WASHINGTON — Special Counsel Jack Smith is investigating President-elect Donald Trump regarding his mishandling of classified documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election ahead of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. filed a motion to dismiss all federal charges against the president. .
Trump was first indicted in federal court in Miami in June 2023 on 37 felonies related to his mishandling of classified documents taken from the White House to his Florida home. These included knowingly retaining national defense information, making false statements, and conspiracy to obstruct justice. A Florida judge dismissed the case, but Smith’s office was seeking an appeal.
In August 2023, Trump was charged with four felonies for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election: conspiracy to commit fraud against the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstructing and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. Individual charges were filed.
The case was then put on hold for several months as Trump’s team argued that it should be thrown out for multiple reasons, including that the former president cannot be prosecuted for his actions while in office.
President Trump claims the prosecution was politically motivated. He has never publicly acknowledged that the election claims were in fact false and has pleaded not guilty in both federal cases.
Mr. Trump’s federal indictment marked a special moment in American history. It was the first indictment in history of a president illegally clinging to power, mishandling classified information and attempting to obstruct a federal investigation.
Their dismissal is also a historic moment. Fifty years after lawmakers from both parties forced Richard Nixon to resign from office following allegations of criminal conduct while in office, half of American voters chose to restore Trump to office.
Mr. Trump’s election victory means that the Justice Department’s long-standing position that sitting presidents cannot be charged with crimes will continue to apply to Mr. Trump after he takes office on January 20.
“The prohibition is categorical and does not override the seriousness of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s evidence, or the merits of the prosecution, which the government fully supports,” Smith’s office said. it said in Monday’s filing.
“The government’s position regarding the merits of the defendant’s charges has not changed, but the situation has become this way,” the special counsel added.
The Justice Department’s policy, adopted during the Watergate scandal, says Congress has the power to impeach the president if he commits a crime. It is designed to allow a sitting president to carry out his duties unencumbered by litigation.
This legal position from the Department of Justice’s Office of General Counsel is the same one that helped President Trump avoid prosecution in connection with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation during his first presidency. Mr. Mueller’s team determined that because they cannot indict a sitting president, they could not reach a final conclusion on whether they believed Mr. Trump committed a crime. Mueller explained in 2019 that indicting Trump was “not an option that we would consider.” The same OLC opinion is now blocking Mr. Smith’s case from proceeding.
After Trump’s reelection, the special counsel’s office was caught between “two fundamental and compelling national interests,” Smith’s team wrote. “On the one hand, the Constitution’s requirement that the President not be unduly burdened in discharging his heavy responsibilities…and on the other hand, the nation’s commitment to the rule of law and the long-standing principle that every man be. In this country he is above the law. ”
Smith and his team plan to resign before Trump takes office, a person familiar with the matter told NBC News earlier this month. Under special counsel rules, Smith is required to submit a report to the attorney general explaining his prosecution decisions before he resigns.
Important support from conservative judges
The Supreme Court’s conservative justices ruled in a landslide victory for Trump on presidential immunity. It took months for the justices to issue their first ruling, making it impossible for Tanya Chutkan, the federal judge in Washington overseeing the case, to hold a trial before the election.
The July ruling granted the president new blanket immunity from prosecution, finding that all communications between the president and the attorney general were “absolutely immune” from prosecution. In a dissenting opinion, the liberal justices argued that the ruling gave the president the power to order federal criminal investigations into rivals without legal repercussions.
Two weeks later, Eileen Cannon, the federal judge appointed by President Trump to oversee the classified documents case, dropped all charges against Trump for mishandling classified documents and attempting to obstruct an investigation.
In a ruling that was widely criticized by legal experts and that Smith vowed to appeal, Cannon found that Smith was not properly appointed as special prosecutor. The surprise ruling overturned decades of previous rulings by both liberal and conservative judges.
In August, a new federal grand jury found that Trump’s false claims about massive voter fraud in the 2020 election were “unsubstantiated, objectively unreasonable, and constantly changing.” Trump was indicted on the same four charges as in the election lawsuit, claiming he “knew.” that they were false. ” However, Mr. Trump’s re-election left Mr. Smith without the ability to proceed with these charges.
“Today’s decision by the Department of Justice brings to an end the unconstitutional federal lawsuit against President Trump and is a major victory for the rule of law,” Trump spokesman Stephen Chan said in a statement. The American people and President Trump want an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system, and we look forward to seeing our country come together. ”
Many of the defendants on Jan. 6 told the judge they lamented how “gullible” they were to fall for President Trump’s lies, including allies of the president-elect, Republicans in Congress, Conservative influencers on social media have expressed similar opinions.
The Justice Department is focused on arresting the “most vicious” rioters before Trump returns to office. The president-elect said he would pardon an unspecified number of participants in the January 6 riot, calling them “warriors,” “incredible patriots,” “political prisoners” and “hostages.”
He will walk through the Lower West Tunnel, where the worst of the violence occurred on January 6, to take office as president on January 20, 2025.
