Special US Attorney Jack Smith, who has led two cases against President-elect Donald Trump for improper storage of classified documents and election interference, plans to step down before the Republican inauguration in January 2025.
This was reported by The New York Times (NYT) with reference to sources familiar with the matter.
It is said that Jack Smith is planning to finish his job and retire along with the rest of his team.
NYT sources say he wants to get ahead of the president-electʼs promise to fire him within "two seconds" of his inauguration.
In order to resign, Jack Smith must prepare a full report explaining why certain charges were made and why those that were considered were not made.
It is currently unknown whether he will have time to release it before the end of Bidenʼs term, or whether he will leave it to the Trump administration, which may not release the report. But the report is unlikely to contain many new or revealing facts, the NYT writes.
Most of the checks for the report have already been done, so officials expect it to be published shortly. At the same time, one of the potential difficulties could be the verification of the US intelligence services for the presence of any classified information. It will take weeks for intelligence agencies to verify the report — which can be a lengthy process.
The cases against Trump
Four cases have been brought against Trump: conspiracy to overturn the results of the election and Trumpʼs role in storming the Capitol, Trumpʼs possession of secret documents, his alleged attempt to change the results of the presidential election in the state of Georgia, and the payment of $130 000 to porn actress Stormy Daniels to kept silent about sex with him.
On May 30, 2024, a jury in New York found Trump guilty of all 34 counts in the case of financial fraud during payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels.
Trumpʼs sentence was to be declared on September 18 this year. However, his lawyers asked for the date to be rescheduled, arguing that sentencing in September could affect his election campaign. Punishing the former president in the midst of his campaign to return to the White House would amount to election interference, they said.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan agreed with this and explained that the court is impartial and apolitical.
On November 12, a judge in the state of New York suspended for a week the consideration of the case of the newly elected president of the United States regarding the payment for silence to a porn star.
By then, prosecutors must provide the judge with new information on whether Donald Trumpʼs re-election to a new term as the US president will affect sentencing.
The newly elected US president should be sentenced on November 26. But Reuters writes that the date of the sentencing will be postponed, according to lawyers.
Trumpʼs partial immunity
The Supreme Court on July 1 rejected the decision of the Federal Court of Appeals, which previously ruled that Trump does not have the right to presidential immunity in the case of his involvement in the attack on January 6.
Presidents of the United States do have immunity for their official actions, but this does not extend to their personal actions. The courts will now have to determine what Trumpʼs actions were official and what were not.
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