Attorney General Merrick Garland had agreed not to make the special counsel's findings public while the Justice Department appealed a judge's dismissal of the case.

The Justice Department has fired more than a dozen lawyers, involved in criminal investigations into Donald Trump during his campaign for president, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN,

Trump has vowed to end the "weaponisation" of the Justice Department and has set about nominating and appointing allies to top posts in the department. Smith himself resigned from the Justice Department shortly before Trump took office, and both federal cases have effectively ended.