Special counsel Jack Smith intends to wind down his work and resign before Donald Trump takes office, according to a report.
Smith’s criminal case against Trump over his alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election has been hit by lengthy delays, largely thanks to a landmark Supreme Court ruling shielding former presidents from prosecution for some actions taken while in office.
Now, Trump’s victory last week in the 2024 presidential election could be the final nail in the coffin.
Sources told the New York Times that Smith is now attempting to “get ahead” of Trump’s threats to fire him “within two seconds” of his first day in office by stepping down as special counsel before the president-elect enters the White House in January.
According to the sources, the prosecutor’s goal is not to leave any significant work on the case for others to finish.
Officials told the Times that Smith has “no intention of lingering any longer than he has to,” and he has reportedly informed some of his team they can start “planning their departures.”
His office is, however, still drawing up plans for how to end the criminal case against Trump.
Smith will tell the court his plans by December 2 after taking “time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy,” his office wrote on November 8.
Justice Department regulations require Smith to file a report with his findings which could then become public.
But with the clock ticking before Trump is sworn in, it is unclear whether he can finish the work before the Biden administration comes to an end. House Republicans have baselessly accused the special counsel of leading a politically motivated case against Trump and have since signaled their intent to launch an investigation of their own.
Smith’s office also brought criminal charges against Trump in the classified documents case but those charges were later tossed by Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon, who ruled that the special counsel appointment was unconstitutional. That decision is still under appeal.
Reports of Smith’s next steps comes at a time of panic inside the DOJ as lawyers are said to be considering fleeing before Trump loyalists take over and execute his vision.
Trump’s scorn for the department has only grown over the last four years since he became the subject of criminal prosecutions, and he has previously talked of transforming the agency.
“Everyone I’ve talked to, mostly lawyers, are losing their minds,” one DOJ attorney told Politico, who could only speak anonymously to avoid retribution from the president-elect and his loyalists. “The fear is that career leadership and career employees everywhere are either going to leave or they’re going to be driven out.”
During the election campaign, Trump claimed the criminal cases against him set “a terrible precedent” and hinted that he would use the law against his Democratic rivals if he was re-elected.
“It’s a terrible, terrible path that they’re leading us to, and it’s very possible that it’s gonna have to happen to them,” Trump said in June after a New York jury found him guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in his hush money case.
