Special counsel report condemns Trump's 'criminal efforts to retain power' in 2020

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

49% : When it came to his duty as special counsel and the work of investigating and prosecuting Trump, Smith wrote that his "office had one north star, to follow the facts and law wherever they led.
47% : The report details how the special counsel and his team considered possible defenses that Trump might raise in court over his conduct around January 6, before they presented the indictment to a grand jury.
46% : "Instead, the special counsel wrote, Trump knowingly worked to deceive others - an effort that "was pervasive throughout the charged conspiracies.
45% : Volume one of Smith's report marks the special counsel's final official word on his investigation into January 6, 2021, and the actions by Trump and his associates before then to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power.
44% : Trump and his allies' court maneuverings did, however, slow the report's release as the clock ticks toward Trump's January 20 inauguration, as well as upend the department's plans to release volume two, which covers the classified documents investigation.
43% : "Instead, Mr. Trump targeted a key federal government function - the process by which the United States collects, counts, and certifies the results of the presidential election - and sought to obstruct or defeat it through fraud and deceit."Over the course of more than 20 pages, Smith laid out why he believed the unprecedented prosecution was justified, while arguing there was no alternative to a federal criminal prosecution for holding Trump accountable.
42% : After charging Trump, the special counsel's office had continued to investigate the unindicted co-conspirators, Smith said in his report.
41% : Those arguments included that Trump might claim "he acted in good faith when he sought to stop the transfer of presidential power because he genuinely believed that outcome-determinative fraud had undermined the election's integrity and caused him to lose.
38% : Trump was ultimately placed under a gag order after extensive court filings from Smith detailing his posts and comments on individuals involved in the case, including the judge overseeing the case.
38% : Smith called the effort of using social media to "publicly attack and seek to influence" people, including state and federal officials, judges and election workers, "a fundamental component" of his conduct "underlying the charges in the Election Case.""After Mr. Trump publicly assailed these individuals, threats and harassment from his followers inevitably followed," Smith wrote, adding that "the same pattern transpired after Mr. Trump's indictment.
35% : "The special counsel said his office would not have prosecuted Trump if he was merely exercising his free speech rights by engaging in "exaggeration or rough-and-tumble politics.
35% : "With that in mind, Mr. Trump's relative culpability weighed heavily in favor of charging him, as the individual most responsible for what occurred at the Capitol on January 6."At the time of his indictment, Smith noted, the Georgia election subversion case against Trump had not been brought, and once it had, it did not "fully address" Trump's election-related conduct.
34% : Trump was ultimately charged with four counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of an official proceeding.
32% : The special counsel dropped the case against Trump altogether after voters in November decided to return him to the White House.
30% : "The special counsel's office weighed bringing an insurrection charge against Trump but decided against doing so, with the scant case law for such a prosecution a major factor in that decision.
30% : Smith said of the evidence against Trump: "However strong the proof that he incited or gave aid and comfort to those who attacked the Capitol, application of those theories of liability would also have been a first.
29% : In effect, it mirrors the landmark federal election subversion indictment that Smith brought against Trump in 2023, retooled in 2024 after the Supreme Court's immunity ruling, and ultimately withdrew after Trump's victory in the November election.
28% : Moreover, even if the impeachment proceeding against Trump had resulted in a conviction by the Senate, that would not have been sufficient to address the federal interest, Smith said.
27% : "Of the failed prosecution of Trump, Smith said that prosecutors "cannot control outcomes" and can only do their jobs "the right way for the right reasons.
25% : Smith's team states in no uncertain terms that they believed Trump criminally attempted to subvert the will of the people and overturn the election results.
24% : They claimed that Smith was trying to "perpetuate false and discredited accusations" against Trump by releasing the report, and they called him an "out-of-control private citizen unconstitutionally posing as a prosecutor," citing US District Judge Aileen Cannon's ruling that Smith's appointment as special counsel was unlawful.
22% : (CNN) -- Special counsel Jack Smith and his team believed they could have secured a conviction against Donald Trump over his attempt to subvert the 2020 election, according to a report released early Tuesday that details the president-elect's "criminal efforts to retain power.
22% : "Smith brought four charges against Trump in the 2020 election probe.
20% : Before dropping the case against Trump, the office had begun a discussion over whether potential charges against additional co-conspirators would be brought in Trump's case or in a separate case.
19% : "The more than 130-page report spells out in extensive -- if largely already known -- detail how Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election.
13% : "Trump, for his part, slammed the special counsel's report as "fake findings" in overnight posts on his Truth Social network.
10% : "Smith also wrote that any argument Trump was merely following the advice of his attorneys wouldn't hold up because the attorneys were involved in the alleged criminal conduct and Trump was not relying on them for advice but rather as people who could provide legal cover for his efforts.
9% : Addressing the potential argument that Trump was exercising his rights to free speech, Smith wrote that because Trump used "knowingly false statements regarding specific facts to commit the crimes charged...they were not protected by the First Amendment.

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