Special prosecutor Jack Smith is quietly leaving the office, according to a court document
Special Counsel Jack Smith resigned from his position at the Justice Department on Friday, Fox News has learned.
The resignation, which had been expected since President-elect Trump was elected in November, was quietly announced in a footnote to a court filing on Saturday.
“The special counsel completed his work and submitted his final confidential report on January 7, 2025, and separated from the Department on January 10,” the memo said.
Smith was appointed by the Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 to investigate the 2020 election interference case against Trump regarding January 6, as well as Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. In 2017, Smith served as Acting US Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee during the first Trump administration.
In November, special prosecutor Jack Smith asked to dismiss the charges he filed against Trump in the case of alleged interference in the 2020 election. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The news comes as the country awaits the release of Smith’s report on the election meddling case. A recent court filing indicated that Garland plans to release a report on the investigation soon, possibly before Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
On Friday, a federal appeals court judge decided not to block release Smith reports.
“As I have made clear with every special counsel I have served since I took office, I am committed to releasing as many of the special counsel’s reports as possible, consistent with legal requirements and Department policy,” Garland wrote in a recent letter. to House Judiciary Speaker Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, D-Md.
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Jack Smith speaks during a press conference in Washington, DC in 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
After Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Smith signaled that his cases against the president-elect would be withdrawn. In late November, Smith asked a judge to dismiss the charges against him President-elect Donald Trump in the case of DC against him.
Before asking to drop the case, Smith filed a motion clear all deadlines in the 2020 election interference case against Trump in Washington, DC – a decision that was widely expected after Trump’s victory. After the cases were dismissed, Trump responded to the move by claiming the investigations “never should have been launched.”
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The special counsel’s resignation comes as his report is scheduled to be released before President-elect Trump takes office on January 20. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“These cases, like all the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and illegal and should never have been brought,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “It was a political hijacking and a low point in our country’s history that such a thing could happen, yet I persevered, against all odds, and WON. LET’S MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.
