Trump prosecutor Jack Smith resigns from Justice Department, Politico reports

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

66% : Smith acknowledged in court papers that his team faced an "unprecedented circumstance" after Trump won the election over Democrat Kamala Harris.
49% : The Justice Department defended the cases, saying they were run by career prosecutors who operated free of political influence.
49% : That move came just days after Trump announced a campaign to return to the White House in the 2024 election.
45% : The case against Trump is unlikely to move forward while he remains president.
42% : Trump in 2023 became the first sitting or former U.S. president to face criminal prosecution, first in New York, where he was charged with trying to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign.
40% : Smith's departure is another marker of the collapse of the criminal cases against Trump, which could end without any legal consequences for the incoming president and sparked a backlash that helped fuel his political comeback.
39% : -U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith, who led the federal cases against Donald Trump on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat and mishandling of classified documents, has resigned, as the Republican president-elect prepared to return to the White House, Politico reported on Saturday.Smith resigned on Friday from the Department of Justice, according to court documents filed in federal court, Politico said.
35% : TRUMP CLAIMED POLITICAL MOTIVATIONTrump denied wrongdoing and assailed the prosecutions as politically motivated attempts to damage his campaign.
33% : Smith faced a tight window to complete both prosecutions as it was clear Trump would be able to shut them down if he won the election.
32% : Prosecutors in Georgia also charged Trump over his efforts to overturn his election defeat in that state.
29% : Trump, who has frequently called Smith "deranged", had said he would fire him immediately upon taking office on Jan. 20, and has suggested that he may pursue retribution against Smith and others who investigated him once he returns to office.
28% : Trump was convicted of falsifying business records following a trial in the New York hush money case, which was brought by state prosecutors.
25% : Garland appointed Smith in November 2022 -- nearly two years after the Capitol attack -- to lead the Justice Department's twin ongoing investigations into Trump.
24% : FIRSTThe indictments, the first federal cases against a former U.S. president, accused Trump of taking highly sensitive national security documents to his Florida resort and using false claims of voter fraud to attempt to derail the collection and certification of votes following his 2020 election loss.
19% : Smith's charges followed, accusing Trump of illegally retaining classified material after leaving office and of trying to overturn his 2020 loss, a campaign that sparked the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.
14% : After Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election, Smith dropped both cases, citing a longstanding Justice Department rule against prosecuting sitting presidents.
14% : Prosecutors dropped the appeal relating to Trump following his election win, but signaled they will continue a bid to revive charges against two Trump associates who were accused of obstructing the investigation.
7% : The U.S. Supreme Court largely sided with Trump in August, ruling Trump could not be prosecuted for many official acts he took as president and sparking more delays in the case.
5% : A former war crimes prosecutor, Smith brought two of the four criminal cases Trump faced after leaving office, but saw them grind to a halt after a Trump-appointed judge in Florida dismissed one and the U.S. Supreme Court -- with three justices appointed by Trump -- found that former presidents have sweeping immunity from prosecution for official acts.

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