Jack Smith, the special counsel who led two federal criminal cases against Donald Trump, has resigned from the Justice Department before the president-elect takes office later this month.
According to a court filing filed Saturday, Smith “separated from the ministry” on Friday.
CBS News, the BBC's media partner in the US, Reported in November Smith will resign from the Department of Justice after completing his work.
Smith's departure comes amid a dispute over the publication of his report on the findings of Trump's secret documents case.
Mr. Smith was appointed as a special counsel in 2022 to oversee two Justice Department cases against Trump — one over the alleged improper hoarding of classified documents and another over an alleged attempt to interfere with the results of the 2020 election.
Both cases resulted in criminal charges against Trump, who has pleaded not guilty and sought to portray the prosecutions as politically motivated.
Mr. Smith's cases against the president-elect were closed last year after Trump won the presidential election. Justice Department regulations prohibit the prosecution of a sitting president, prosecutors wrote.
CBS reported in November that Smith's resignation was expected because it would allow him to leave office without being fired by Trump or the next president's attorney general.
His exit means he leaves without any of Trump's criminal prosecutions going to trial.
Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon — who oversaw the classified documents case and controversially dismissed it last July — Temporarily blocked He banned Mr Smith and Attorney General Merrick Garland from “publishing, sharing or transmitting” the report on the case.
Trump's legal team received a draft version of the report last weekend, and it was expected to be released on Friday.
Judge Cannon's move came after lawyers for Trump's former co-defendants in the case – Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliver – called on her to intervene. Both men pleaded not guilty.
Judge Cannon ordered the release suspended until the Superior Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit in Atlanta, hears an emergency appeal from Mr. Nauta and Mr. DeOlivier.
By law, private investigators must submit the results of their investigations to the Ministry of Justice, which is headed by the Attorney General. Garland promised to release all reports to the public and has so far done so.
Trump's lawyers said Smith did not have the legal authority to submit the classified documents report because he was unconstitutionally selected for the task and was politically motivated.
Trump's legal team also wrote to Garland not to release the report, urging him to end “weaponizing the justice system.”
On Friday, a judge sentenced Trump to prison “unconditional release” in a criminal case involving a secret payment, meaning he was spared from prison and a fine, but would still hold office as the first US president convicted of a felony.
