The classified documents case was dismissed by judge Aileen Cannon in July 2024, on the grounds that Smith was unlawfully appointed as special counsel.[2] Smith's office initially appealed the ruling, but ultimately abandoned the appeal after Trump won the 2024 US presidential election.[4] The election subversion case was dismissed by judge Tanya Chutkan in November 2024, on the grounds that the Office of Legal Counsel held that Trump as President-elect could not be charged consistent with the Constitution.[5]
From 2008 to 2010, Smith worked as investigation coordinator for the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.[18][16] In that position, he oversaw cases against government officials and militia members accused of war crimes and genocide.[8][15] In 2010, Smith returned to the U.S. to become chief of the U.S. Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section (PIN).[7][16] Among his first responsibilities was evaluating current investigations, and he recommended closing investigations into several members of Congress.[8][a] He spent five years as chief of PIN, where he prosecuted a variety of corruption cases, including those against Virginia governor Bob McDonnell, U.S. representative Rick Renzi, Jeffrey Sterling, a Central Intelligence Agency officer who shared national secrets,[19][16] New York State Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver,[20] and North Carolina Senator John Edwards.[21] McDonnell, Renzi, Sterling,[19] and Silver were found guilty,[20] though the Supreme Court later unanimously overturned McDonnell's conviction.[22] Edwards' case ended in a mistrial.[21]
On June 8, 2023, a grand jury indicted Trump on seven federal criminal charges related to his handling of the classified documents. This marked the first time in American history that a serving or former president has been indicted on a federal criminal charge.[34] After repeated delays and postponement of the trial,[35] Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case on July 15, 2024 on the grounds that Smith's appointment as special counsel violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.[36][37][38] On July 17, with permission from the Justice Department,[39][40] Smith filed a notice of appeal to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.[41]
On August1, 2023, a grand jury indicted Trump on four federal charges related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his conduct during the January6 Capitol attack.[3] A year later, the Supreme Court decision on immunity directed Judge Tanya Chutkan to determine what parts of the indictment may proceed,[42] based on whether each act was official or private conduct; whether the official acts are part of core constitutional duties; and whether prosecuting the non-core official acts would have any "dangers of intrusion on the authority and functions of the Executive."[43][44] Before Chutkan could hold a hearing,[45] Smith issued a superseding indictment rewording the charges to exclude Trump's attempts to pressure his Justice Department, but did not drop any of the charges.[46]
Two weeks before Trump won the 2024 presidential election,[47] he said in a radio interview that, were he to take office, "I would fire him [Jack Smith] within two seconds."[48] On November 13, it was reported that Smith planned to step down before Trump took office.[49] On November 22, it was reported that Trump was planning to use the Justice Department to investigate his 2020 election loss as well as to fire Jack Smith's entire team.[50] In January 2025, Jack Smith provided the report to the attorney general (as he is required to do by law)[51] and resigned his role of special counsel before Donald Trump took office.[52] A 137-page part of the report about the election subversion case was publicly released.[53] The other part of the report about the documents case was not immediately released.[54]
Smith is a competitive triathlete, having taken up swimming when he was in his mid-thirties.[58][59] He has completed more than 100 triathlons and at least nine Ironman competitions around the world.[60] In July 2011, he married Katy Chevigny,[61] a documentary filmmaker[62] known for Becoming, a 2020 documentary about Michelle Obama. They have a daughter.[59] The couple lived in the Netherlands starting in 2018,[11] before moving to Washington, D.C. in December 2022, shortly after Smith was appointed as special counsel.[6]
^ ab"Specialist Prosecutor". Kosovo Specialist Chambers & Specialist Prosecutor's Office. May 20, 2016. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
^"Jack Smith". United States Department of Justice. April 14, 2015. Archived from the original on November 26, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2022. From 2008 to 2010, Jack served as Investigation Coordinator in the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, Netherlands.
^"Former Specialist Prosecutors". Kosovo Specialist Chambers & Specialist Prosecutor's Office. June 10, 2023. Archived from the original on June 10, 2023. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
^"#90 in United States v. Donald Trump (11th Cir., 24-12311) – CourtListener.com". CourtListener. January 8, 2025. Retrieved January 8, 2025. On the evening of January 7, both volumes of the report were transmitted by the Special Counsel to the Attorney General. Consistent with Justice Department practice, the Attorney General did not review the report before its transmission.
^"Class Notes". Harvard Law Bulletin. Vol. 63. 2012. p. 58. Retrieved June 10, 2023. On July 23, Jack Smith and Katy Chevigny were married on the banks of the St. Lawrence River in upstate New York by the Honorable Nicholas G. Garaufis. Smith is serving as the chief of the public integrity section of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., where the couple lives.
