It’s customary when one tasked with a project prepares to close up shop and move on to quip: “My work here is done.” Unfortunately for Special Counsel Jack Smith, he won’t have the satisfaction of being able to claim that. With the November 5 presidential election resulting resoundingly in Donald Trump’s favor, Smith ran out of runway on Project Put the Orange Man in an Orange Jumpsuit.
Now, Smith has little else to do but wind things down, pack up his things, and ride off into the sunset. We saw a hint of this last week with the announcement that the Department of Justice was preparing to drop its cases against the former and now future president.
Now comes word that Smith is expected to resign before Trump takes office. (Not that anyone realistically expected him to stick around and wait to be fired by Trump.)
Jack Smith, the special counsel who pursued two federal prosecutions of Donald J. Trump, plans to finish his work and resign along with other members of his team before Mr. Trump takes office in January, people familiar with his plans said.
Mr. Smith’s goal, they said, is to not leave any significant part of his work for others to complete and to get ahead of the president-elect’s promise to fire him within “two seconds” of being sworn in.
The Times’ framing here is rather wistful. Oh, to think…what might have been.
Mr. Smith, who since taking office two years ago has operated under the principle that not even a powerful ex-president is above the law, now finds himself on the defensive as he rushes to wind down a pair of complex investigations slowed by the courts and ultimately made moot by Mr. Trump’s electoral victory.
Mr. Smith’s office is still drawing up its plan for how to end the cases, and it is possible that unforeseen circumstances — such as judicial rulings or decisions by other government officials — could alter his intended timeline. But Mr. Smith is trying to finish his work and leave before Mr. Trump returns to power, the people familiar with his plans said.
The election’s outcome spelled the end of the federal cases against Mr. Trump, since Justice Department policy has long held that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted for crimes. A Supreme Court ruling this summer significantly expanded the scope of official presidential conduct that cannot be prosecuted even after leaving office.
As he prepares for his last act as special counsel, Mr. Smith’s ultimate audience will not be a jury, but the public.
So far, Smith’s office hasn’t filed any pleadings with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, where the classified documents case currently sits following Judge Aileen Cannons’ order dismissing the case, requesting a stay or dismissal of the appeal.
In the D.C. case regarding alleged 2020 election interference, Smith’s office filed a motion to vacate the briefing schedule, which Judge Tanya Chutkan then granted on Friday, giving the Government until December 2 to file a status report regarding its plans going forward.
Either way, it appears “Mr. Smith” went to Washington…and came away empty-handed.
