Jack Smith, the special counsel who led prosecution against United States President-elect Donald Trump, has resigned and fled the country ahead of Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
According to statements of officials in the document submitted to the US District Judge Aileen Cannon, Smith had completed his work and submitted his final confidential report on January 7 this year before he finally took leave of the United States Department of Justice on January 10.
The high-profile cases handled by Smith involved Trump’s alleged mishandling of confidential documents after he left office and his alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election which he contested and lost.
Smith, a former war crimes prosecutor, was appointed in November 2022 to steer the affairs of the Justice Department’s ongoing investigations into Trump’s cases.
But with Trump’s victory in the November 5 election, Smith dismissed the cases, citing a Justice Department rule against prosecuting incumbent presidents.
While asking courts to drop the charges, Smith’s legal team, however, acknowledged the validity of the cases but stated that they could not pursue them in view of the Trump’s impeding return to the Presidency.
This development signals the collapse of charges against Donald Trump, allowing him to take office without facing legal repercussions.
Trump had earlier threatened to fire Smith upon his assumption of office as second term US President.
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