US special counsel Jack Smith, who led federal cases against incoming president Donald Trump, has resigned.
Mr Smith resigned on Friday from the Department of Justice, according to a court filing on Saturday to US District Judge Aileen Cannon.
He pursued cases against Trump on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat, and mishandling classified documents.
Notice of Mr Smith's resignation came in a footnote in the filing, which said the special counsel had completed his work, submitted his final confidential report on January 7, and "separated" from the Justice Department on January 10.
In the court filing, he also asked Judge Cannon to lift the court order she issued blocking the release of his final report.
A former war crimes prosecutor, Mr Smith brought two of the four criminal cases Trump faced after leaving office, but saw them grind to a halt after a Trump-appointed judge in Florida dismissed one and the US Supreme Court — with three justices appointed by Trump — found that former presidents have sweeping immunity from prosecution for official acts.
Neither case went to trial.
After Trump defeated Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris in the November 5 election, Mr Smith dropped both cases, citing a longstanding Justice Department rule against prosecuting sitting presidents.
In asking courts to dismiss the charges, Mr Smith's team defended the merits of the cases they had brought, signalling only that Trump's impending return to the White House made them untenable.
Justice Department regulations call for special counsels to produce reports at the conclusion of their work, and it is customary for such documents to be made public no matter the subject.
William Barr, attorney-general during Trump's first term, released a special counsel report examining Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election and potential ties to the Trump campaign.
Joe Biden's attorney-general, Merrick Garland, has also released special counsel reports, including about Mr Biden’s handling of classified information before Mr Biden became president.
Cases collapse
The indictments, the first federal cases against a former US president, accused Trump of taking highly sensitive national security documents to his Florida resort and using false claims of voter fraud to attempt to derail the collection and certification of votes following his 2020 election loss.
"The attack on our nation's Capitol on January 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy. As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies — lies by the defendant, targeted at obstructing the bedrock function of the US government," Mr Smith said in announcing the election indictment in August 2023, one of only two public appearances he made during his investigation.
He faced a tight window to complete both prosecutions as it was clear Trump would be able to shut them down if he won the election. Both faced legal hurdles.
Mr Smith's departure is another marker of the collapse of the criminal cases against Trump, which could end without any legal consequences for the incoming president and sparked a backlash that helped fuel his political comeback.
Mr Smith's resignation from the Justice Department was expected.
Trump, who has frequently called Mr Smith "deranged", had said he would fire him immediately upon taking office on January 20, and has suggested that he may pursue retribution against him and others who investigated him once he returns to office.
Trump in 2023 became the first sitting or former US president to face criminal prosecution, first in New York, where he was charged with trying to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Mr Smith's charges followed, accusing Trump of illegally retaining classified material after leaving office and of trying to overturn his 2020 loss, a campaign that sparked the January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol.
Prosecutors in Georgia also charged Trump over his efforts to overturn his election defeat in that state.
Trump denies all charges
Trump denied wrongdoing and assailed the prosecutions as politically motivated attempts to damage his campaign.
He raised millions in campaign contributions from courthouse appearances and used the cases to drive a powerful narrative that the political establishment was arrayed against him and his supporters.
The Justice Department defended the cases, saying they were run by career prosecutors who operated free of political influence.
US Attorney-General Merrick Garland appointed Smith in November 2022 — nearly two years after the Capitol attack — to lead the Justice Department's twin ongoing investigations into Trump.
That move came just days after Trump announced a campaign to return to the White House in the 2024 election.
In the classified documents case, Florida-based US District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump nominee, dismissed all charges in July after ruling that Mr Smith was improperly appointed as special counsel.
Mr Smith’s office appealed that decision. Prosecutors dropped the appeal relating to Trump following his election win, but signalled they will continue a bid to revive charges against two Trump associates who were accused of obstructing the investigation.
The election case was paused for months while Trump’s lawyers mounted an appeal for presidential immunity.
The US Supreme Court largely sided with Trump in August, ruling he could not be prosecuted for many official acts he took as president and sparking more delays in the case.
Mr Smith acknowledged in court papers that his team faced an “unprecedented circumstance” after Trump won the election over Democrat Kamala Harris. His office concluded both cases could not continue.
Trump was convicted of falsifying business records following a trial in the New York hush money case, which was brought by state prosecutors.
His sentencing was delayed indefinitely after his election win and Trump's lawyers are seeking to have it dismissed in its entirety.
The Georgia case, which also includes charges against 14 Trump allies, remains in limbo while an appeals court determines if the lead prosecutor, Fani Willis, must be disqualified for misconduct over a romantic affair with a former top deputy.
The case against Trump is unlikely to move forward while he remains president.
Reuters, AP
