President-elect Donald Trump engaged in an unprecedented criminal effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat, according to a report by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Prosecutor Mr Smith said Mr Trump “inspired his supporters to commit acts of physical violence” in the January 6 riots and knowingly spread a false narrative about fraud in the 2020 election.
However, efforts to bring Mr Trump to trial over his attempt to hold on to power were thwarted by his re-election in November, the special prosecutor said in his report, which was released by the Department of Justice on Tuesday.
He also found charges could be justified against Mr Trump’s co-conspirators but reached no final conclusions.
President Donald Trump speaking on January 6, 2021, before supporters stormed the Capitol. Pic: AP
Mr Smith resigned in the wake of Mr Trump’s election victory in November.
“Indeed, but for Mr Trump’s election and imminent return to the Presidency, the Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial,” Mr Smith’s report said.
The release of the report comes a few days after Mr Trump was sentenced following his conviction in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.
Special counsel Jack Smith. Pic: AP
President-elect Mr Trump has consistently criticised Mr Smith and allies have suggested the special counsel should now face criminal charges for pursuing the case against him.
In the wake of the release of the report, Mr Trump called Mr Smith “deranged” and criticised the report’s “fake findings”.
Released alongside the report was a letter from lawyers for Mr Trump to the justice department, dated 6 January 2025.
In it, they called for Mr Smith to “terminate all efforts toward the preparation and release” of the report, which they said was “consistent with the bad-faith crusade” that they said Mr Smith conducted on behalf of the Biden-Harris administration.
The special prosecutor defended his investigation, saying: “The claim from Mr Trump that my decisions as a prosecutor were influenced or directed by the Biden administration or other political actors is, in a word, laughable.”
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January 6: The case against Donald Trump
January 6: How four hours of mayhem unfolded
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Hush money case: Trump reacts to becoming a felon
Mr Smith’s case had faced legal hurdles even before it was clear that Mr Trump would be returning to the White House.
It was paused for months as the former president pursued a legal claim that he could not be prosecuted for official actions taken during his time as commander-in-chief.
The Supreme Court, with its conservative majority, largely agreed with him, granting former presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution.
Other allegations in the report released today include:
• Mr Trump contacted legislators and executives at state level and “urged them to take action to ignore the vote counts and change the results”
• Mr Trump and co-conspirators launched a plan to use fraudulent electors in seven states that he had lost in the 2020 election to send false certifications to Washington DC
• Frustrated with the justice department because it had identified no evidence of substantial fraud in the 2020 election, Mr Trump “attempted to wield federal power to perpetuate his fraud claims and retain office”
• Mr Trump repeatedly pressed then vice president Mike Pence to use his ministerial position as president of the Senate to change the election outcome – something Mr Pence repeatedly refused to do.
