Takeaways from special counsel Jack Smith’s report on January 6 and Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election

Jack Smith’s 137-page report, released overnight less than one week before Trump will be sworn in for a second term as president, is a full-throated justification of his investigation and defense against his myriad critics.

The evidence was there to convict Donald Trump. That’s the simple and powerful conclusion from former special counsel Jack Smith in his final report on Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election culminating in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Smith’s 137-page report, released overnight less than one week before Trump is sworn in for a second term as president, is a full-throated justification of his investigation and defense against his myriad critics. And while he faced substantial political and legal headwinds — especially from the Supreme Court — Smith said his ultimate defeat was at the ballot box when Trump was reelected. With Trump about to be shielded from prosecution as the sitting president, per Justice Department policy, Smith wrote, it was all over. A second volume, summing up the other half of Smith’s work, on what’s been assessed to be a strong but now-closed case against Trump over the retention of classified records after his presidency and obstruction of justice, is still not public. As with all of the legal battles Trump won over the past couple of years, it’s part of the ultimate “what if?” question of the 2024 election.