Special counsel Jack Smith resigns after 2-year stint at Department of Justice

Special counsel Jack Smith resigned from his position at the Department of Justice Friday, Fox News has learned.

The resignation, which had already been expected since President-elect Trump was elected in November, was quietly announced in the footnote of a court filing Saturday. 

“The Special Counsel completed his work and submitted his final confidential report on January 7, 2025, and separated from the Department on January 10,” the note said.

Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 to investigate the 2020 election interference case against Trump related to Jan. 6 and the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. In 2017, Smith served as acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee during the first Trump administration.

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In November, special prosecutor Jack Smith requested to dismiss charges he brought against Trump in a case alleging Trump’s interference in the certification of the 2020 election. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The news came as the country waits for Smith’s report on the election interference case to be released. A recent court filing showed Garland plans to release the investigative report soon, possibly before Trump takes office Jan. 20. 

On Friday, a judge from a federal appeals court ruled against blocking the release of Smith’s report.

“As I have made clear regarding every Special Counsel who has served since I took office, I am committed to making as much of the Special Counsel’s report public as possible, consistent with legal requirements and Department policy,” Garland wrote in a recent letter to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md.

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Jack Smith speaks during a news conference in Washington, D.C., in 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Once Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Smith filed motions to wind down his cases against the president-elect. At the end of November, Smith asked a judge to drop the charges against President-elect Trump in the D.C. case against him. 

Before asking to drop the case, Smith filed a motion to vacate all deadlines in the 2020 election interference case against Trump in Washington, D.C., a decision that was widely expected after Trump’s win. After the cases were dropped, Trump responded to the move by arguing the investigations “should never have been brought.”

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The special counsel’s resignation comes as his report is slated to be released, possibly before President-elect Trump takes office Jan. 20.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought,” Trump in a Truth Social post. “It was a political hijacking, and a low point in the History of our Country that such a thing could have happened, and yet, I persevered, against all odds, and WON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.