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Smith, who was appointed by the Attorney General. Merrick Garland In November 2022 He left office 10 days before Trump was sworn in.
His departure was expected, as Smith had indicated he would leave before Trump took office, and because the president-elect planned to fire the special counsel if he did not resign.
But the timing was only revealed Saturday, in a brief footnote to a DOJ court filing with a U.S. district judge. Elaine Cannon of Florida, who were appointed by Trump to the bench.
“The special counsel completed his work and submitted his final confidential report on January 7, 2025, and separated from the department on January 10,” the filing states.
DOJ officials urged Cannon not to extend the order it issued last week. Temporarily blocking. The agency released Smith’s investigation into Trump’s interference in the 2020 election results.
Trump’s former co-defendants in another criminal case have asked Cannon to extend his order, and are trying to prevent Garland from releasing a portion of the Smith report to members of Congress.
The DOJ filed an emergency motion late Friday asking a federal appeals court to reverse the order, which would have allowed Smith’s report to be released more quickly.
Smith filed two criminal lawsuits against Trump.
One, in federal court in Washington, D.C., is charged with crimes related to the president’s attempt to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election. Joe Biden.
In another case, which Cannon presided over, Trump was accused of maintaining secret government records at his Mar-a-Lago Florida residence after he left the White House in January 2017 and trying to prevent authorities from retrieving those documents. Charged with.
Also charged in the case were Trump’s valet, Walt Nota, and Mar-a-Lago worker Carlos de Oliveira, who was accused of helping Trump try to hide documents from authorities.
Cannon last year Mar-a-Lago documents lawsuit against Trump dismissed. After ruling that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional.
Smith appealed the dismissal. But the DOJ dropped both criminal cases against Trump after he won the November election because of the agency’s policy of retrialing a sitting president.
However, the DOJ is appealing the dismissal of the charges against Nauta and De Oliveira.
The DOJ has said it will not release the section of Smith’s report related to the Mar-a-Lago case while it appeals the dismissal of the case against the other two men, and while any subsequent The case is pending.
– CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.