The Department of Justice will reportedly be shutting down special counsel Jack Smith’s two federal criminal cases he has brought against now-President-elect Donald Trump.
Smith charged Trump with obstructing an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy against rights in his 2020 election interference case that he filed in Washington, D.C.
However, the Supreme Court ruled in July that presidents have immunity for official acts taken while in office. The decision required Smith to redo his indictment and pushed a potential trial until after the election.
And in Florida, Smith indicted Trump for allegedly retaining classified documents containing national defense information, as well as obstruction and making false statements.
However, Judge Aileen Cannon ruled in July that the DOJ’s appointment of Smith as special counsel was unconstitutional, concluding the move needed congressional approval. The DOJ has appealed the case to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
NBC News justice correspondent Ken Dilanian reported on Wednesday, “It’s not a surprise that these cases can’t go forward when Donald Trump takes office. What’s interesting here is that the DOJ is moving to end them even before he takes office, citing the long-standing DOJ policy that sitting presidents can’t be prosecuted.
“And there was some thought that maybe Jack Smith was going to sprint through the finish line, was going to work up until the last day, force Trump to fire him, wait until a new attorney general was appointed, but that does not appear to be the thinking inside the department. The thinking is that these cases can’t go forward,” Dilanian further explained.
MSNBC: Jack Smith and the DOJ seeking to end cases against Donald Trump, citing long-standing policy regarding the prosecution of a sitting president.
They’re terrified. pic.twitter.com/jYLi8j16ks
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) November 6, 2024
“There’s no reasonable prospect of getting to trial within the three months before Donald Trump takes office. These cases are mired in legal issues that would be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, had Donald Trump lost the election,” the reporter said.
Were Jack Smith’s prosecutions politically motivated?
Yes: 100% (1387 Votes)
No: 0% (2 Votes)
Given Trump’s win, the DOJ has determined the “sensible thing to do is figure out a way to wind them down.”
Dilanian said the way the cases could culminate is by Trump’s attorneys filing motions to the courts noting the election result and the DOJ’s policy of not prosecuting presidents.
In a memo published in 2000, the DOJ concluded that the prosecution of a sitting president would “unduly interfere in a direct or formal sense with the conduct of the presidency.”
The department determined that impeachment and removal from office is the remedy for presidents believed to have engaged in wrongdoing. After removal, a former president could then be criminally prosecuted.
Though Trump’s federal cases look poised to go away, his conviction in the New York business records case is still outstanding.
CNN reported that Judge Juan Merchan set a deadline of Nov. 12 to decide whether the Supreme Court’s July presidential immunity decision so impacted the evidence presented at trial that the conviction should be dismissed.
Merchan could decide to move ahead with sentencing, including imposing jail time, but Trump’s attorneys would move for the sentence to be delayed pending appeals to higher state courts and could take the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
CNN noted, “Any sentence, of course, will be complicated by the fact that Trump is set to take office on January 20, 2025. Trump’s lawyers are likely to shape their appeals to raise constitutional issues challenging whether a state judge can sentence a president-elect, which could tie the case up in courts for years.”
“The DOJ, where Jack Smith works, can not prosecute a sitting president.
Fox News is told that Jack Smith will be gone from his post as special counsel, meaning the cases will be gone before Trump takes the oath of office on January 20,”@davidspunt @FoxNews… pic.twitter.com/3XoVnU3BP7
— Heather Champion (@winningatmylife) November 6, 2024
Fox News correspondent David Spunt summarized on Wednesday, “Donald Trump’s legal problems have essentially all gone away since he won last night.”
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