U.S. Justice Department releases report on Trump bid to overturn 2020 election

Smith's report details Trump's alleged election obstruction, document retention, and failed legal attempts to block its release.

U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith concluded that Donald Trump engaged in an "unprecedented criminal effort" to hold onto power after losing the 2020 election, but was thwarted in bringing the case to trial by the President-elect's November election victory, according to a report published on Tuesday (January 14, 2025).

The report details Mr. Smith's decision to bring a four-count indictment against Trump, accusing him of plotting to obstruct the collection and certification of votes following his 2020 defeat by Democratic President Joe Biden.

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It concludes that the evidence would have been enough to convict Trump at trial, but his imminent return to the presidency, set for Jan. 20, made that impossible.

Mr. Smith, who has come under relentless criticism from Trump, also defended his investigation and the prosecutors who worked on it.

"The claim from Mr. Trump that my decisions as a prosecutor were influenced or directed by the Biden administration or other political actors is, in a word, laughable," Mr. Smith wrote in a letter detailing his report.

After the release, Trump, in a post on his Truth Social site, called Mr. Smith a "lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the election."