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Jack Smith, the special prosecutor who led two federal criminal cases against Donald Trump, has resigned from the Justice Department before the president-elect takes office later this month.
According to a court filing filed Saturday, Mr. Smith “separated from the Department” on Friday.
CBS News, the US media partner of the BBC, reported in November that Smith will retire from the Department of Justice after completing his work.
Mr. Smith’s departure comes amid controversy over the release of his report on the findings of the Trump classified documents case.
Mr. Smith was appointed special counsel in 2022 to oversee the Justice Department’s two cases against Trump — one alleging improper storage of classified documents and the other an alleged attempt to interfere in the 2020 election.
Both cases resulted in criminal charges against Trump, who has pleaded not guilty and tried to have the prosecutions politically motivated.
Mr. Smith’s case against the president-elect was closed last year after Trump won the presidential election. The prosecutor’s office wrote that the regulations of the Ministry of Justice prohibit the prosecution of the current president.
CBS reported in November that Mr. Smith’s resignation was expected because it would allow him to leave his post without being fired by Trump or a future president’s attorney general.
His departure means he leaves without a trial in any of Trump’s criminal prosecutions.
Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon, who oversaw the classified documents case and dismissed it last July amid controversy, temporarily banned Mr. Smith and Attorney General Merrick Garland from “publishing, distributing or transmitting” the report on the case.
Trump’s legal team received a draft of the report over the weekend and it was expected to be released on Friday.
Judge Cannon’s move came after lawyers for Trump’s former co-defendants in the case — Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira — urged her to intervene. Both men pleaded not guilty.
Judge Cannon ordered the release suspended until the highest appeals court, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, hears an emergency appeal by Mr. Nauta and Mr. De Olivero.
By law, special prosecutors must report the results of their investigations to the Justice Department, which is headed by the attorney general. Garland promised to release all reports to the public and has so far done so.
Trump’s lawyers argued that Mr. Smith did not have the legal authority to file a report on classified documents because he was unconstitutionally elected to do the job and was politically motivated.
Trump’s legal team also wrote to Garland not to release the report and urged him to stop “weaponizing the justice system.”
On Friday, the court sentenced Trump to “unconditional dismissal” in a criminal case related to the payment of hush money, which means that he is spared jail time and a fine, but he will still take office as the first president of the United States with a felony conviction.
