Special Counsel Jack Smith will wind down his work and resign before Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States, sources close to the prosecutor told The New York Times. Smith is currently handling two cases targeting the former and next president. One case deals with Trump's alleged mishandling of classified government documents. The other centers around Trump's alleged attempt to interfere in the 2020 election, leading to a mass pro-Trump protest on Capitol Hill on Jan 06, 2021.
The special counsel plans to complete his work on the cases and then resign before Trump fires him, which the latter said he would do in "two seconds" once he is sworn in as president. Outgoing Attorney General Merrick Garland will likely follow through on his pledge to publicize Smith's work before Trump becomes president on Jan 20, 2025. However, the Department of Justice has a longstanding protocol of not subjecting sitting presidents to criminal investigation.
Garland is unlikely to have the final say, though. Congressional Republicans have instructed all DOJ personnel working on the Trump cases to preserve their documents and records, indicating that the new GOP-controlled Congress will be probing the DOJ's handling of these cases.
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