Special counsel Jack Smith, who investigated Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, said in a new report that he believes the evidence against the president-elect was enough to convict him had he not won the 2024 election.

“Indeed, but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the presidency, the office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial,” Smith wrote in the 137-page report.

The report, arriving just days before Trump returns to office on Jan. 20, focuses fresh attention on his frantic but failed effort to cling to power in 2020.

Special counsel defends prosecuting Trump

Smith defended his prosecution of the president-elect in the report, stating his team “stood up for the rule of law” and said they set an example to fight for justice.

Smith alleged that then-President Trump knowingly spread false claims of election fraud, claiming Trump weaponized those lies to try to stay in power.

“The throughline of all of Mr. Trump’s criminal efforts was deceit — knowingly false claims of election fraud — and the evidence shows that Mr. Trump used these lies as a weapon to defeat a federal government function foundational to the United States’ democratic process,” the report states.