Trump Blasts ‘Fired’ Jack Smith in Late-Night Tirade
Early Sunday morning, President-elect Donald Trump took to social media, boasting that special prosecutor Jack Smith had been “fired” by the Department of Justice. However, his claim was inaccurate.
Jack Smith, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022, had been tasked with investigating federal cases involving Trump. These included Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and his alleged mishandling of classified documents belonging to the National Archives.
While these investigations led to criminal charges, they were ultimately dismissed following Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election.
Smith made no formal announcement about his resignation, which appeared as a footnote “buried in court papers,” The New York Times reported.
Trump posted on TruthSocial, calling Jack Smith “deranged” and claiming he was “fired today by the DOJ.”
He accused Smith of being a “disgrace to himself, his family, and his country,” adding, “After spending over $100,000,000 on the Witch Hunt against TRUMP, he left town empty-handed!”
However, Smith’s resignation from the DOJ on Friday wasn’t unexpected. It came just 10 days before Trump’s inauguration.
As CNBC reported, Smith had previously indicated he would step down before Trump took office, particularly since the president-elect had made it clear he would fire the special counsel if Smith didn’t resign.
Trump’s legal team is still battling to prevent the release of the special prosecutor’s final report on the alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. A federal appeals court has ruled that the report can be made public, but it has also imposed a three-day delay to allow for additional appeals.
Trump still has the option to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and block the report’s release, though as of now, the president-elect hasn’t said whether he plans to pursue that option.
If he doesn’t file the final appeal, the report could be made available to the public as early as Sunday.