WASHINGTON (AFP) – United States (US) President-elect Donald Trump would have been convicted for his alleged effort to overturn the 2020 election result if he hadn’t been elected four years later, said a report by then special counsel Jack Smith released yesterday.
The US Department of Justice’s “view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a president is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Office stands fully behind,” the report said.
“Indeed, but for Mr Trump’s election and imminent return to the Presidency, the (Special Counsel’s) Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.” Trump, who returns to the White House on January 20, had been accused of conspiracy to defraud the US and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding – the session of Congress called to certify President Joe Biden’s election win but which was violently attacked on January 6, 2021 by a mob of the Republican’s supporters.
Smith, who was special counsel appointed to investigate Trump, dropped the federal criminal case against the incoming leader after he won November’s presidential election.
Soon after the report’s overnight release, Trump hit back on his Truth Social platform, calling Smith “deranged”, and adding that he “was unable to successfully prosecute the Political Opponent of his ‘boss’.”
“To show you how desperate Deranged Jack Smith is, he released his Fake findings at 1am in the morning,” Trump added in another post.
Trump’s attorneys had earlier urged US Attorney General Merrick Garland not to release the report, calling the plan to release it “unlawful, undertaken in bad faith, and contrary to the public interest”.
Smith’s report details Trump’s alleged efforts to persuade state-level Republican lawmakers and leaders to “change the results” of the 2020 election.
“Mr Trump contacted state legislators and executives, pressured them with false claims of election fraud in their states, and urged them to take action to ignore the vote counts and change the results,” according to the report released by the Department of Justice.
