Special Prosecutors Drop Federal Cases Against Trump

(Patria) - Special Counsel Jack Smith has decided to drop federal cases against President-elect Donald Trump, including the election interference case, citing official policy of not prosecuting a sitting president, AFP reported.

Trump (78) was accused of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden, and of mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House, but none of the cases ever went to trial.

Smith, in a filing to the district judge in Washington presiding over the election case, said it should be dismissed in light of the Justice Department's long-standing policy of not indicting or prosecuting a sitting president. He cited the same reasoning when he withdrew his appeal of a ruling by a district judge, appointed by Trump, who had dismissed the classified documents case earlier this year.

Smith asked District Judge Tanya Chutkan to dismiss the election interference case "without prejudice," leaving open the possibility that it could be revived after Trump leaves office in four years.

The special counsel had paused the election interference case this month after Trump
defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election on November 5.

"The government's position on the merits of the charged prosecution has not changed," Smith said in a filing with Chutkan.

"But the circumstances have."

"It has long been the position of the Department of Justice that the Constitution of the United States prohibits the federal indictment and subsequent prosecution of a sitting president," Smith said.

"As a result, this prosecution must be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated."

In a separate filing, Smith said he was withdrawing his appeal of the dismissal of the classified documents case against Trump, but was continuing the case against his two co-defendants, Trump's valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira.

A big win

Trump's communications director Steven Cheung welcomed the move to dismiss the election interference case, calling it "a big win for the rule of law".

"The American people and President Trump want an immediate end to the political use of our justice system and we look forward to uniting our country," Cheung said in a statement.

Trump was accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct
an official proceeding, a session of Congress convened to certify Biden's victory, which was attacked by a mob of the then-president's supporters on January 6, 2021.

Trump was also accused of trying to disenfranchise American voters with his false claims that he had won the 2020 election.

The former and incoming president also faces two state cases in New York and Georgia.

In May, he was convicted in New York on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election to prevent her from revealing an alleged 2006 sexual encounter.

Judge Juan Merchan has postponed sentencing while he considers a request by Trump's lawyers to overturn the conviction in light of a July Supreme Court ruling that a former president has broad immunity from prosecution.

In Georgia, Trump faces racketeering charges for his efforts to undermine
the results of the 2020 election in the southern state, but that case is likely to be frozen while he is in office.