as clear attempts from the political establishment to silence Trump with the law, a powerful narrative Trump exploited until election day.
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Smith was on a short timetable, with many experts concurring that if Trump won the election before Smith&#8217;s cases could come to a conclusion, the prosecutions would be shut down, with Smith&#8217;s first public appearance since his appointment in November 2022 occurring in August of 2023.
&#8220;The attack on our nation&#8217;s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy. As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies &#8211; lies by the defendant, targeted at obstructing the bedrock function of the U.S. government,&#8221; Smith accused in a press conference in August of 2023, with Trump being indicted shortly after.
This left a little over a year for Smith to overcome the delays Trump&#8217;s legal team was putting on the cases, with both cases locked in legal gridlock, with Trump-appointed Justice Aileen Cannon flat-out dismissing the classified documents case, and going as far as temporarily blocking the public release of Smith&#8217;s January 6 report for weeks.
Smith&#8217;s resignation marks the end of Trump&#8217;s prosecutorial woes federally, with no former president ever being prosecuted prior to Smith&#8217;s appointment.

Former President Donald Trump Indicted In January 6 Investigation

Trump Prosecutor Jack Smith Resigns From DOJ

Donald Trump

General

Jack Smith

January 6

Politics

A federal judge in Florida has temporarily blocked the expected release of special counsel <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jack-smith">Jack Smith</a>&#8216;s final report, a victory for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a> and his allies in the final weeks before the president-elect starts his second White House term.
Smith&#8217;s report must remain undisclosed while the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals considers a challenge from two of Trump&#8217;s former co-defendants in the classified documents case, District Court Judge Aileen Cannon <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25480420-cannon-injunction-final-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> in an order on Tuesday.
Lawyers for the defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, had <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25479596-nauta/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">requested</a> a hearing on an emergency motion to argue against the release of certain materials while contending an &#8220;unchecked release&#8221; would result in &#8220;prejudice&#8221; against them.
&#8220;Defendants are strictly precluded from refuting the Report,&#8221; their filing on Monday warned. &#8220;The Final Report is meant to serve as a Government verdict against the Defendants contrary to all criminal justice norms and constitutional guideposts.&#8221;
Cannon, a Trump appointee, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-dismisses-trump-classified-documents-case" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dismissed</a> the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/appeals-court-agrees-dismiss-trumps-classified-documents-case-rcna181942" target="_blank" rel="noopener">classified documents</a> case last summer. Smith appealed the decision but dropped the challenge after Trump won the 2024 election. However, the appeal with regard to Nauta and De Oliveira remains active.
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The defendants&#8217; <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25479596-nauta/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filing</a> included a letter from Trump&#8217;s attorneys to Attorney General <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/merrick-garland" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Merrick Garland</a> requesting he not go along with Smith&#8217;s bid &#8220;to disseminate an extrajudicial &#8216;Final Report&#8217; to perpetuate his false and discredited accusations.&#8221;
Smith, who is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/13/us/politics/jack-smith-special-counsel.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> stepping down from the Department of Justice before Trump is inaugurated on January 20, had responded to Nauta and De Oliveira&#8217;s motion by confirming a two-volume &#8220;confidential report&#8221; was being finalized.
The filing from the special counsel <a href="https://x.com/kyledcheney/status/1876599874193604836" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that one of the volumes pertains to the documents case, and it would not be sent to Garland before 1 p.m. on Tuesday. Smith also said Garland would not release the volume to the public, if at all, before Friday.
POLITICO&#8217;s Kyle Cheney <a href="https://x.com/kyledcheney/status/1876632535515689105" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a> earlier on Tuesday that Trump &#8220;is preparing to formally intervene in the effort to block Jack Smith’s report, his codefendants say. And they’re asking the 11th circuit to send the case back to Cannon so she can rule on it.&#8221;
The second volume may deal with Smith&#8217;s abandoned <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/special-counsel-jack-smith-moves-dismiss-election-interference/story?id=116207758" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2020 election subversion</a> case in Washington, D.C. District Judge Tanya Chutkan <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-chutkan-dismisses-federal-election-charges-against-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dismissed</a> the charges against Trump after the special counsel filed to drop the matter following the 2024 election.

Special Counsel Jack Smith

Judge Blocks Release Of Jack Smith’s Final Report

Courts

Department of Justice

Merrick Garland

On Wednesday, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary, fired off a letter to the Biden Department of Justice demanding the Office of Professional Responsibility provide critical information about the operations of Special Counsel Jack Smith and his team’s efforts to prosecute Donald Trump.
Smith had charged Trump with trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election in one case and mishandling classified documents in another.
“The information that you have provided only reinforces our concerns that OPR acts more to protect Department prosecutors than to root out prosecutorial misconduct,” Jordan wrote to Jeffrey Ragsdale, the counsel for OPR. “While we appreciate you confirming an open investigation into Jack Smith&#8217;s prosecutors, we are concerned that your refusal to take prompt investigative steps will allow these attorneys to evade internal accountability by leaving the Department.”
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Jordan referred to a letter the Committee wrote in May in which they asked for “documents related to OPR&#8217;s investigations into allegations that Special Counsel Jack Smith and his team lied to a federal court, manipulated evidence seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during its raid of Mar-a-Lago, and improperly pressured a lawyer representing a defendant indicted by Smith.”
The Committee followed up with another letter in August regarding professional misconduct regarding another member of Smith&#8217;s team, J.P. Cooney. After receiving no response, the Committee asked Ragsdale to make himself available to the Committee in September and followed up with another request in October regarding all their requests.
On November 19, Ragsdale told the Committee that OPR had opened an investigation into Smith&#8217;s office in June 2023, but OPR did not conduct an “inquiry” or “investigation” into the allegations because it could “interfer[e] with” and “jeopardize” the prosecution, Jordan wrote.
“As you explained it, the Department&#8217;s policy would keep bad-actor attorneys in place to continue prosecutorial misconduct because of the administrative difficulty and resource constraints involved in switching attorneys,” Jordan wrote. “This excuse not only defies common sense, but it seems to violate the Department&#8217;s mission to ensure that justice is done in every case.”
After Trump was elected, Smith revealed that his team was “making moves to wind down the two criminal cases.&#8221;
“Smith then gave your office permission to investigate the allegations of attorney misconduct by Smith&#8217;s office. You stated that Smith only allowed the investigation to begin because it would now no longer ‘interfere with the Special Counsel&#8217;s investigation and prosecution,’” Jordan noted.
“It is absurd that OPR &#8211; the Department entity charged with upholding ethical conduct &#8211; would only examine allegations of prosecutorial misconduct after the subject of the allegations has approved the inquiry,” he declared.
“Your continued failure to cooperate with our oversight and apparent intention to hide information from the Committee is more evidence that OPR operates to protect Department attorneys from independent accountability,” Jordan asserted. “This letter serves as a formal request to preserve all existing and future records and materials related to OPR&#8217;s investigation into Special Counsel Smith and members of his prosecution team. Your office should construe this preservation notice as an instruction to take all reasonable steps to prevent the destruction or alteration, whether intentionally or negligently, of all documents, communications, and other information, including electronic information and metadata, that are or may be responsive to this congressional inquiry.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a>: DOJ briefed the Committee on prosecutorial misconduct by Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team. 
Chairman <a href="https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Jim_Jordan</a> demands the DOJ produce the requested documents and information. <a href="https://t.co/FIpwnZVARg">pic.twitter.com/FIpwnZVARg</a>
&mdash; House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) <a href="https://twitter.com/JudiciaryGOP/status/1864471137981272344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In late November, a judge rejected Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s request that Smith preserve his records. In his request, Paxton <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.396773/gov.uscourts.txnd.396773.1.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> that he “fears that many releasable records &#8230; will never see daylight. That is not because DOJ has any legal reason to withhold them. Rather, Attorney General Paxton has a well-founded belief as set forth herein that Defendants will simply destroy the records. That is how they and/or their predecessors have operated in the recent past. And Jack Smith’s team has conducted itself in multiple ways that suggest it cannot be blindly trusted to preserve, and eventually produce, all of its records.”

MixCollage-05-Dec-2024-01-58-AM-3804

Jordan Demands DOJ Provide Evidence Regarding Possible Misconduct By Jack Smith

classified documents

Congress

Jim Jordan

Embattled Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been ordered to hand over all records related to her communications with special counsel Jack Smith and the House January 6 Committee after a court granted a motion for default adjustment against her on Tuesday.
Willis is leading a controversial RICO case against now-President-elect Donald Trump and several of his top associates for alleged election interference, which is now on pause.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney is giving Willis five business days to produce the material, Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fani-willis-ordered-give-watchdog-all-communications-special-counsel-jack-smith" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> Tuesday night. McBurney also said in his ruling that Willis violated Georgia&#8217;s open records act when she failed to respond to nonprofit Judicial Watch&#8217;s lawsuit about the communication.
Willis&#8217; office claimed in March that it did not have any documents on file or communications with Smith or the J6 Committee, Fox noted. However, the claim was untrue, and the office did have such communication.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bombshell-house-report-reveals-trump-prosecutor-nathan-wade-met-with-white-house" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daily Wire reporter Luke Rosiak</a> in October revealed Nathan Wade &#8211; Willis&#8217; romantic partner, whom she hired as special prosecutor in the Trump case &#8211; had extensive communications with the Biden White House, according to records.
Wade billed the Fulton County office for hours of meetings with the White House, the congressional January 6 committee, and other D.C. officials, according to records obtained by the House Judiciary Committee.
On November 18, 2022, he billed eight hours for “Interview with DC/White House,” but under oath, he claimed he didn’t remember the meeting and couldn’t even say whether it was online or in person. Between September 7 and September 9, 2022, Wade billed $6,000 to taxpayers for “Witness Interviews; conf call DC; team meeting,” but couldn’t remember what the D.C. meeting entailed.
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A released <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2024-10-15%20Nathan%20Wade%20Deposition_Redacted_Errata.pdf">transcript</a> of an interview with Wade, which was compelled by subpoena, shows that Willis was preparing to prosecute Trump even before she took office. She put Wade on a “search committee” to find a prosecutor, which ultimately chose him for the job.
In addition to the accusation that her office was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bombshell-house-report-reveals-trump-prosecutor-nathan-wade-met-with-white-house" target="_blank" rel="noopener">allegedly working with the White House and top Democrats</a>, Willis has been marred by the hiring of Wade, her boyfriend, since the pair allegedly benefited financially from the arrangement.
Currently, it&#8217;s being worked through the courts to determine if Willis and her office can continue to prosecute the case. Wade has already been forced to resign from his position.
Luke Rosiak contributed to this report.

Fani Willis

Fani Willis Ordered To Hand Over All Jack Smith/J6 Comms In 5 Business Days

fulton county

January 6 Committee

The liberal cohosts of ABC&#8217;s &#8220;The View&#8221; struggled to keep it together after special prosecutor Jack Smith filed to drop his ongoing cases against President-elect Donald Trump — and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-chutkan-dismisses-federal-election-charges-against-trump">Judge Tanya Chutkan</a> signed off on one of his requests.
Cohost Joy Behar addressed the issue during Tuesday&#8217;s broadcast of the midday talk show, where she argued that the end of the lawfare proved that &#8220;karma&#8221; against Trump was non-existent.
&#8220;After all that time and money, are we gonna get a rebate?&#8221; cohost Whoopi Goldberg asked of the now-wasted efforts to go after Trump. &#8220;We&#8217;re not getting any money back on that? Okay, well, what do you think of that?&#8221;
&#8220;It kind of shows that there&#8217;s no such thing as karma, doesn&#8217;t it?&#8221; Behar asked. &#8220;It&#8217;s like the Easter Bunny and affordable housing, it doesn&#8217;t exist. I mean, I feel like — eventually, I think we will get him out. But it&#8217;s going to take a while and let&#8217;s hope there&#8217;s not too much damage that he does.&#8221;
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Behar did not elaborate on what she meant when she said someone would &#8220;get him out,&#8221; but instead went on to jab at the American people for not listening to Vice President Kamala Harris when she promised to help people afford houses.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Behar demands Republicans &quot;step up&quot; to oppose Trump&#39;s agenda despite the public&#39;s mandate to him. Specifically, she hopes that Republicans step up to stop Trump from allowing dengue fever to sweep across the country. <a href="https://t.co/FSrIn729VK">pic.twitter.com/FSrIn729VK</a>
&mdash; Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickFondacaro/status/1861443468565844364?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 26, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Behar then argued that it would be up to Republicans in Congress — many of whom won their seats on their promise to help Trump implement his agenda — to &#8220;step up&#8221; and help Democrats stop Trump from implementing his agenda.
&#8220;I also think even though everybody&#8217;s been talking about how awful these picks are for the Cabinet, I feel like some of the Republicans in Congress are going to have to step up,&#8221; Behar continued. &#8220;Especially when you have somebody like Robert Kennedy Jr. — you sent me a thing the other day that said that Dengue Fever is on the rise, ok? I don&#8217;t think these Republicans want to get Dengue Fever. I don&#8217;t think that they want to get COVID. I don&#8217;t think that they want their kids to not get the polio shot.&#8221;
&#8220;Maybe they will step up because it will affect them,&#8221; she said.
Kennedy Jr., whose platform as an independent presidential candidate was Make America Healthy Again, has long said that he does not oppose vaccines on principle — he simply opposes vaccines that have not been through thorough and rigorous testing and does not believe that they should be mandated.

ABC’s “The View” – Season 25

‘The View’ Hosts Struggle To Cope As Anti-Trump Lawfare Efforts Evaporate

'The View' Hosts Struggle To Cope As Anti-Trump Lawfare Efforts Evaporate

Joy Behar

Media

The View

President-elect Donald Trump slammed the &#8220;empty and lawless&#8221; cases brought against him by special counsel Jack Smith on Monday after Smith <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jack-smith-moves-to-drop-cases-against-trump-over-2020-election-classified-docs?topStoryPosition=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">moved to dismiss</a> four felony charges against Trump.
Smith had charged Trump with four felonies related to the president&#8217;s actions in the aftermath of the 2020 election, but Trump has maintained that the charges — along with the other cases brought against him in Georgia, New York, and Florida — are politically motivated.
&#8220;These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought. Over $100 Million Dollars of Taxpayer Dollars has been wasted in the Democrat Party’s fight against their Political Opponent, ME. Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113545366863200868" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> on Monday. &#8220;They have also used State Prosecutors and District Attorneys, such as Fani Willis and her lover, Nathan Wade (who had absolutely zero experience in cases such as this, but was paid MILLIONS, enough for them to take numerous trips and cruises around the globe!), Letitia James, who inappropriately, unethically, and probably illegally, campaigned on &#8216;GETTING TRUMP&#8217; in order to win Political Office, and Alvin Bragg, who himself never wanted to bring this case against me, but was forced to do so by the Justice Department and the Democrat Party….&#8221;
&#8220;….It was a political hijacking, and a low point in the History of our Country that such a thing could have happened, and yet, I persevered, against all odds, and WON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!&#8221; he <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113545366414504634" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>.
Smith wrote that the DOJ&#8217;s &#8220;position is that the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated. This outcome is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant.&#8221;
“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,” the filing states, according to The Washington Post. “Based on the Department’s interpretation of the Constitution, the Government moves for dismissal without prejudice of the superseding indictment.”
Attorney and George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley said he was not surprised to see Smith move to dismiss the charges against Trump after Trump&#8217;s election victory.
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&#8220;I wrote over a year ago that there was a good chance Jack Smith would never see the inside of a courtroom for a trial in this case. It made this election the largest effective jury verdict in history by re-electing Donald Trump,&#8221; Turley said. &#8220;The special counsel found himself at odds with his own department&#8217;s longstanding policy against the prosecution of a sitting president.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/JonathanTurley?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JonathanTurley</a>: &quot;I wrote over a year ago that there was a good chance Jack Smith would never see the inside of a courtroom for a trial in this case. It made this election the largest effective jury verdict in history by re-electing Donald Trump.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/UFmucqjs99">pic.twitter.com/UFmucqjs99</a>
&mdash; Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1861123146121621680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 25, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Tim Pearce contributed to this report.

‘I Persevered, Against All Odds, And Won’: Trump Celebrates After Jack Smith Files To Drop Charges

'I Persevered, Against All Odds, And Won': Trump Celebrates After Jack Smith Files To Drop Charges

2024 Election

Special counsel Jack Smith has moved to drop his cases against President-elect Donald Trump over the 2020 election and classified documents.
Smith filed to drop his case over the 2020 election first on Monday, moving to dismiss four felony charges against the president-elect. Smith filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that his prosecution of the case against Trump is barred under the Constitution and the Department of Justice’s longstanding policy against charging and prosecuting a sitting president.
“The Department’s position is that the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated,” Smith wrote in the filing, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/25/politics/trump-special-counsel-jack-smith/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a>. “This outcome is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant.”
“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,” the filing states, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/11/25/trump-cases-motion-to-dismiss-jack-smith/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Washington Post</a>. “Based on the Department’s interpretation of the Constitution, the Government moves for dismissal without prejudice of the superseding indictment.”
Smith also moved to dismiss his appeal to revive a case against Trump over classified documents that the president-elect allegedly kept illegally at Mar-a-Lago after the 2020 election, according to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/special-counsel-jack-smith-end-bid-to-revive-trump-documents-case/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CBS News</a>.
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Trump spokesman Steven Cheung celebrated the motion to dismiss in a statement. He called Smith’s filing a “major victory for the rule of law” and said the “weaponization” of the justice system must end.
“The American People re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate to Make America Great Again. Today’s decision by the DOJ ends the unconstitutional federal cases against President Trump, and is a major victory for the rule of law,” Cheung said. “The American People and President Trump want an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and we look forward to uniting our country.”
Smith had charged Trump with four felonies related to the 2020 election, specifically on Trump’s actions after the election and before Congress certified the results on January 7, 2021. In August last year, Trump was indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
Trump has claimed innocence in each case and repeatedly characterized Smith’s prosecutions as political and led by a corrupt and weaponized Department of Justice.

Jack Smith Moves To Drop Cases Against Trump Over 2020 Election, Classified Docs

President-elect <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> is reportedly planning to fire everyone who worked with special counsel Jack Smith on criminal cases against him.
The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/11/22/trump-jack-smith-prosecutors-firing-justice-department-investigation/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzMyMjUxNjAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzMzNjMzOTk5LCJpYXQiOjE3MzIyNTE2MDAsImp0aSI6IjlkODk1M2ZlLTg0NDktNDM2YS04MzBhLWQ2ZmM0NGMzYWM0NCIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9uYXRpb25hbC1zZWN1cml0eS8yMDI0LzExLzIyL3RydW1wLWphY2stc21pdGgtcHJvc2VjdXRvcnMtZmlyaW5nLWp1c3RpY2UtZGVwYXJ0bWVudC1pbnZlc3RpZ2F0aW9uLyJ9.b8dMUTb1qtKGkPZuYYRAZlREbKhtcgCk2xIsjt9eKVU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that multiple sources close to the Trump transition team indicated that those who will be fired also include career attorneys who are often not fired when a new administration takes over.
The report added that Trump wants to create investigative teams within the department to look for evidence of fraud from the 2020 election that may have happened in battleground states.
“President Trump campaigned on firing rogue bureaucrats who have engaged in the illegal weaponization of our American justice system, and the American people can expect he will deliver on that promise,&#8221; Trump Press Secretary-designate Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
&#8220;One of the many reasons that President Trump won the election in a landslide is Americans are sick and tired of seeing their tax dollars spent on targeting the Biden-Harris Administration’s political enemies rather than going after real violent criminals in our streets,” she added.
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Trump’s plans come after he announced on Thursday that he has selected former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to be the next U.S. Attorney General.
Bondi’s nomination came after former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) withdrew his name from consideration this week after meeting with several U.S. Senators about his chances of being confirmed.
Gaetz threw his support behind Bondi on Thursday night, saying that Trump made a “stellar selection” by choosing her.
“Pam and I worked closely together when she was Florida’s Attorney General and I chaired Criminal Justice in the state house,” he said. “She’s a proven litigator, an inspiring leader and a champion for all Americans. She will bring the needed reforms to DOJ.”

Trump To Gut DOJ Of Everyone Who Worked On Cases Against Him

Executive

Trump Administration

The Department of Justice is removing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jack-smith" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jack Smith</a> as special counsel and dropping his two federal investigations into President-Elect Donald Trump following Trump&#8217;s dominant win in Tuesday&#8217;s election.
Fox News reported that the DOJ is removing Smith because they have acknowledged that they cannot prosecute a sitting president.
Smith will be gone from his position before Trump is inaugurated on January 20, 2025, Fox News reported.
The network said that the move means that the DOJ is dropping its two criminal cases against Trump.
The case involving Trump&#8217;s handling of classified material after he left office was already dismissed by a judge in Florida, but was being appealed by Smith.
Smith&#8217;s other case surrounded Trump&#8217;s actions following the 2020 presidential election.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
BREAKING: The Department of Justice is getting rid of Special Counsel Jack Smith before Trump takes office
They are dropping the two federal cases against Trump <a href="https://t.co/YInAUzQ0Rx">pic.twitter.com/YInAUzQ0Rx</a>
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1854230144526750005?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2024</a></blockquote>

US Special Counsel Jack Smith Statement

DOJ Getting Rid Of Jack Smith Before Trump Takes Office, Dropping Federal Cases

Jack Smith, the Justice Department special counsel tasked with overseeing criminal investigations into former president Donald Trump, hired a prosecutor who previously shocked defense attorneys by bullying and threatening suspects and gloating about his power.
Smith <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-special-counsel-subpoenas-georgia-201049822.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tapped</a> Matthew Burke to join his team as assistant special counsel in 2022. Months earlier, Burke drew scrutiny as an assistant U.S. attorney for his handling of a case involving an Amazon real estate deal. That January, Burke unleashed extraordinarily aggressive rhetoric on men who had not been charged with a crime, but who Amazon suspected of involvement in alleged kickback schemes.
&#8220;You have picked a fight that you cannot win,&#8221; Burke told the men, threatening that &#8220;you will get what you deserve,&#8221; and adding that &#8220;any decision of prosecution team effectively will be appeal-proof and will be undeniably correct,&#8221; according to a recording of the call reviewed by The Daily Wire.
Burke told the men that Amazon&#8217;s civil suit left them in an “impossible position” with only two choices: to lie in depositions, in which case he would prosecute them for perjury, or to refuse to answer, in which case they were likely to lose the lawsuit because their silence made them seem guilty. He did not seem to allow for the possibility that the men could tell the truth and win the case.
Two of the men later pleaded guilty to crimes, perhaps swayed by Burke&#8217;s swashbuckling rhetoric and ominous comments about how expensive lawyers are. But Burke&#8217;s certainty was misplaced. The judge hearing the civil lawsuit — which Burke had implored the parties to stall, saying it interfered with his criminal probe — dismissed virtually all the charges, finding that Amazon did not lose money, its employees did not violate their employment contracts, and claims that they took insider info were essentially setups by Amazon. The DOJ later vacated the men&#8217;s guilty pleas.
Smith tapping Burke could raise concerns about the impartiality of the effort to convict Trump. Trump has called <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/from-the-hague-to-obamas-irs-scandal-meet-jack-smith-the-new-special-counsel-to-investigate-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Smith</a> a “scoundrel” and vowed to fire him if he retakes the presidency. Smith&#8217;s probe comes after another special counsel, Robert Mueller, derailed much of Trump’s first term with a multi-year investigation into purported ties to Russia, which turned out to be false. Though Mueller claimed his probe was nonpartisan, it was largely run by Andrew Weissmann, an attorney who is now an <a href="https://x.com/AWeissmann" target="_blank" rel="noopener">openly partisan</a> MSNBC contributor.
Lawyer Amy Nelson, the wife of Carl Nelson — one of the Amazon employees who was on the call and had his money seized by Burke despite never being charged with a crime — told The Daily Wire that her family&#8217;s experience has led her to view a prosecution of Trump by Smith and Burke as a miscarriage of justice.
“Every American should be afraid of this because it could happen to you. One day there’s a knock on the door and they’re not asking you whether you committed a crime, they’re telling you,” she said.
“I spent my life in Democrat politics. I was on Obama’s national finance committee. Five years ago I would have believed Merrick Garland” when he said it was a conspiracy theory to suggest that the Department of Justice targets some people while letting others go free. “Now I just don’t even know what to think of American democracy. It seems so transparent that they waited to go after [Trump] on a federal level until they knew he was running,” she said.
Nelson and Casey Kirschner were real estate transaction managers for Amazon, while Brian Watson was CEO of Northstar, a real estate firm that leased properties to Amazon. Kirschner’s brother Christian, who worked as a referral partner for Northstar, received a finder&#8217;s fee on a data center deal. In April 2020, Amazon <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.474550/gov.uscourts.vaed.474550.1376.0_2.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sued</a> alleging improper kickbacks. Prosecutors also began working closely with Amazon, even holding weekend calls with them.
Before anyone had been charged with a crime, Burke wrote to lawyers making the highly unusual request that he speak to them directly, rather than through counsel. He wrote that if the men did not join the call, he would “not waste any of the government’s time repeating ourselves.”
He told the men they were &#8220;on incredibly perilous ground” and that he would “gather every shred of civil discovery and review it, and then you will have handed us something else to indict” for perjury, even if they had not committed any other crime.
The call was so aggressive that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/15/amazon-virginia-lawsuit-forfeiture/">The Washington Post</a> reported on it at the time, calling it a “strange government intervention.”
An FBI agent seized attorney-client privileged information from Nelson, despite being warned about its protected status, and sent it to Burke. Burke said the agent would be removed from the case only because his “senior management” ordered it. Afterward, Burke admitted to being “a dick” without apology, according to a letter from a defense attorney in the case to Burke’s supervisor, obtained by The Daily Wire.
“The reason I was a dick is because all of you people need to be told you’re being idiots,” Burke said, according to the letter from Stanley L. Garnett, an attorney for Brian Watson.
The letter was sent to Burke’s boss, Eastern District of Virginia U.S. Attorney Jessica Aber. In it, Garnett said Burke&#8217;s &#8220;behavior was improper, unethical, and worthy of your immediate attention.”
Burke was removed from the case soon after, but it was not a disciplinary measure, but rather because he had been promoted to ply his trade against the former president.
Smith and Aber — at the time an assistant US attorney&#8211;previously worked together to prosecute former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell for “honest services fraud” — the same allegation levied in the Amazon case — for receiving gifts from businessmen, despite not doing anything in return. The conviction was <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/supreme-court-overturns-bob-mcdonnells-corruption-convictions-224833" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unanimously overturned</a> by the Supreme Court, which wrote that they were relying on a definition that would allow “boundless” prosecution of politicians. McDonnell <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/ex-virginia-gov-who-saw-conviction-by-jack-smith-thrown-out-says-hed-rather-win-than-get-it-right" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Smith would “rather win than get it right.”
Garnett&#8217;s letter of complaint about Burke said that the defense attorneys “cannot think of even a roughly similar scenario, where a prosecutor overtly threatened clients directly, advising them that truthful testimony in a civil suit is an ‘impossible situation’ and announcing that any misstep in a complex civil suit will automatically result in federal prosecution.”
Burke also told the men, “If you are innocent, we will know that and walk away.” Amy Nelson told The Daily Wire that he had forgotten the presumption of innocence. “If you are innocent? Isn’t it if you are guilty?” she said.
Burke&#8217;s admonition that the men were in a &#8220;fight that you cannot win&#8221; was also false. In April 2023, a federal judge <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.474550/gov.uscourts.vaed.474550.1376.0_2.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dismissed</a> the majority of the civil lawsuit, and in January, prosecutors said they were closing the investigation, declining to charge Nelson and others, and asking a judge to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/01/11/doj-drops-amazon-fraud-probe-virginia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">undo the convictions</a> of the men who had pleaded guilty.
Nonetheless, the federal government has seized hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Nelsons and refused to return some of the money, despite the probe being dropped. They even seized funds from Amy’s father, which they had sent him to pay for kidney transplant treatment, leaving other family members to step in to prevent his death, she said.
&#8220;My husband abided by what was authorized in his employment contract,&#8221; yet &#8220;we lost our home. Someone else lives there. We’ll never get it back,&#8221; she added.
The special counsel’s office did not return a request for comment.

KOSOVO-SERBIA-WARCRIMES-COURT-THACI

Lawyer Who Threatened Innocent Men Joins Jack Smith’s Trump Probe

Regular CNN legal analyst Elie Honig took Special Prosecutor Jack Smith apart over the unprecedented manner in which he used his position to get his findings on former President Donald Trump before the general public prior to the presidential election on November 5.
In a Thursday op-ed for New York Magazine titled &#8220;<a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/jack-smith-october-surprise-donald-trump.html?utm_campaign=nym&amp;utm_source=tw&amp;utm_medium=s1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jack Smith&#8217;s October Cheap Shot</a>,&#8221; Honig conceded that there was some new information in the lengthy brief Smith filed — which Judge Tonya Chutkan then made public — but that the value of that information was compromised by the fact that there was &#8220;no defending&#8221; the route Smith had been willing to take to ensure Trump was tried by the court of public opinion prior to Election Day.
Smith had initially wanted to try Trump before the election, Honig noted, but when that failed, he pulled out all the stops — and &#8220;bent ordinary procedure to get in one last shot, just weeks before voters go to the polls.&#8221;
After a brief paragraph explaining that the filing did, in fact, give some new insights into what then-President Trump was doing and who he was talking to during the riot on January 6, 2021, Honig pivoted to Smith&#8217;s legal tactics and alleged that Smith&#8217;s intent was all but certainly designed to impact the 2024 election.
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&#8220;The larger, if less obvious, headline is that Smith has essentially abandoned any pretense; he’ll bend any rule, switch up on any practice — so long as he gets to chip away at Trump’s electoral prospects,&#8221; Honig declared. &#8220;At this point, there’s simply no defending Smith’s conduct on any sort of principled or institutional basis.&#8221;
&#8220;&#8216;But we need to know this stuff before we vote!&#8217; is a nice bumper sticker, but it’s neither a response to nor an excuse for Smith’s unprincipled, norm-breaking practice,&#8221; Honig continued, adding that if the DOJ had moved more quickly at the outset, they might have been able to get through the trial before the election.
In addition to violating several procedural norms, Honig concluded by arguing that Smith had also violated a major DOJ policy – namely, he was not ever supposed to &#8220;select the timing of any action &#8230; for the purpose of affecting any election.&#8221;
&#8220;Smith’s conduct here violates core DOJ principle and policy. The Justice Manual — DOJ’s internal bible, essentially — contains a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/jm/jm-9-85000-protection-government-integrity#9-85.500">section</a> titled &#8216;Actions That May Have an Impact on the Election,'&#8221; Honig explained. &#8220;Now: Does Smith’s filing qualify? May it have an impact on the election? Of course. So what does the rule tell us? &#8216;Federal prosecutors … may never select the timing of any action, including investigative steps, criminal charges, or statements, for the purpose of affecting any election.'&#8221;

‘October Cheap Shot’: Elie Honig Takes Jack Smith Apart Over 11th Hour Trump Brief

'October Cheap Shot': Elie Honig Takes Jack Smith Apart Over 11th Hour Trump Brief

Lawfare

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a> spoke out on Wednesday after a federal judge in Washington, D.C., publicly released a brief on presidential immunity from special counsel <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jack-smith">Jack Smith</a> in the 2020 election subversion case against the former president.
In a flurry of posts to Truth Social, Trump warned of <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113239989345034168" target="_blank" rel="noopener">election interference</a>, arguing that the filing&#8217;s appearance on the public docket so close to the 2024 contest boosts a political scheme to undermine his current campaign.
&#8220;Democrats are Weaponizing the Justice Department against me because they know I am WINNING, and they are desperate to prop up their failing Candidate, Kamala Harris,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113239970389335011" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post to his social media platform.
He also <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113239878507169039" target="_blank" rel="noopener">questioned</a> the timing, contending that it came &#8220;immediately&#8221; after Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz&#8217;s &#8220;disastrous&#8221; performance in the vice presidential debate and a little more than a month before the election.
The filing was <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-2020-election-case-jack-smith-special-counsel-filing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">submitted</a> under seal last week. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-in-trump-election-case-worked-at-same-law-firm-as-hunter-biden">Federal judge Tanya Chutkan</a> was the one who ordered its release.
Chutkan <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.258149/gov.uscourts.dcd.258149.251.0_4.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> Trump&#8217;s team provided &#8220;no support&#8221; to claims of &#8220;bad-faith partisan bias&#8221; and rejected the defense&#8217;s push for redactions beyond names to protect witnesses, citing the public&#8217;s &#8220;need to understand&#8221; the document.
The 165-page filing discusses how prosecutors&#8217; <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/08/27/nx-s1-5090925/trump-indictment-jan6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">superseding indictment</a> should be able to abide by the Supreme Court&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/supreme-court-rules-trump-has-immunity-for-official-acts-likely-delays-trial-past-election" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ruling in July that</a> presidents have immunity for official acts.
It also addresses evidence gathered by Smith&#8217;s team allegedly showing how Trump and others &#8220;launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn&#8221; the 2020 election.
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Defense lawyers had previously argued that the debate over grappling with the presidential immunity issue should wait until at least December, but Chutkan said the court was <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jack-smith-seeks-streamline-trumps-appeals-election-interference-case-rcna169448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;not concerned&#8221;</a> with the schedule of the 2024 election.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in the D.C. case, which got delayed as the courts weighed his presidential immunity claims. Smith&#8217;s second case against him — one related to classified documents — has been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-dismisses-trump-classified-documents-case" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tossed</a> by a judge in Florida.
Alluding to the dismissal, Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113239878507169039" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in one of his posts to Truth Social that the 2020 election case &#8220;is a Partisan, Unconstitutional, Witch Hunt, that should be dismissed, entirely, just like the Florida case was dismissed!&#8221;

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