Attorney General Merrick Garland has publicly released special counsel Jack Smith’s report on his investigation into Donald Trump and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, detailing the president-elect’s “criminal efforts to retain power” and projecting confidence in the investigation.
The more than , which was submitted to Congress and released early Tuesday after a court hold blocking its release expired at midnight, spells out in extensive — if largely already known — detail how Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election. Smith’s team states in no uncertain terms that they believed Trump criminally attempted to subvert the will of the people and overturn the election results.
130-page report“As set forth in the original and superseding indictments, when it became clear that Mr. Trump had lost the election and that lawful means of challenging the election results had failed, he resorted to a series of criminal efforts to retain power,” the report states.
The transmission of Smith’s January 6 findings came after the president-elect and his allies were unable to stop the department from releasing it.
Their court maneuverings did, however, slow the report’s release as the clock ticks toward Trump’s January 20 inauguration, as well as upend the department’s plans to release volume two, which covers the classified documents investigation. The attorney general has decided not to publicly release that second volume of the report after the special counsel recommended against its publication.
Volume one of Smith’s report marks the special counsel’s final official word on his investigation into January 6, 2021, and the actions by Trump and his associates before then to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power.
