Special counsel report says Trump faced enough evidence to convict in election case

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Donald Trump was facing “sufficient” evidence to convict him at trial on charges of seeking to overturn the 2020 US presidential election, according to the special counsel who led the case against the president-elect.

Jack Smith was appointed by US Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 to oversee the cases against Trump. he Bring two sets of charges Against the former president, one of them accused Trump of interfering in the results of the 2020 polls.

But Smith eventually Go to rejection Both actions after Trump’s 2024 election victory build on a long-standing Justice Department policy that bars the prosecution of sitting presidents.

That opinion “is categorical and does not depend on the seriousness of the crimes charged, the strength of the evidence presented by the government, or the merits of the prosecution, which are fully supported by the office,” Smith wrote in an early final report on the case. Tuesday.

“Indeed, but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the presidency, the (special counsel’s) office judged that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial,” Smith added.

The report comes as a blow to Trump, less than a week before he is sworn in.

Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing, described Smith in a post on his Truth Social platform as “a weak prosecutor who was unable to prosecute his case before the election, which I won by a landslide.”

The report closed one of two cases related to the investigation Smith conducted as special prosecutor. The other case concerns Trump’s mishandling of classified documents after the end of his first term as president.

Smith last week He resigned from the Ministry of Justice. This historic case unleashed a fierce legal battle with the president-elect in the run-up to the 2024 elections.