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.

Donald Trump's administration has reassigned about 20 senior career Justice Department attorneys, two sources familiar with the moves told Reuters, as the new president moves swiftly to shake up an arm of government that has long drawn his ire.