
WASHINGTON - Donald Trump would have been convicted for his alleged effort to overturn the 2020 US election result if he hadn’t been elected as president four years later, according to a report released on Tuesday.
The finding was contained in a report by Jack Smith, who was the special counsel appointed to investigate Trump. Smith dropped the federal criminal case against the incoming leader after he won the presidential election on Nov 5, and resigned from the Department of Justice last week.
The US Department of Justice’s “view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a President 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, which the Office stands fully behind,” the report said.
“Indeed, but for Mr Trump’s election and imminent return to the Presidency, the (Special Counsel’s) Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.”
Trump, who will return to the White House on Jan 20, had been accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding — the session of Congress called to certify President Joe Biden’s election win but which was violently attacked on Jan 6, 2021 by a mob of the Republican’s supporters.
Soon after the release of Smith’s report, Trump hit back on his Truth Social platform, calling Smith “deranged”, and adding that he “was unable to successfully prosecute the Political Opponent of his ‘boss’.”
“To show you how desperate Deranged Jack Smith is, he released his Fake findings at 1am in the morning,” Trump added in another post.
Trump’s attorneys had earlier urged US Attorney General Merrick Garland not to release the report, calling the plan to release it “unlawful, undertaken in bad faith, and contrary to the public interest”.
‘Change the results’
Smith’s report details Trump’s alleged efforts to persuade state-level Republican lawmakers and leaders to “change the results” of the 2020 election.
“Mr Trump contacted state legislators and executives, pressured them with false claims of election fraud in their states, and urged them to take action to ignore the vote counts and change the results,” according to the report released by the Department of Justice.
“Significantly, he made election claims only to state legislators and executives who shared his political affiliation and were his political supporters, and only in states that he had lost,” it added.
In addition, the report alleges Trump and co-conspirators planned to organise individuals who would have served as his electors, if he had won the popular vote, in seven states where he lost — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — “and cause them to sign and send to Washington false certifications claiming to be the legitimate electors”.
They ultimately “used the fraudulent certificates to try to obstruct the congressional certification proceeding”, the report says.
The office of the special office concluded that “Trump’s conduct violated several federal criminal statutes and that the admissible evidence would be sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction”.
Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed a separate case against the former and future president last year — over Trump’s handling of top-secret documents after leaving the White House — but charges are still pending against two of his former co-defendants.
In another case, a judge sentenced Trump to an unconditional discharge on Friday for covering up hush money payments to a porn star despite the US president-elect’s last-ditch efforts to avoid becoming the first felon in the White House.
The unconditional discharge means that Trump faces no jail time, probation or fines, but the jury verdict of guilty remains on his record. His lawyers are planning to appeal.