Justice Department prosecutors cited the longstanding department guidance that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted, as ITV News Correspondent Robert Moore reports
A judge has granted the prosecutor’s request to dismiss the case accusing President-elect Donald Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 election.
Special counsel Jack Smith put forward the request on Monday, which represented the end of the federal effort against the former president following his election victory this month.
Justice Department prosecutors cited the longstanding department guidance that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted.
Prosecutors said the department’s position is that “the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated.”
“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,” the prosecutors wrote in Monday’s court filing.
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 against Trump.
“I persevered, against all odds, and WON,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, his social media website.
He also said that “these cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought.”
Trump previously cast both cases as politically motivated and vowed to fire Smith as soon as he takes office in January.
In dismissing the case, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan acknowledged prosecutors’ request to do so “without prejudice,” raising the possibility that they could try to bring charges against Trump when his term is over.
That is “consistent with the Government’s understanding that the immunity afforded to a sitting President is temporary, expiring when they leave office,” she wrote.
But such a move may be barred by the statute of limitations and Trump may also try to pardon himself while in office.
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 Chutkan to determine which allegations in the indictment, if any, could proceed to trial.
The case was beginning to pick up steam in the weeks leading up to this year’s 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 “resorting to crimes” in an increasingly desperate effort to overturn the will of voters after he lost to President Joe Biden.
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