Jack Smith launches stinging defense of Jan. 6 probe, says jury will convict Trump
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump “incited his supporters to commit acts of physical violence” on Jan. 6 and intentionally spread Objectively false narratives about electoral fraud in the 2020 election. early Tuesday.
The 170-page report summarizes Smith's investigation into President-elect Donald Trump's efforts to maintain power after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden, culminating in the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol .
Smith has been the target of endless criticism from Trump, and his allies have suggested the special counsel should now face criminal charges. Smith used the report to mount a full-throated defense of his decision to accuse Trump of what he believed would have been otherwise. Trump's election in November prevented prosecutors from moving forward on a case that would have ended with the president-elect's conviction.
“That is true, but with Mr. Trump's election and impending return to the presidency, the office assesses that the admissible evidence is sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial,” Smith's report said.
The report said the claims Trump spread were “clearly false and, in many cases, demonstrably false.” Smith's office determined that “Trump knew there was no fraud that determined the outcome of the 2020 election and that many of his The specific claims are false and he has lost the election.”
The report closes a chapter in U.S. history, the first time a former president was indicted on federal charges only to go on to be elected and return to power within days. Trump fought to keep the report secret, but a last-minute request to suppress its release was denied.
Smith, who resigned on Friday, also wrote a second volume of the report that focused on separate allegations against Trump over his handling of classified documents, but that part of the report has not been released because charges against two of Trump's co-defendants remain pending. . .
Trump, who was convicted on 34 separate felonies for hush money payments to an adult film star during the 2016 campaign, has denied wrongdoing in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. A federal grand jury indicted Trump on four felony counts – conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstructing and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy to violate rights – related to the January 6 incident and the events leading up to this Event efforts related. it. The charges were dropped after Trump's victory in November, in line with the Justice Department's longstanding policy of preventing sitting presidents from being tried.
Although Trump has never publicly admitted that he knew he would lose the 2020 election, but has persisted in insisting that was not the case, a federal grand jury said the false claims he spread were “unsupported, objectively unreasonable and ever-evolving” “.
The delaying tactics used by Trump's legal team ultimately allowed him to avoid a trial before U.S. voters re-elected him last year and led to a Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity that would give him broader latitude to govern.
The report comes as Trump says he is preparing to pardon an untold number of Jan. 6 defendants. More than 1,580 defendants were charged and more than 1,270 people were convicted on charges ranging from unlawful demonstrations to seditious conspiracy. More than 700 defendants have either completed their sentences or were never sentenced to any prison time. When asked about the possibility of pardoning rioters who committed violence against police, Trump did not rule out the possibility.
Those seeking clemency include former Proud Boys president Enrique Tarrio, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy in 2023 and sentenced to 22 years in federal prison in response to a Jan. 6 The maximum sentence imposed on the defendant. Vice President-elect Vance said over the weekend that those who committed violence “clearly” should not be pardoned. The mother of a rioter who was shot and killed in the Jan. 6 attack said she received a call last week from Trump, who told the Jan. 6 defendant to “keep your head high.”
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