Prosecutor moves to drop federal cases against Trump

WASHINGTON: Special counsel Jack Smith on Monday moved to dismiss the federal cases against US president-elect Donald Trump – including one for election subversion – citing an official policy of not prosecuting a sitting president.

Trump, 78, was accused of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden and mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House, but neither case ever came to trial.

Smith, in a filing with the district judge in Washington presiding over the election case, said it should be dropped in light of the long-standing Justice Department policy of not indicting or prosecuting a sitting president.

He cited the same reasoning in withdrawing his appeal of a ruling by a district judge, a Trump appointee, who dismissed the classified documents case earlier this year.

Smith asked District Judge Tanya Chutkan to dismiss the election interference case “without prejudice” – leaving open the possibility it could be revived after Trump leaves office four years from now.

The special counsel paused the election interference case this month after Trump defeated vice-president Kamala Harris in the Nov 5 presidential election.

“The Government’s position on the merits of the defendant’s prosecution has not changed,” Smith said in the filing with Chutkan. “But the circumstances have.”

“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 said.

“As a result this prosecution must be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated.”

In a separate filing, Smith said he was withdrawing his appeal of the dismissal of the classified documents case against Trump but pursuing the case against his two co-defendants, Trump valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira.

‘Empty and lawless’

Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said the cases were “empty and lawless, and should never have been brought.”

“Over US$100 Million Dollars of Taxpayer Dollars has been wasted in the Democrat Party’s fight against their Political Opponent, ME,” he said. “Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before.”

Trump is accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding – the session of Congress called to certify Biden’s win, which was violently attacked on Jan 6, 2021 by a mob of the then-president’s supporters.

Trump is also accused of seeking to disenfranchise US voters with his false claims that he won the 2020 election.

The former and incoming president also faces two state cases – in New York and Georgia.

He was convicted in New York in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election to stop her from revealing an alleged 2006 sexual encounter.

Judge Juan Merchan has postponed sentencing while he considers a request from Trump’s lawyers that the conviction be thrown out in light of the Supreme Court ruling in July that an ex-president has broad immunity from prosecution.

In Georgia, Trump faces racketeering charges over his efforts to subvert the 2020 election results in the southern state, but that case will likely be frozen while he is in office.