Special Counsel Jack Smith plans to resign before a newly inaugurated President Donald Trump can fire him, putting the timing of his final reports and an appeal of one case's dismissal in question as the clock ticks down on the Biden administration. Citing "a person familiar with Smith's plans," the Washington Post reported that faced with the certainty that the two federal criminal cases against Trump are doomed once the new administration takes office, Smith is scrambling to wind down both cases while weighing how to handle an ongoing appeal in the Florida case that charged Trump with mishandling classified documents. In that case, he has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to overturn Judge Aileen M. Cannon’s decision that Smith was unlawfully appointed and the case should be dismissed. The other case, brought in Washington, D.C., centers on alleged election interference.
In the classified documents case, one possible option, according to legal experts, is to remove Trump as a co-defendant from the case as the appeal continues while keeping his co-defendants: Waltine “Walt” Nauta, a longtime valet and aide, and Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Florida club and resort. Prosecutors want to overturn Cannon’s ruling not only to resurrect the classified-documents case, but also to protect Justice Department appointments during the Trump administration and beyond. Officials have expressed concern that her ruling could jeopardize not just future special counsels, but also any federal prosecutor or senior official serving in a temporary position. Smith had faced a filing deadline in the appeal on Friday. But he asked the court on Wednesday to extend that deadline to Dec. 2 — the same date by which he is supposed to inform a federal judge in D.C. how he wants to proceed with the election interference case in light of Trump’s election victory. Justice Department regulations require a special counsel to submit a report to the attorney general when their work is done. Attorney General Merrick Garland has said that, with redactions when needed, he would make special counsel reports public. Prosecutors have already produced thousands of pages of court filings and evidence in both legal cases. It is unclear what new evidence against Trump a special counsel report would reveal, but legal experts say that it could show what Smith’s legal strategy would have been had the cases gone to trial.
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