Just days before President-elect Donald Trump is set to begin his second term in office, outgoing Attorney General Merrick Garland released a damning report from now-former Special Counsel Jack Smith outlining the criminal election interference prosecution he unsuccessfully pursued against Trump.

Trump, understandably infuriated by the move, reacted negatively in a series of Truth Social posts and objected particularly to allegations that Smith's investigation and report relied heavily on supposed evidence that had been "illegally destroyed and deleted" by the now-defunct House Jan. 6 Select Committee.

The incoming president also repeatedly blasted the former special counsel as "deranged" and reiterated his fervent belief that Smith had acted as a partisan weapon on behalf of his political rival, President Joe Biden, to try to sabotage and derail Trump's re-election campaign.

Smith's report released

According to Fox News, AG Garland decided to release the first volume of former Special Counsel Smith's two-volume report, which covered the allegations of criminal interference in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

That 174-page report was released shortly after midnight on Tuesday, almost immediately after a court-imposed temporary block on the report's release had expired.

In a Truth Social post less than an hour after the report went public, Trump wrote, "To show you how desperate Deranged Jack Smith is, he released his Fake findings at 1:00 A.M. in the morning. Did he say that the Unselect Committee illegally destroyed and deleted all of the evidence."

Smith and the Jan. 6 Select Committee

President-elect Trump and many Republicans have long asserted that the Democrat-dominated Jan. 6 Committee, which was disbanded in early 2023 when Republicans took back control of the House, deleted and destroyed countless pieces of evidence it had gathered that conflicted with the committee's pre-set narrative that Trump was solely responsible for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in 2021 before the committee was shut down.

Roughly 40 minutes after Special Counsel Smith's report was released, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, "Deranged Jack Smith was unable to successfully prosecute the Political Opponent of his 'boss,' Crooked Joe Biden, so he ends up writing yet another 'Report' based on information that the Unselect Committee of Political Hacks and Thugs ILLEGALLY DESTROYED AND DELETED, because it showed how totally innocent I was, and how completely guilty Nancy Pelosi, and others, were."

"Jack is a lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the Election, which I won in a landslide. THE VOTERS HAVE SPOKEN!!!" he added.

Why was Smith allowed to release the report?

It had been rumored for some time that Special Counsel Smith would release a report detailing his prosecutorial effort against President-elect Trump, and the target of that effort preemptively announced his objection to that move in a Truth Social post on Sunday.

"Why would Deranged Jack Smith be allowed to issue a 'report' on a complete and total Witch Hunt against me, strictly for political purposes, when he was thrown off the case and ultimately dismissed by the DOJ," Trump said. "Therefore, to put it nicely, he was illegitimately involved in this political persecution, and all of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by our hapless government were, simply put, wasted!"

"He has already filed thousands of rejected statements and documents against me, which were a 'joke,' and the public just voted for me, in a landslide, to be their President!" he added.

Trump heralds Smith's resignation

Earlier on Sunday, in reaction to the news that Smith had formally resigned his position, Trump stated, "The Stench of Deranged Jack Smith and his thugs is GONE."

"They were sent packing after spending over $100,000,000, destroying the lives of many people and families, who will never be the same again," he added. "Deranged Jack accomplished nothing, except to show what complete losers my political opponents are!!!"