This combination of photos shows former vice-president Mike Pence, left, in Arlington, Va., on July 17, 2023, and Donald Trump in Bedminster, N.J., on June 13, 2023. Pence was among a number of officials to tell Trump his claims of a stolen election were false, the special counsel Jack Smith writes.

Donald Trump engaged in an "unprecedented criminal effort" to "unlawfully retain power" after losing the 2020 election, Jack Smith said in a report published early Tuesday by the U.S. Justice Department, with the special counsel expressing confidence in the prospects for a conviction at a trial that will not happen now that Trump is returning to the White House.

The report details the special counsel's decision to bring a four-count indictment against Trump, accusing him of plotting to obstruct the collection and certification of votes following his 2020 defeat by Democratic President Joe Biden.

It concludes that the evidence would have been "sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction" at trial, but his election win on Nov. 5 effectively ended the case. Previous Justice Department guidance has advised against indicting a sitting president, and Trump would have undoubtedly moved to shutter the probes after his Jan. 20 return to office.

Smith's report asserted that Trump's claims of voter fraud — whether it was unfounded allegations of non-citizen voting or voting machine manipulation — were "demonstrably and, in many cases, obviously false."

"Trump used these lies," Smith...

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