Washington DC:
US Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought two cases against US President-elect Donald J Trump, is reportedly planning to complete his work and step down along with other members of his team before he can be ‘fired’. Last month, Mr Trump promised to fire Mr Smith within “two seconds” once he assumed office in January.
Mr Smith’s goal is to finish his report and leave before Mr Trump returns to power and not leave any significant part of his work for others to complete, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing sources.
As per the report, Mr. Smith’s office is still planning on how to close the cases within the time frame. However, unforeseen circumstances – such as judicial rulings or decisions by other government officials – could alter his intended timeline.
President-elect Trump will be sworn in at his inauguration scheduled to be held on January 20, 2025.
Cases Against Trump
Mr Smith brought two cases against the former President, one involving classified documents Mr Trump kept after leaving office and the other involving his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. The Republican leader has, however, denied charges in both cases.
In July, a Florida-based federal judge dismissed the documents case. The election interference case is ongoing in Washington but no trial date has been set, with the Justice Department still evaluating how to wind it down.
Now, with certainty of Mr Trump returning to the Oval Office, the federal cases against him are set to end as the US Justice Department’s policy has long held that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted for crimes.
Moreover, in July this year, the US Supreme Court ruled that presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts, even after leaving office. The ruling gives no immunity to ex-presidents for unofficial acts.
The former President is accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to obstruct an official proceeding – the session of Congress called to certify the Biden win, which was violently attacked on January 6, 2021, by a mob of his supporters.
The Republican is also accused of seeking to disenfranchise US voters with his false claims that he won the 2020 election.
Mr Trump also faces two state cases – in New York and Georgia. In New York, he has been convicted of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election to stop her from revealing an alleged 2006 sexual encounter.
In Georgia, the Republican is being charged for his efforts to subvert the 2020 results in the southern state, but this case is also likely to be frozen under the policy of not prosecuting a sitting president.
Who’s Jack Smith
Mr. Smith is an American attorney and a former war crimes prosecutor, who has served in the United States Department of Justice. Two years ago, he was appointed as an independent special counsel by Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden’s attorney general. He was responsible for overseeing two preexisting Justice Department criminal investigations into former president Trump, three days after the Republican leader announced his 2024 presidential campaign.
With Mr Trump set to be back in the Oval Office, regulations call for Mr Smith to file a report summarising his investigation and decisions, according to the NYT report.
With the new Supreme Court ruling in place, this document may go down in history as a final accounting from a prosecutor who filed extensive charges against a former president but never got his cases to trial.
As per the report, it is not clear how quickly he can finish his work, but he has told career prosecutors and FBI agents on his team who are not directly involved in that process that they can start planning their departures over the next few weeks.
Though Mr Trump during his election campaign pledged to fire Smith, US presidents do not have the authority to dismiss a special counsel. However, the President-elect could name an attorney general who could do so. Mr Trump could also simply order the Justice Department to drop the charges.
