(Reuters) – U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith, who led federal cases against Donald Trump on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat and mishandling classified documents, has resigned as the Republican president-elect prepares to return to the White House. .

Smith resigned from the Justice Department on Friday, according to a court filing on Saturday submitted to US District Judge Eileen Cannon, asking her to overturn a court order blocking the publication of his final report.

Smith’s resignation notice came in a footnote in the file, 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.

Smith, a former war crimes prosecutor, prosecuted two of the four criminal cases Trump faced after leaving office, but stopped after a Trump-appointed judge in Florida dismissed one of the cases and the US Supreme Court — along with three Trump-appointed justices. – It found that former presidents enjoyed blanket immunity from prosecution for their official actions. Neither case went to trial.

After Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 5 election, Smith dropped both cases, citing a long-standing Justice Department rule against prosecuting sitting presidents. By asking the courts to dismiss the charges, Smith’s team defended the merits of the cases they brought, merely suggesting that Trump’s imminent return to the White House makes them untenable.

Smith’s departure is another sign of the collapse of the criminal cases against Trump, which could end without any legal consequences for the next president and sparked a backlash that helped fuel his political comeback.

Smith’s resignation from the Department of Justice was expected. Trump, who has often described Smith as “unhinged,” said he would fire him immediately after taking office on January 20, and indicated that he might seek revenge against Smith and others who investigated him once he returns to office.

In 2023, Trump became the first current or former US president to face criminal prosecution, first in New York, where he was accused of trying to cover up a hush-money payment to a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign. Smith’s accusations came next, as Trump was accused of illegally retaining material secret after leaving office and trying to overturn his loss in 2020, a campaign that sparked the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. He was also charged Prosecutors in Georgia are prosecuting Trump over his efforts to overturn his electoral defeat in that state.

Trump claimed he was politically motivated

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and attacked the prosecutions as politically motivated attempts to damage his campaign. He raised millions in campaign contributions through court appearances and used these cases to push a powerful narrative that the political establishment was aligned against him and his supporters.

The Justice Department has defended these cases, saying they are run by professional prosecutors who operate without any political influence.

Garland appointed Smith in November 2022 — nearly two years after the Capitol attack — to lead the Justice Department’s ongoing dual investigations into Trump. This move came just days after Trump announced a campaign to return to the White House in the 2024 elections.

Garland, who was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, said Smith would provide a degree of independence in highly sensitive investigations. Garland has rejected previous calls for a special prosecutor, insisting that he can properly oversee Trump’s investigations.

Smith returned to Washington from The Hague where he prosecuted war crimes cases arising from the 1998-1999 Kosovo War. He previously led the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Division and worked in the federal prosecutor’s office in Brooklyn, New York, earning a reputation as a tenacious investigator.

In The Hague, Smith secured the conviction of Salih Mustafa, a former Kosovo Liberation Army commander who ran a prison where torture occurred during the conflict.

A historic first

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 try to obstruct the counting and certification of votes after his loss in the 2020 election.

“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 — the defendant’s lies, designed to obstruct the basic function of democracy.” “The government of the United States,” Smith said as he announced the election indictment in August 2023, in one of only two public appearances he made during his investigation.

Smith faced a narrow window to complete both prosecutions, as it was clear Trump would be able to close them if he won the election. Both faced legal obstacles.

In the secret documents case, Florida-based US District Judge Eileen Cannon, a Trump nominee, dropped all charges in July after ruling that Smith had been improperly appointed as a special counsel.

Smith’s office appealed that decision. Prosecutors dropped the appeal involving Trump after he won the election, but indicated they would continue trying to revive charges against two Trump aides accused of obstructing the investigation.

The election case stalled for several months while Trump’s lawyers filed an appeal for presidential immunity. The US Supreme Court largely sided with Trump in August, ruling that Trump could not be tried for several official acts he took as president, further delaying the case.

Smith admitted in court papers that his team faced an “unprecedented circumstance” after Trump won the election over Democrat Kamala Harris. His office concluded that both cases could not proceed.

Trump was convicted of falsifying business records after a trial in the secret money case in New York, brought by state prosecutors. His sentencing was postponed indefinitely after he won the election, and Trump’s lawyers are seeking to overturn the ruling entirely.

The Georgia case, which also includes charges against 14 Trump allies, remains in limbo while an appeals court determines whether the lead prosecutor, Fanny Willis, should be disqualified for misconduct over a romantic relationship with a former top lawmaker. The case against Trump is unlikely to move forward while he remains president.