Wednesday, January 15, 2025 - Jack Smith, the special counsel who led prosecution against United States President-elect Donald Trump, has resigned and fled the country ahead of Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
According to statements of officials in the document
submitted to the US District Judge Aileen Cannon, Smith had completed his work
and submitted his final confidential report on January 7 this year before he
finally took leave of the United States Department of Justice on January 10.
The cases handled by Smith involved Trump’s alleged
mishandling of confidential documents after he left office and his alleged
attempt to overturn the 2020 election which he contested and lost.
Smith, a former war crimes prosecutor, was appointed in
November 2022 to steer the affairs of the Justice Department’s ongoing
investigations into Trump’s cases.
However, with Trump’s victory in the November 5 election,
Smith dismissed the cases, citing a Justice Department rule against prosecuting
incumbent presidents.
While asking courts to drop the charges, Smith’s legal team,
however, acknowledged the validity of the cases but stated that they could not
pursue them in view of the Trump’s impeding return to the Presidency.
This signals the collapse of charges against Donald Trump,
allowing him to take office without facing legal repercussions.
Trump had earlier threatened to fire Smith upon his
assumption of office as second term US President.
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