A special counsel report claims Trump would have been convicted if he hadn’t won the election
Washington: A new report from Jack Smith, a former DOJ prosecutor, says Trump would have been convicted for trying to overturn the 2020 election if he hadn’t won. The report came out after a long legal battle to keep it under wraps.
This 140-page document wraps up an investigation that never went to trial. Trump kept delaying things, even taking his claims of immunity all the way to the Supreme Court.
Smith’s findings show that Trump pressured state officials and Mike Pence to lie about the election results. He also spread false claims that led to the violent Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.
Smith pointed out that once it was clear Trump lost, he turned to illegal methods to hold onto power. He wrapped up his cases against Trump after the election on November 5.
Smith emphasized that the Constitution doesn’t allow for a sitting president to be indicted, regardless of the crimes. He believed there was enough evidence to convict Trump if he hadn’t been elected.
There’s also a second part of Smith’s report about Trump’s handling of classified documents at his Florida estate, but that hasn’t been released yet. Trump’s co-defendants are fighting to keep it under wraps.
Trump reacted to the report on his platform, Truth Social, calling Smith names and mixing up the Capitol investigation with Smith’s broader probe into his actions.
He claimed Smith couldn’t successfully prosecute him, so he just wrote another report based on destroyed evidence that supposedly proved his innocence.
Trump was first indicted on August 1, 2023, facing multiple charges related to conspiracy and obstruction. His attempts to dismiss the case based on presidential immunity were shot down by a federal judge and an appeals court.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled that while presidents have some immunity, they can still be prosecuted for personal actions. Smith adjusted his investigation accordingly, leading to a new indictment in late August.
