Donald Trump nearly faced criminal charges of “rebellion or insurrection” for inciting the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, but Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith ultimately decided against it.
Smith’s final report, released by the DOJ just after midnight Tuesday, gave fresh insight into the special counsel’s internal deliberations over how they ultimately chose to prosecute Trump.
Namely, the report conclusively answered why Trump wasn’t charged for personally directing his supporters to attack the Capitol building — an event that threatened the lives of legislators and injured dozens of police officers.