‘Laughable’: Jack Smith Blows Up ‘False’ Trump Claims In Blistering Letters On Jan 6 Report

Now-former Special Counsel Jack Smith derided “false” and “laughable” claims by President-elect Donald Trump in a pair of letters that accompanied his just-released January 6 report.

After heated last-minute legal wrangling with Trump, the J6 half of Smith’s report was released Tuesday morning, while a volume covering the classified documents case will be held pending an appeal by former Trump co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira.

The report contains damning conclusions from Smith, including that Trump would be convicted of crimes if not for his victory in the 2024 election.

But in a pair of letters included with the report, Smith also takes on Trump directly.

Smith refutes the claim that he colluded with President Joe Biden in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland with the subject line “Final Report of the Special Counsel Under 28 C.F.R. § 600.8”:

While I relied greatly on the counsel, judgment, and advice of our team, I want it to be clear that the ultimate decision to bring charges against Mr. Trump was mine. It is a decision I stand behind fully. To have done otherwise on the facts developed during our work would have been to shirk my duties as a prosecutor and a public servant. After nearly 30 years of public service, that is a choice I could not abide.

It is equally important for me to make clear that nobody within the Department of Justice ever sought to interfere with, or improperly influence, my prosecutorial decision making. The regulations under which I was appointed provided you with the authority to countermand my decisions, 28 C.F.R. § 600.7, but you did not do so. Nor did you, the Deputy Attorney General, or members of your staff ever attempt to improperly influence my decision as to whether to bring charges against Mr. Trump. And to all who know me well, 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.

In another letter dated January 6, 2025 with the subject line “Letter from Counsel to Donald J. Trump of January 6, 2025,” Smith responded to the claim that the dismissal of charges represents “exoneration” for Trump:

Mr. Trump’s letter claims that dismissal of his criminal cases signifies Mr. Trump’s “complete exoneration.” That is false. As the Office explained in its dismissal motions and in the Report, the Department’s view that the Constitution prohibits Mr. Trump’s indictment and prosecution while he is in office is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution-all of which the Office stands fully behind.

Read the full report and both letters here.