Trump's victory in the autumn election made it impossible to proceed with a prosecution against him, Smith concludes in the report. The decision to discontinue the investigation into the attempts is described as forced by circumstances.
"If it hadn't been for the election of Mr. Trump, and his forthcoming return as president, the office judged that the approved evidence was sufficient to bring about a trial and a conviction", it further states, according to American media.
Attempted to hinder
Trump's defense lawyers had until the last minute tried to prevent the report and its findings from being made public, but did not get a hearing for it. On Tuesday night, Smith's report was submitted to Congress, from which it found its way to American media.
In the report, it is stated that Donald Trump deliberately spread lies and misleading information – "obvious falsehoods" – after his election defeat in 2020. He knew it wasn't true, that he had lost and that there was no conspiracy against him, according to the prosecutors.
In a first comment on this, Donald Trump calls prosecutor Smith approximately "crazy" or "insane".
"Believe it plays a role"
Prosecutor Jack Smith has investigated how and whether Donald Trump tried to cling to power after Joe Biden won the presidential election in 2020.
After the 2024 election, where Trump took revenge and won, Smith announced that the investigation would be discontinued without going forward to trial. The Justice Department's practice is not to investigate and prosecute sitting presidents. The prosecutor resigned from the department on Saturday, as Donald Trump had long since vowed to fire him as soon as he got the opportunity.
"Even though we didn't succeed in bringing the charges forward to trial, I believe that the fact that our team stood up for the rule of law plays a role", Smith writes to the sitting Attorney General Merrick Garland, in a letter attached to the report.
Incited crowd
In the USA, the transfer of power usually takes place peacefully. The turmoil surrounding Trump's statements and lies about the 2020 election culminated in a demonstration in Washington DC on January 6, 2021, where Trump hammered home the message that the election victory had been "stolen" from him.
The election loser urged a large gathering of supporters to march to Congress and roughly "fight like hell" – in a situation where the members had gathered there to formally approve the election result and Biden's victory.
