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Donald Trump report: Read special counsel Jack Smith’s findings in full

Trump ‘inspired his supporters to commit acts of physical violence’ on 6 January using false claims he knew to be untrue, report says

Jabed Ahmed
Tuesday 14 January 2025 08:43 GMT
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Vance lays out Trump’s pardon process for Jan 6

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Special Counsel Jack Smith has concluded Donald Trump engaged in an "unprecedented criminal effort" to hold onto power after losing the 2020 election but was thwarted in bringing the case to trial by the president-elect's November victory.

A report published on Tuesday details Smith’s decision to bring a four-count indictment against Trump, accusing him of plotting to obstruct the collection and certification of votes following his 2020 defeat by Democratic President Joe Biden.

It concluded the evidence would have been enough to convict Trump at trial, but his imminent return to the presidency, set for 20 January, made that impossible.

After the release, Trump, in a post on his Truth Social site, called Smith a “lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the election.”

Smith, who left the Justice Department last week, dropped both cases against Trump after he won last year’s election, citing a longstanding Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president. Neither reached a trial. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Read the special counsel’s report in full here:

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