President-elect Donald Trump would have been convicted of illegally trying to change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election – which he lost – had he not been successfully re-elected in 2024, according to a Justice Department report released to Congress.
“The admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial,” Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report said.
Smith is “confused” and his findings are “false”, Trump said after the report was released.
Trump was accused of pressuring officials to postpone the 2020 result, deliberately spreading lies about election fraud and seeking to manipulate a protest at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. He denied wrongdoing.
Trump, who was president at the time of the allegations, spent four years out of office – but was successfully re-elected to the White House in November. He will return to the president’s office next week.
After his success in the 2024 vote, the various legal issues he was facing have largely disappeared.
Although Jack Smith – the special counsel investigating him in this and other cases – resigned before Trump’s return, the way was cleared by the judge for the release of the first part of his report.
The 137-page document was sent to Congress at midnight on Tuesday.
The judge, Aileen Cannon, has ordered a hearing later in the week on whether to release the second part of the report – which focuses on separate allegations that Trump illegally stored classified government documents at his Florida home.
Writing on his Truth Social website, Trump maintained his innocence, mocking Smith by writing that the prosecutor “couldn’t go to trial before the election, which I won in a landslide”.
Trump added: “THE VOTERS HAVE SPOKE!!!”
Smith was appointed in 2022 to oversee the US government’s investigation of Trump. Special counsels are appointed by the Department of Justice (DoJ) in cases where there is a conflict of interest.
In the case of interference, Trump is accused of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
This was elaborated by Smith in his report, who accuses Trump of “unprecedented efforts to maintain power illegally” in various ways, including “threats and incitement of violence against those considered to be his opponents”.
Both the case and the classified documents case led to criminal charges against Trump, who pleaded not guilty and sought prosecution as politically motivated.
But Smith dropped the charges after Trump’s election in November, in accordance with DoJ rules that prohibit prosecution of a sitting president.
The report explains: “The Department has been explaining that for a long time [US] The constitution prohibits the impeachment and prosecution of a sitting president, but the election results raised for the first time the question of the legal process in which an impeached private citizen is elected president. “
But the document goes on to say: “But in the election of Mr. Trump [in 2024] and the imminent return to the office of the president, the office has assessed whether the admissible evidence is sufficient to obtain and proceed with the conviction in the case.”
There has been a legal backlash regarding matters related to the cases.
Last week, Judge Cannon temporarily halted the release of the entire Smith report, out of concern that it could affect the charges against two Trump associates in the classified documents case.
Walt Nauta, a Trump aide, and Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager at Mar-a-Lago, are accused of helping Trump hide the documents.
Unlike Trump’s, their cases are pending — and their attorneys argue that the release of Smith’s report could interfere with the jury and future proceedings.
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