Special counsel Jack Smith personally condemns Trump’s behavior, calls his accusations ‘ridiculous’

In a final rebuke of the former president, whom he investigated and prosecuted for more than two years, special counsel Jack Smith personally condemned Donald Trump for levying “ridiculous” and baseless attacks on the federal prosecutors who brought two criminal cases against him .

The scathing criticism of the president-elect was included in a letter obtained by ABC News that Smith sent Attorney General Merrick Garland last week along with his final report detailing his election interference investigation into the former and future president.

In the letter, Smith defended his conduct as perfectly legal, free from partisan influence and vital to the aspirations of the justice system.

“Although we were unable to bring the cases we charged to court, I believe the fact that our team stood up for the rule of law matters. I believe in the example our team set for others to fight for justice regardless of the personal cost. The facts as we uncovered them in our investigation and as presented in my report matter,” Smith wrote.

Trump pleaded not guilty in 2023 to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified material after leaving the White House, and later that year he pleaded not guilty to separate charges of carrying out a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the election in 2020.

Both cases were dropped after Trump’s re-election in November because of a longstanding Justice Department policy that prohibits the prosecution of a sitting president.

Smith said in his letter to Garland that his whole case was governed by the principle that the United States is a “government of laws and not of men,” and that no “man in this country is so high as to be above the law. “

“As stated in my report, after conducting thorough investigations, I found that with respect to both Mr. Trump’s unprecedented efforts to illegally retain power after losing the 2020 election and his illegal retention of classified documents after having left office, the principles compelled prosecution Indeed, Mr. Trump’s cases represented ‘where the offense (was) the most flagrant, the public injury the greatest, and proved the most certain,” Smith wrote.

Directly addressing Trump’s repeated claims that his prosecution was politically motivated, Smith defended the work of his team and disputed Trump’s claims that his prosecution was biased.

“Through my service as special counsel, seeking to influence the election one way or the other or to interfere in its outcome played no part in our work. My office had one north star: to follow the facts and the law wherever they led Nothing more and nothing less,” Smith wrote.

Smith also reiterated that his decision to bring the Justice Department’s charges against Trump was entirely his own, rejecting Trump’s claim that the decision to bring charges in the case was subject to political influence.

“While I relied heavily on the advice, judgment and counsel of our team, I want to be clear that the ultimate decision to bring charges against Mr. Trump was mine. It is a decision that I stand behind fully, ” Smith wrote.

In the letter, Smith acknowledged that his appointment in November 2022 — the same month Trump announced his presidential campaign — created a “highly unusual situation” for the executive branch, led by President Joe Biden, who “conducted criminal investigations into his recently declared challenge.” However, Smith emphasized that the circumstances surrounding his role never affected his judgment or his “committed adherence to the rule of law.”

“It is equally important to me to make clear that no one at the Department of Justice has ever attempted to interfere with or improperly influence my prosecutorial decision-making,” Smith wrote, before directly addressing Trump’s repeated claims about his integrity.

Since Smith’s appointment, Trump has baselessly claimed he was directed by political operatives, attacked Smith’s family and suggested his case was “treasonous.”

“And to anyone who knows me well, the assertion by Mr. Trump that my decisions as a prosecutor were influenced or directed by the Biden administration or other political actors is, in short, ludicrous,” Smith wrote.

Smith staunchly defended the work of his team — whom Trump had repeatedly attacked as partisan actors and “thugs” despite their history as career prosecutors — as “people of great decency and the highest personal integrity” who endured relentless threats to their security and attacks on their character to do their job.

“These are intensely good people who did hard things well,” Smith wrote.

Days before Trump is set to be inaugurated as president and begin his stated overhaul of the Justice Department, Smith said he fully stands by his actions, describing his conduct as a violation of a longstanding DOJ mandate that “power, politics, influence, status, wealth , fear and favor should not obstruct justice under the law.”

“Experienced prosecutors know you can’t control the results, you can only do your job the right way for the right reasons,” he wrote. “I conclude our work confident that we have done that and that we have fully met our obligations to the Department and our country.”