The judge has cleared the way for the Trump election interference report

President-elect Donald Trump would have been accused of trying to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election – which he lost – had he not been successfully re-elected in 2024, according to a report released to Congress by the Department of Justice.

“The admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial,” said the report by special counsel Jack Smith.

Smith is “disgusted” and said his findings are “false” after Trump released the report.

The 137-page document was sent to Congress after Judge Aileen Cannon cleared the way for the release of the first of two parts of Smith’s report – on the election interference case.

He ordered a hearing earlier this week on whether to release the portion of the report that alleges Trump illegally withheld classified government documents.

The elected president will take office on January 20.

Special Counsel Jack Smith resigned last week.

Smith was appointed in 2022 by the US Department of Justice to oversee the investigation into Trump. Special counsel is selected by the department in cases where there is a potential conflict of interest.

Trump was accused of illegally storing the documents and, in some cases, storing them in rooms at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, a residence he owns. In the interference case, he was accused of conspiring to nullify the result of the 2020 election.

Both cases resulted in criminal charges against Trump, who has pleaded not guilty and the charges were sought to be presented as politically motivated.

But Smith closed the cases after Trump’s election in November, under Justice Department regulations that prohibit the prosecution of the president.

In fact, in the released report, Smith says: “The (justice) department’s opinion that the Constitution prohibits the impeachment and prosecution of a president is categorical and does not turn on the seriousness of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s evidence, or the merits of the prosecution, which the office fully stands behind. ».

Since then, there has been a legal back-and-forth over material related to the cases.

Last week, Judge Cannon temporarily halted the release of Smith’s full report over concerns it could affect the cases of two Trump associates charged with it in the classified documents case.

Trump’s personal assistant Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira are accused of helping Trump hide documents.

Unlike Trump’s, their cases are still pending, and their lawyers argued that releasing Smith’s report could prejudice a future jury and trial.