The evidence wJack Smith’s 137-page report, released overnight less than one week before Trump will be sworn in for a second term as president, is a full-throated justification of his investigation and defense against his myriad critics.

Donald Trump would have been convicted of election interference if not for winning re-election, said Jack Smith, special counsel who indicted the former and future president, in his final report.

The report, which said the special counsel’s office stood “fully behind” the merits of the prosecution, amounted to an extraordinary rebuke of the president-elect.

Prosecutors believed they had enough evidence to convict Donald Trump for efforts to overturn the 2020 result before they had to drop the case, Jack Smith said.

The Department of Justice early Tuesday released special counsel Jack Smith’s report on his investigation into Donald Trump and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

The president-elect had plenty of time to come up with a compelling response to the special counsel's findings. He did not spend that time wisely.

Jack Smith argued his office had the evidence to secure a conviction against Donald Trump if the election case had ever gone to trial.

That’s the message special counsel Jack Smith delivered in his final report, which laid out evidence Smith said would have resulted in Trump’s conviction at trial. Trump is only off the hook, the special counsel wrote,

President-elect Donald Trump has tried to prevent the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s report before he takes office next week.