Legal Slice

Donald Trump faced “sufficient” evidence to have been convicted at trial for seeking to overturn the result of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, according to Jack Smith, the special counsel who led the case against the president-elect. Smith’s report detailing his team’s findings about Trump’s efforts to subvert democracy was released by the justice department early on Tuesday. Smith said Trump would have been convicted but for the 2024 poll victory, which made it impossible for the prosecution to continue. “The department’s view that the constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a president is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s proof or the merits of the prosecution, which the office stands fully behind,” Smith wrote. “Indeed, but for Mr Trump’s election and imminent return to the presidency, the office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.”  Trump, in a post on his Truth Social site, called Smith a “lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the election.”