The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s election interference case dismissed the case on Monday, after special counsel Jack Smith requested that the case be dismissed due to a long-standing Justice Department policy that prohibits prosecuting a sitting president.
Smith earlier Monday filed a motion to dismiss the case and the appeal of Trump’s classified documents case. He did this because of the DOJ’s policy of giving the president immunity, not because the charges were false.
Smith also asked the judge in the case involving Trump’s classified documents to let him keep arguing his case against Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, who were also charged with fraud against Trump.
U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan threw out Trump’s election interference charges “without prejudice,” which means that there is still a very small chance that he could be charged again in the future.
Judge Chutkan agreed with Smith’s argument that Trump’s immunity would not cover him after he leaves office. He wrote in a two-page opinion that dropping the case without prejudice is “appropriate” and would not hurt the “public interest.”
“Dismissal without prejudice is also consistent with the Government’s understanding that the immunity afforded to a sitting President is temporary, expiring when they leave office,” Chutkan said.
But it is very unlikely that the same charges will be brought again in the future. One reason for this is that the alleged crimes will no longer be punishable by law by the time Trump leaves office in four years.
The government asked to dismiss the case without prejudice, and Trump’s lawyers did not object.
“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,” Smith said in his move to dismiss.
“The country have never faced the circumstance here, where a federal indictment against a private citizen has been returned by a grand jury and a criminal prosecution is already underway when the defendant is elected President,” it said.
“After careful consideration, the Department has determined that OLC’s prior opinions concerning the Constitution’s prohibition on federal indictment and prosecution of a sitting President apply to this situation and that as a result this prosecution must be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated.”
Smith asked the judge to drop his appeal of the charges against Trump in the classified documents case. Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 40 criminal counts related to handling classified materials after leaving the White House.
In July, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon threw out the case because she thought Smith was not properly appointed to his job.
Smith took that decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and said that past cases and legal precedent show that the attorney general can choose special counsels.
On Monday, that appeal was asked to be thrown out by the court. However, the appeal for Nauta and De Oliveira, two Trump employees who pleaded not guilty to obstruction charges, was kept open.
“The appeal concerning the other two defendants will continue because, unlike defendant Trump, no principle of temporary immunity applies to them,” it said.
In a statement, De Oliveira’s lawyer John Irving said, “The Special Counsel’s decision to move forward with this case even though it was thrown out against President Trump is an unsurprising tribute to the bad judgment that led to the indictment against Mr. De Oliveira in the first place.”
You should not do something just because you can. It is okay with us if they want a slow acquittal.
Smith’s motions to dismiss were called a “major victory for the rule of law” by a Trump campaign spokesman.
He also said, “The American People and President Trump want an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and we look forward to uniting our country.”
As part of his “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Trump pleaded not guilty to federal charges last year.
He was accused of using a group of so-called “fake electors,” the Justice Department to conduct “sham election crime investigations,” trying to get the vice president to “alter the election results,” and spreading false claims of a stolen election during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol building in order to undermine democracy and stay in power.
After that, Smith charged Trump in a new indictment that took into account the Supreme Court’s decision in July that Trump cannot be charged with a crime for official acts as president.
Judge Chutkan pushed back the last deadlines in the election interference case earlier this month after Smith asked for more time to “assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy” after Trump’s election.
Since the Supreme Court ruled on immunity, Judge Chutkan was thinking about how to move forward with the case.
Smith had to file by December 2 for both the election interference case and the classified documents case.
This was because Smith’s team had asked for more time to figure out how to handle having federal cases pending against someone who had just been elected president, which had never happened before.
Now that Monday’s filings were turned in a week early, it makes me wonder if Smith will be able to close his office and give his final report to Attorney General Merrick Garland before January 20, which is Inauguration Day.
Before the final report can be made public in any way, it has to go through a review by the intelligence community that is based on classified information. This can take weeks.
Garland has made it clear in public and before Congress that he plans to release the full reports of all special counsels who work for him.
So far, these have included reports from special counsel Robert Hur, who looked into how President Joe Biden handled classified documents before he became president, and special counsel John Durham, who looked into the 2016 Russia investigation.
Alexander Smirnov is an FBI informant who pleaded not guilty to lying about President Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
The case is set to go to trial in California next week, and special counsel David Weiss is still looking into him. It is not clear if Weiss will officially end his investigation and turn in his final report before Trump takes office.
