Jack Smith’s final letter on Trump case offers little consolation and less justice
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There is a certain pathos to special prosecutor’s insistence that his unfulfilled investigation was not in vain. A forlorn note from Jack Smith to Merrick Garland, the attorney general, provides a poignant epitaph into the unfulfilled and ultimately fruitless two-year criminal investigation into Donald Trump.
“While we were not able to bring the cases we charged to trial, I believe the fact that our team stood up for the rule of law matters,” the special prosecutor wrote in a letter attached to the 137-page report, which concludes that the president-elect would have been criminally convicted for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election if he had not been re-elected four years later.
“I believe the example our team set for others to fight for justice without regard for the personal costs matters.”. With Trump less than a week away from returning to the White House after having tried to stay there by resorting to foul play, there is a certain pathos to Smith’s insistence that his endeavours were not in vain.
There is also an irony that his incongruously hopeful message should be addressed to Garland. The attorney general – despite being another of Trump’s frequent targets – has faced criticism for his handling of the investigation into the former and future president, including from Joe Biden, who Trump has insistently and falsely accused of using his constitutional power to orchestrate the special prosecutor’s investigation into him.
Far from that being the case, Biden is reported to have voiced regret for appointing Garland – a former judge who maintains a scrupulously above-the-political-fray posture – believing that he waited too long to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Trump.
