WASHINGTON – Special prosecutor Jack Smith decided Monday to drop two criminal cases against Donald Trump, concluding that Trump’s return to the White House would thwart efforts to prosecute him in federal court for keeping secret documents or attempting to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
The decision was inevitable because long-standing Justice Department policy states that sitting presidents cannot be held criminally liable. But it was still a momentous conclusion to an unprecedented chapter in the history of politics and law enforcement, as federal officials tried to hold the former president accountable while he was simultaneously seeking another term.
Trump emerges unquestionably victorious, successfully delaying the investigation through legal maneuvers and then winning re-election despite indictments that characterized his actions as a threat to the country’s constitutional foundations.
“I persevered against all odds and I WON,” Trump rejoiced in a post on his Truth Social social networking site.
» READ MORE: From October: ‘Make them riot’: New court filing reveals how prosecutors say Trump and his allies tried to overturn Pennsylvania’s 2020 vote.
He also said that “these cases, like all the others I have been forced to go through, are empty and unlawful and should not have been initiated at all.”
The judge in the election case granted prosecutors’ request for release. As of Monday evening, no decision on the documents had been made yet.
The result clearly shows that when it comes to the president and criminal charges, nothing is more significant than voters’ own verdict. In court filings, Smith’s team emphasized that the decision to stop prosecuting was not a reflection of the merits of the cases, but an acknowledgment of the legal shield that surrounds every commander in chief.
“This prohibition is categorical and does not affect the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the evidence presented by the Government, or the merits of the accusation, which the Government fully supports,” prosecutors said in one of their motions.
They wrote that Trump’s return to the White House “conflicts two basic and essential national interests: on the one hand, the Constitution’s requirement that the President not be unduly burdened in carrying out his important duties. . . and on the other hand, the Nation’s commitment to the rule of law.”
In this situation, “the Constitution requires that the case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated,” they concluded.
Smith’s team said it left intact the charges against two co-defendants in the secret documents case – Trump’s butler Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira – because “no provisional immunity rule applies to them.”
Steven Cheung, Trump’s new White House communications director, said Americans “want an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system, and we look forward to uniting our country.”
Trump has long characterized the investigation as politically motivated and has vowed to fire Smith as soon as he takes office in January. Now he will begin his second term without criminal scrutiny from the government he will lead.
The election case filed last year was once seen as one of the most sedate legal threats facing Trump as he tried to retake the White House. Was accused of conspiring to reverse his defeat Joe Biden in 2020, culminating in the brutal attack on the United States Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021.
But the case quickly stalled amid legal disputes over Trump’s wide-ranging claims of immunity from prosecution for actions he committed in the White House.
In July, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled for the first time that former presidents are entitled to broad criminal immunity and sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to determine which, if any, charges in the indictment could go to trial.
The case was just beginning to gain momentum in the trial court in the weeks leading up to this year’s election. In October, Smith’s team filed a lengthy brief laying out new evidence it intended to use against him in the trial, accusing him of “resorting to criminal conduct” in an increasingly desperate attempt to overturn the will of voters after his loss to Biden.
In dismissing the case, Chutkan agreed with prosecutors’ request that they do so “without prejudice,” raising the possibility that they could try to charge Trump after his term ends. She wrote that this was “consistent with the government’s understanding that the immunity granted to a sitting president is fleeting and terminates when he leaves office.”
However, such a move could be subject to a statute of limitations, and Trump could also try to pardon himself while in office.
A separate case involving classified documents was widely considered legally clear, especially since the conduct in question occurred after Trump left the White House and lost his presidential powers.
The indictment included dozens of charges of illegally collecting secret documents from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and obstructing federal efforts to recover them. He pleaded not guilty and denied committing a crime.
The case quickly escalated due to delays, with U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon slow to issue rulings – which favored Trump’s strategy of pushing back deadlines in all of his criminal cases – while also presenting defense motions and arguments that experts said other judges would dispense with without interrogation.
In May, she indefinitely canceled her trial due to a number of unresolved legal issues, before dismissing the case two months later. Smith’s team appealed that decision, but has now abandoned that effort.
While running for president, Trump faced two other state impeachments. One of them, the New York hush money case, ended in a conviction accused of a crime involving falsification of commercial documentation. This is the first time a former president has been found guilty of a crime.
The ruling in the case remains on hold as Trump’s lawyers seek to have the conviction thrown out before he takes office, arguing that upholding the verdict will interfere with his transition as president and his responsibilities.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office opposes release but says it will happen willing to delay sentencing until Trump leaves office. Bragg, a Democrat, said the solution must balance the president’s responsibilities with “the sanctity of the jury’s verdict.”
Trump was also indicted in Georgia along with 18 other people accused of participating in a large-scale scheme to illegally overturn that country’s 2020 presidential election.
Any trial there seems unlikely while Trump is in office. Now the prosecutor’s office was suspended after an appeals court agreed to consider whether to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she hired to handle the case.
Four defendants pleaded guilty after reaching agreements with prosecutors. Trump and others have pleaded not guilty.
