Special counsel who investigated Trump says in report his team 'stood up for the rule of law'

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

49% : "A fundamental component of Mr. Trump's conduct underlying the charges in the Election Case was his pattern of using social media -- at the time, Twitter -- to publicly attack and seek to influence state and federal officials, judges, and election workers who refused to support false claims that the election had been stolen or who otherwise resisted complicity in Mr. Trump's scheme," he added.Smith also for the first time explained the thought process behind his team's prosecution decisions, writing that his office decided not to charge Trump with incitement in part because of free speech concerns, or with insurrection because he was the sitting president at the time and there was doubt about proceeding to trial with the offense -- of which there was no record of having been prosecuted before.Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to the report.
45% : The report, arriving just days before Trump is to return to office on Jan. 20, focuses fresh attention on his frantic but failed effort to cling to power in 2020.
42% : Though most of the details of Trump's efforts to undo the election are already well established, the document includes for the first time a detailed assessment from Smith about his investigation, as well as a defense by Smith against criticism by Trump and his allies that the inquiry was politicized or that he worked in collaboration with the White House -- an assessment he called "laughable.
35% : Special counsel Jack Smith said his team "stood up for the rule of law" as it investigated President-elect Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, writing in a much-anticipated report released Tuesday that he stands fully behind his decision to bring criminal charges he believes would have resulted in a conviction had voters not returned Trump to the White House.
35% : "Trump had been indicted in August 2023 on charges of working to overturn the election, but the case was delayed by appeals and ultimately significantly narrowed by a conservative-majority Supreme Court that held for the first time that former presidents enjoy sweeping immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts.
21% : Trump responded early Tuesday with a post on his Truth Social platform, claiming he was "totally innocent" and calling Smith "a lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the Election."
14% : A separate volume of the report focused on Trump's hoarding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, actions that formed the basis of a separate indictment against Trump, will remain under wraps for now.

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