United States special counsel Jack Smith has moved to dismiss two criminal cases accusing President-elect Donald Trump of seeking to overturn his 2020 election defeat and mishandling secret government documents.
In a court filing in the election interference case, prosecutors on Monday cited Trump’s return to the White House after his successful 2024 re-election campaign and a longstanding Department of Justice policy not to prosecute sitting presidents.
They said the department had reasoned that Trump’s “prosecution must be dismissed” before his inauguration on January 20 of next year.
“It has long been the position of the Department of Justice that the United States Constitution forbids the federal indictment and subsequent criminal prosecution of a sitting President,” the filing reads.
“That prohibition is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Government stands fully behind,” it continues.
The move represents a remarkable shift by the special prosecutor, who obtained indictments against Trump in two cases accusing him of crimes that threatened US election integrity and national security.
The latter case deals with the alleged mishandling of secret government documents.
Separately on Monday, prosecutors also announced that they were dropping their appeal of a federal judge’s dismissal earlier this year of the classified documents case — delivering another victory to Trump and his incoming administration.
Reporting from West Palm Beach, Florida, Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna said the Justice Department’s decisions were “not unexpected” given its longstanding policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
But Hanna noted that questions remain over whether the federal charges can be brought up again once Trump is no longer in the White House. “This is something that is a real grey area in terms of law,” he said.
“It is something that will be worked out in the weeks and months and possibly even years ahead. But there is a possibility that these charges could once again come up.”
‘Major victory’
In the election interference case, Trump, a Republican, was accused of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Democratic President Joe Biden.
Those efforts culminated in the January 6, 2021, storming of the US Capitol building in Washington, DC, by a mob of Trump supporters seeking to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s victory.
The election case was once seen as one of the most serious legal threats against Trump as he vied to reclaim the White House.
Trump, who defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 5 election, had argued he was the victim of political “persecution” and pleaded not guilty last year to four federal charges in the case.
He has been expected to dismiss Smith, who brought the charges, when he takes office next year.
US District Judge Tanya Chutkan granted the prosecution’s request on Monday to drop the election interference case. A decision in the documents case was still pending on Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Trump’s team hailed the Justice Department’s decisions as a “major victory”.
“Today’s decision by the DOJ ends the unconstitutional federal cases against President Trump, and is a major victory for the rule of law,” his communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
In a post on his Truth Social website, Trump also denounced the cases as “empty and lawless”.
“It was a political hijacking, and a low point in the History of our Country that such a thing could have happened, and yet, I persevered, against all odds, and WON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” he wrote.
The Justice Department policy invoked in Monday’s court filings dates back to the 1970s.
It holds that a criminal prosecution of a sitting president would violate the US Constitution by undermining the ability of the country’s chief executive to function.
Trump had faced four criminal indictments: the two brought by Smith and two in state courts in New York and Georgia.
He was convicted in the New York case, which involved a hush-money payment made to an adult film star, but has not yet been sentenced.
The case in Georgia — where Trump was charged over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election — is in limbo.
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