Trump Investigations
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The special counsel will leave behind a complex legacy, having amassed considerable evidence against Donald J. Trump but having lost key legal battles that could constrain future investigators.
Devlin BarrettGlenn Thrush and Alan Feuer
Jack Smith arrived in Washington almost two years ago with expectations that his assignment to investigate Donald J. Trump would be profoundly consequential. But instead of leaving his post on the heels of a courtroom victory, he is departing after a defeat determined largely at the ballot box.
Mr. Smith filed two federal indictments against Mr. Trump, the first ever against a former president. His plans for getting the cases in front of juries, already complicated by adverse court rulings, were wiped away by Mr. Trump’s triumph on Election Day. The Justice Department has a longstanding policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
The legacy of Mr. Smith’s investigation is shaping up to be a complex one. Legal experts give him credit for running a tightly disciplined investigation and amassing considerable evidence to back the charges he lodged.
But legal battles that spun out of his prosecutions have left the Justice Department with what appear to be considerable new constraints on holding presidents accountable. And for all Mr. Smith’s efforts to avoid having his work enmeshed in politics, Mr. Trump essentially put the voters between himself and federal prosecutors.
Mr. Smith made clear in a pair of court filings on Monday that he still believed in the validity of the evidence he had gathered, and the righteousness of the charges he had filed. He plans to leave the Justice Department before Mr. Trump is sworn in as president, according to people familiar with his plans, presumably after filing a final report on his work.
But while the cases he brought laid out detailed evidence against Mr. Trump — alleging that he mishandled classified documents, then alleging that he conspired to reverse the 2020 election results — they are likely to be remembered just as much for their unintended consequences.
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