A defeated special counsel Jack Smith and his team are planning to resign before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, the NY Times reports, citing a source familiar with the matter.
The news comes days after Smith moved to pause his J6 case against Donald Trump and vacate all remaining deadlines. According to the new report, Smith's office has been looking at the best path forward in winding down its work on the two outstanding federal criminal cases against Trump - as the DOJ has a longstanding policy not to charge or prosecute a sitting president with a crime.
Smith's departure is more of a "you can't fire me, I quit!" after Trump vowed to fire him within "two seconds" of being sworn in.
"We got immunity at the Supreme Court. It's so easy. I would fire him within two seconds. He'll be one of the first things addressed," Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt last month.
Department regulations require Smith to file a report summarizing his investigation and decisions - though it's not clear how quickly he can finish his work - or whether it could be made public before President Biden leaves office - however several officials told the NY Times that he has no intention of lingering any longer than he has to, and has told career prosecutors and FBI agents who are not directly involved in the case that they can start planning their departures over the next few weeks.
On Friday, GOP lawmakers told DOJ officials to preserve all of their communications for investigators - who view Smith and crew as the embodiment of a Democratic effort to use lawfare as part of a weaponized Justice Department.
According to Smith, he needs until Dec. 2 to figure out how exactly to wind down his J6 case, as well as another case in which he charged Trump with mishandling classified national security documents after leaving office. The latter case was dismissed by Judge Aileen Cannon of the Federal District Court in Fort Pierce, FL - a decision which is currently under appeal in federal court in Atlanta.
