Donald Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat have been exposed in the final report of the special counsel who investigated him for two years.
Much of what is contained in its 140 pages was already known, thanks to a 2022 congressional investigation and previous court filings by the report’s author, Jack Smith.
But it sheds new light on some of the evidence uncovered by Smith’s team and outlines his thinking on some of the finer points of law.
Trump, who returns to the White House next week, had no time to respond to the release of the report, claiming his innocence and calling Smith “deranged.”
Here are five takeaways from the report.
1. Trump incited violence, says Smith
The report looks at the riots at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 – when Trump supporters entered the building to try to prevent the confirmation of Biden’s victory, after hearing a speech on the Ellipse in Washington DC by Trump, the defeated candidate.
“Mr. Trump’s words inspired his supporters to commit acts of physical violence,” the report said.
It went on to say: “Although Mr. Trump at one point also told his supporters that ‘peacefully and patriotically [their] heard voices’, he used the word ‘struggle’ more than ten times in his speech.
Upon his return to office, Trump promised to pardon many of those convicted of riot-related crimes, which he sought to turn into a “day of love.”
His defenders dismissed the idea that he deliberately incited the crowd, pointing to the “peaceful” quote Smith highlighted above.
2. But he was not charged with incitement
The report addresses the basis on which Trump was prosecuted, making it clear that Smith’s team was considering filing charges of “incitement to sedition” against the then-president.
The document said Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech on the Ellipse could meet the Supreme Court’s definition of incitement, especially when viewed alongside his “long and bogus story of voter fraud.”
The report suggests that the day’s violence was “foreseeable” by Trump, for example, and that he sought to “take advantage” of the events to delay Biden’s certification.
But Trump was ultimately not charged with incitement because Smith’s team found no “direct evidence” of his intent to cause “the full extent of violence” during the Capitol riots, making a conviction uncertain.
The document goes on to say that there were “other powerful allegations available”.
3. The rioters said they were there at Trump’s direction
Several of the men charged and convicted of participating in the Capitol attack pointed to Trump’s influence as a motivating factor, the report said.
It cites several rebels, including Alex Harkrider, who sought release from prison before trial, claiming that “like thousands of others” he was only “responding to Trump’s pleas.”
Another man, David Mehaffi, when asking for leniency, quoted Trump’s speech and added: “I trusted the president and it was a big mistake.”
What Smith fails to acknowledge in his report is that it was in these people’s legal interests to shift responsibility away from themselves.
4. He pressured Mike Pence for weeks to no avail
In repeated conversations, day after day, Trump asked his vice president to use his ministerial position as president of the Senate to change the outcome of the election by not certifying the results, Smith’s report said.
Pence refused, and on one occasion Trump told him that “hundreds of thousands” of people would “hate him head over heels” if he didn’t budge.
The public pressure campaign on his deputy continued. In the speech, Trump said he hoped Pence would do it, but if he didn’t, “I’m not going to like him as much.”
Just before he left the White House to give a speech at the Ellipse before the attack on the Capitol, Trump made one last phone call to Pence, according to Smith. When the vice president told him during the call that he didn’t have the authority to carry out Trump’s wishes, Trump told staff to reinsert into his speech some language he had drafted earlier targeting Pence.
Moments after the speech, Trump supporters roamed the halls of the Capitol chanting “hang Mike Pence” and looking for him in the offices.
5. Retold traumas of police officers
Smith describes the experiences of police forces on duty when a mob stormed the Capitol building, during which at least 140 officers were attacked.
It is emphasized that 123 defendants were subsequently charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or inflicting serious physical injuries on the police.
“This violence has taken a lasting toll,” the report said, noting that 223 police officers suffered “‘unprecedented injuries’, including depression and other forms of psychological trauma.”
A footnote gives further account of the officer’s feelings of “survivor’s guilt”, “shell shock” and “an inability to move on from that day”.
