Special counsel Jack Smith Monday asked a federal judge to dismiss the four charges against President-elect Donald Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 election before his inauguration on January 20. Smith cited longstanding Justice Department policy shielding presidents from prosecution while in office as he moved the motion. In court papers. prosecutors said the Justice Department’s position “is that the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated.”
“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,” Smith’s team wrote in a filing.
Donald Trump reacted to the legal victory and called for an immediate end to the weaponization of the justice system. “The American People re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate to Make America Great Again. Today’s decision by the DoJ ends the unconstitutional federal cases against President Trump, and is a major victory for the rule of law. The American People and President Trump want an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and we look forward to uniting out country,” Trump’s communications director Steven Cheung said.
The decision was expected after Smith’s team began assessing how to wind down both the 2020 election interference case and the separate classified documents case in the wake of Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. The Justice Department believes Trump can no longer be tried going by the longstanding policy that says sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted.
The 2020 election case brought last year was once seen as one of the most serious legal threats facing the Republican as he vied to reclaim the White House. But it quickly stalled amid legal fighting over Trump’s sweeping claims of immunity from prosecution for acts he took while in the White House.
The US Supreme Court in July ruled for the first time that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, and sent the case back to US District Judge Tanya Chutkan to determine which allegations in the indictment, if any, could proceed to trial.
The case was just beginning to pick up steam again in the trial court in the weeks leading up to the November 4 election. Smith’s team in October filed a lengthy brief laying out new evidence they planned to use against him at trial, accusing him of using “resorting to crimes” in an increasingly desperate effort to overturn the will over voters after he lost to President Joe Biden.
(With agency inputs)