Particular Counsel Jack Smith resigns from DOJ as Trump's struggle to dam closing report continues

Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the prosecution of former President Donald Trump in two federal cases, was the target of an attempted strike at his Maryland residence on Christmas Day.

Ricky Carioti | The Washington Post | Getty Images

Special Counsel Jack Smith resigned from the Justice Department on Friday as President-elect Donald Trump and others continued their efforts to block the release of Smith's final report on his criminal investigation into the Republican.

Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022, left his post 10 days before Trump's inauguration.

His resignation had been expected because 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 of that was only revealed on Saturday, in a brief footnote to a DOJ court request to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon of Florida, who was appointed to the bench by Trump.

“The special counsel completed his work and filed his final confidential report on January 7, 2025 and separated from the department on January 10,” the filing states.

Justice Department officials asked Cannon not to extend an order she issued last week temporarily blocking the agency from declassifying Smith's investigation into Trump's interference in the 2020 election results.

Trump's former co-defendants in a separate criminal case called on Cannon to extend her order and are trying to stop Garland from sharing part of Smith's report with members of Congress.

The DOJ filed an emergency motion late Friday asking a federal appeals court to vacate the order, which would allow for rapid release of Smith's report.

Smith had filed two criminal cases against Trump.

One was charged in federal court in Washington, D.C., with crimes related to his attempt to overturn his loss in the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.

In the other case, which Cannon led, Trump was accused of keeping confidential government documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after he left the White House in January 2017 and of trying to inform officials about it prevent the recovery of these documents

Also charged in the case were Trump's valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago worker Carlos De Oliveira, who were accused of helping Trump hide the documents from officials.

Cannon dismissed the Mar-a-Lago documents case against Trump last year after ruling that Smith's appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional.

Smith appealed that dismissal. But the Justice Department ultimately dismissed both criminal cases against Trump after he won the November election, as the agency again prosecuted 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 portion of Smith's report dealing with the Mar-a-Lago case while it appeals the dismissal of the case against these two other men and another trial is pending .

—CNBC's Dan Mangan contributed to this report.