Special Counsel Jack Smith on Monday asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to dismiss the federal election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump.
Once Trump won the presidential election, it meant that his two federal criminal cases (this one and the classified documents case) would eventually be dropped, either by lawyers from the current Justice Department, the next dismissal, or by Trump who might try to fire him. forgive himself. The DOJ also has a policy against indicting and prosecuting sitting presidents. Smith was reportedly planning to resign before Trump, who promised to fire Smith, took office.
Smith’s motion cited that DOJ policy and said the prosecution “must be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated.” But the special counsel added that the decision to ask for the case to be dismissed “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 .”
Both of Trump’s federal cases were paused while the courts waited for word from Smith on how he planned to proceed in the cases due to Trump’s election. Before that, the federal election interference case was back in court before Chutkan, who was tasked with figuring out how to proceed with the case after the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling curtailed Smith’s charges.
In the classified documents case, Smith appealed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s dismissal of the case on the grounds that Smith had been improperly appointed. Unlike the election interference case, Trump has two co-defendants in the classified documents case, which brings additional issues to consider on top of the fact that it involves an appellate court, as opposed to the trial court. As in D.C., Smith told the federal appeals court that he would notify the court of his plans by December 2.
Trump also has two state criminal cases (in New York and Georgia) whose fate is less clear because presidents do not have the same power to make them disappear.
This is a development story. Check back for updates.
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This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
