Federal charges against US President-elect Donald Trump were dismissed in Washington due to a long-standing Justice Department policy that prevents prosecuting a sitting president.
He president-elect of the United States, Donald Trumpwill no longer be under federal indictment when he is inaugurated as the country's 47th president on January 20.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington quickly dismissed the charges on Monday that Trump illegally attempted to overturn his 2020 re-election loss. He did so after US special counsel Jack Smith acknowledged in a court filing that long-standing Justice Department policy prevented the prosecution of a president acting.
In another court filing, Smith also asked an appeals court in Atlanta to remove Trump from a pending appeal. The prosecutor had originally filed the appeal seeking to reinstate dismissed charges that Trump amassed hundreds of classified national security documents at his oceanfront estate in Florida when he left office in 2021.
The prosecutor said he supported the merits of both accusations against Trump, even as he said the charges should be dropped.
Trump stated on the social media platform Truth: “These cases, like every other case I have been forced to go through, are empty and illegal, and should never have been filed.”
He said more than $100 million of taxpayer money “has been wasted in the Democratic Party's fight against its political opponent, I. It was a political hijacking and a low point in our country's history that something like this could have happened.” , and yet, I persevered, against all odds, and WON.”
During his presidential campaign, Trump promised that if elected to a second non-consecutive term, he would fire Smith “within two seconds” of assuming the presidency again. But US news reports say Smith plans to leave the Justice Department before Trump takes office.
In the case of Washington, Trump, a Republican, was accused of pressuring state officials after the 2020 election to change election results that showed Democrat Joe Biden had defeated him and of spreading lies that Biden won only because of massive electoral fraud and electoral irregularities.
The prosecutor asked Chutkan to dismiss the case “without prejudice,” leaving open the possibility that the charges could be renewed after Trump leaves office for the second time in January 2029.
As Smith's lengthy investigations have progressed without the cases reaching trial, some U.S. legal analysts have said that Trump, when he takes office again, could try to pardon himself to end his legal jeopardy for certain, a move that no one president has tried before.
In Atlanta, Smith asked a federal appeals court to remove Trump as a co-defendant in the special counsel's appeal of a ruling by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon.
Cannon, a Trump appointee, had dismissed the classified documents case on the grounds that Smith had been illegally appointed as special counsel.
Cannon's decision broke with legal precedent, which sanctioned the appointment of special prosecutors, by agreeing with Trump's lawyers that Smith's appointment was illegal.
In the case overseen by Cannon, Trump was accused of hoarding classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his home and private club along Florida's Atlantic coast.
Trump and co-defendants Carlos De Oliveira and Waltine (Walt) Nauta were accused of trying to obstruct the government's efforts to recover the documents, which were ordered by US law to be handed over to the National Archives when Trump left office in January 2021.
Smith asked the appeals court to remove Trump from the case but leave his co-defendants in the case, which could allow Cannon's impeachment appeal to continue after Trump takes office again.
In his appearance in Washington, Smith said the Justice Department's ban on putting sitting presidents on trial “is categorical and does not depend on the seriousness of the crimes charged, the strength of the government's evidence or the merits of the prosecution.” , which the Government fully supports”.
The cases before Chutkan in Washington and Cannon in Florida have dragged on for months, and Trump's lawyers have filed numerous legal challenges to the charges.
Trump finally won a sweeping Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that said Trump and all former presidents were immune from prosecution for any official actions they took while president, but not for unofficial acts.
Until Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election and barred Smith's prosecution from the 2020 election interference charge, the prosecutor was reframing his election interference case against Trump to take into account restrictions imposed by the Supreme Court.
In a statement following Smith's two court filings, Trump's running mate in the election, Vice President-elect JD Vance, cited the legal peril Trump faces in running for a new four-year term in the White House.
“If Donald J. Trump had lost an election, he very well could have spent the rest of his life in prison,” Vance said on social media, adding: “It's time to ensure that what happened to President Trump never happens again.” to happen in this country.