Donald Trump is gone He is accused of carrying out a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, withholding top secret federal documents and other crimes as part of a plan to overturn the 2020 election.
Special Prosecutor Jack Smith formalized Trump’s election victory on Monday, agreeing to dismiss an election interference case in which he is accused of promoting a conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstructing an official government process and depriving Americans of their civil rights. His attempt to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory. Smith said he dismissed the case because of the Justice Department’s policy prohibiting the indictment of a sitting president.
“The government’s position regarding the defendant’s prosecution has not changed,” Smith said in the filing.
The motion leaves Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fanny Willis’s prosecution of Trump and various former aides as the only criminal case related to Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Willis vowed to continue the prosecution. But her case is tied up in an appeals process related to Willis’ past romantic relationship with the prosecutor she chose to take on the case, making it seem unlikely she will win a conviction against the president-elect.
Smith also on Monday dismissed a lawsuit he filed against President Trump accusing him of obstructing justice by concealing top secret Justice Department documents that he had secretly removed from the White House. (Smith did not dismiss the charges against two Trump co-defendants.) Smith is appealing a July ruling in which pro-Trump District Court Judge Eileen Cannon in Florida dismissed Smith’s case on legally unprecedented grounds. I hope to continue. It ruled that Smith’s appointment was invalid. But the appeal is intended to preserve the legal status of the special counsel appointment and would not result in Trump continuing to be indicted even if Smith were to win.
Smith said the Jan. 6 case and the docket case do not need to be dismissed “with prejudice.” Therefore, there remains a theoretical prospect that they may be revived after President Trump leaves office. However, it seems unlikely that the Justice Department will be willing or able to successfully renew both cases eight years after the alleged crimes occurred.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office will agree to delay sentencing in the case in which Trump was found guilty last week of falsifying business records as part of a criminal scheme to cover up payments he made to porn star Stormy Daniels for her silence. He said it would be. She said she had a sexual relationship with Trump in 2006. District Attorney Alvin Bragg has opposed efforts by Trump’s lawyers to have the case dismissed entirely.
These results mean Trump avoided legal punishment for four separate cases in which he was charged, including one in which he was found guilty despite not being found not guilty or not guilty by a judge or jury.
This impunity, combined with the Supreme Court’s highly controversial declaration that presidents enjoy “absolute immunity” from prosecution for official acts, allows Trump to pursue his goals, including using the Justice Department to prosecute his critics, with few legal constraints. It appears that it has been possible.
Trump reportedly plans to fire Smith’s entire legal team after taking office, including professional lawyers who are generally protected from political retaliation. Pam Bondi, a lobbyist and former Florida attorney general who is expected to be Trump’s nominee for U.S. attorney general, said prosecutors who brought cases against Trump “will be prosecuted.”
With convictions on past criminal charges and a soft Supreme Court ruling, Trump, in his second term, could become the first American president to operate beyond the law. He probably won’t be the last.
