President-elect Donald Trump would have been convicted of illegally attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election had he not been elected, according to a Justice Department report to Congress.
“The admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial,” according to a report by special prosecutor Jack Smith.
The 137-page document was sent to Congress after Judge Aileen Cannon cleared the way for the release of the first of two parts of Smith’s report – the election meddling case.
She ordered a hearing later in the week on whether to release part of the report on allegations that Trump illegally withheld classified government documents.
The newly elected president takes office on January 20.
The special prosecutor, Jack Smith, resigned from his position last week.
In 2022, Smith was appointed to oversee the US Department of Justice’s investigations into Trump. Special advisors are selected by the department in cases where there is a potential conflict of interest.
Trump is accused of illegally keeping documents and, in some cases, storing them in rooms at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, the residence he owns. In the meddling case, he was charged with conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Both cases resulted in criminal charges against Trump, who has pleaded not guilty and tried to characterize the charges as politically motivated.
But Smith closed the cases after Trump’s election in November, in accordance with Justice Department regulations barring the prosecution of a sitting president.
Indeed, in a published report, Smith says, “The department is [of justice] the position that the Constitution bars further impeachment and prosecution of the president is categorical and does not address the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s evidence, or the merits of the prosecution that the office fully supports.”
Since then, there have been legal disagreements over material related to the cases.
Last week, Judge Cannon temporarily halted the release of Smith’s entire report, out of concern that it could affect the cases of two Trump associates who are indicted with him in the classified documents case.
Walt Nauta, Trump’s personal assistant, and Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager at Mar-a-Lago, are accused of helping Trump hide the documents.
Unlike the Trumps, their cases are still pending — and their lawyers argued that the release of Smith’s report could prejudge a future jury and trial.
