The special counsel who investigated Trump presented an explosive report days before the inauguration

NEW YORK.- The United States special prosecutor Jack Smith concluded that Donald Trump engaged in an “unprecedented criminal effort” to cling to power after losing the 2020 election, but his attempt to take the case to trial was thwarted by the president-elect’s electoral victory in November, according to a report published this Tuesday.

“The department’s view that the Constitution prohibits the continuation of an impeachment and persecution of a president is categorical and does not depend on the seriousness of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s evidence, or the merit of the accusation, with which the office completely agrees,” Smith wrote.

“In fact, had Trump not been elected and his imminent return to the presidency, the office determined that The admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.”he added.

The Department of Justice delivered the 137-page document – which represents half of Smith’s overall final report, as the volume on another Trump federal case, in which he is accused of mishandling classified documents, remains confidential – to Congress shortly after midnight on Tuesday. “Criminal efforts”

“The common thread of all of Trump’s criminal efforts was deception – knowingly false claims of election fraud – and the evidence shows that Trump used these lies as a weapon to defeat a federal government function critical to America’s democratic process.”the document stated.

The report, which was made public a few days before Trump returns to the White House on January 20, focuses attention again on his frantic but failed effort to cling to power in 2020. With the accusation filed thanks to the electoral victory of the Republican, it is expected that The document is the Justice Department’s latest chronicle of a dark chapter in American history that threatened to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, which has been a pillar of democracy for centuries, and complements the accusations and reports already published.

Trump responded early Tuesday with a post on his platform Social Truth in which he asserted that he was “totally innocent” and described Smith “an inept prosecutor who failed to bring his case to trial before the election.” “THE VOTERS HAVE SPOKEN!”he added.

Trump was accused in August 2023 of trying to overturn the election, but the case was delayed by appeals and finally was significantly limited by a conservative-majority Supreme Court which, for the first time, held that former presidents enjoy broad immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts.

Although Smith tried to sustain the allegation, the team dismissed it entirely in November because of the Justice Department’s long-standing policy that sitting presidents cannot face federal criminal prosecutions.

The Justice Department transmitted the report to Congress early Tuesday, after a judge refused to block its publication. A separate volume of the report, focused on Trump’s accumulation of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago – actions that formed the basis of a separate indictment against him – will remain secret for now.

Although most of the details of Trump’s efforts to overturn the election result are already well known, the document includes for the first time a detailed assessment by Smith of his research. Likewise, he defends the special prosecutor against criticism from Trump and his allies about the politicization of the investigation or the alleged collaboration with the White House—an idea that he described as “laughable”.

“Although we were unable to prosecute the cases we charged, I believe the fact that our team upheld the rule of law matters,” Smith wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland attached to the report. “I believe the example our team set for others to fight for justice regardless of personal costs matters.”

The special prosecutor also outlined the challenges he faced in his investigation.including Trump’s claim of executive privilege to prevent witnesses from providing evidence, forcing prosecutors to engage in secret court battles before filing charges.

Another “significant challenge” was the “(Trump’s) ability and willingness to use his influence and his followers on social networks to attack witnesses, courts, prosecutors”prompting prosecutors to seek a restraining order to protect potential witnesses from harassment, Smith wrote.

“Mr. Trump’s use of intimidation and harassment during the investigation was not new, as his actions during the charged conspiracies demonstrated,” the special counsel added.

“A fundamental component of Mr. Trump’s conduct Underlying the charges in the Election Case was his pattern of using social media — at the time Twitter — to publicly attack and try to influence state and federal officials, judges and election workers who refused to support false claims that the election had been stolen or who otherwise resisted complicity in Mr. Trump’s scheme,” he added.

Smith also explained for the first time the reasoning behind his team’s prosecution decisions. He noted that his office decided not to accuse the former president of incitement in part because to concerns about free speech or insurrection, since at the time Trump was a sitting president and there were questions about the possibility of prosecuting that crimeof which there was no evidence that he had been prosecuted before.

AP, AFP and newspaper agencies The New York Times