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.

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.

The Trump administration has removed the U.S. Justice Department's senior career ethics official from his post, according to a person familiar with the matter, in an action likely to stoke fears about whether the department will be able to remain insulated from political pressures and conflicts,