The former president had faced four felony criminal cases.
With special counsel Jack Smith’s decision to drop his election case and classified documents appeal against President-elect Donald Trump, the soon-to-be 47th president’s legal woes appear to be mostly behind him.
Smith’s decision on Nov. 25 caps a tumultuous two-year period for Trump, who was charged in four separate jurisdictions with felony counts.
Washington: Prosecutor Moves to Dismiss
In a Washington federal court, Smith filed a motion to dismiss the election case, which has to first be approved by the judge, and cited longstanding Department of Justice policy stipulating that the criminal prosecution of a sitting president would violate the U.S. Constitution by undermining the ability of the country’s chief executive to function.
“Based on the Department’s interpretation of the Constitution, the Government moves for dismissal without prejudice of the superseding indictment,” the court documents filed by Smith on Nov. 25 state.
In the case, Smith had charged Trump in Washington over his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and for his activity pertaining to the breach of the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.
The president-elect’s attorneys had sought to delay the release of case materials because of the proximity of the election. However, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan denied their requests, allowing Smith’s team in October to unseal a 165-page filing in the case that outlined Trump’s alleged activities after the 2020 contest.
“Working with a team of private co-conspirators, the defendant acted as a candidate when he pursued multiple criminal means to disrupt, through fraud and deceit, the government function by which votes are collected and counted—a function in which the defendant, as President, had no official role,” Smith’s office wrote.
Trump had pleaded not guilty to the charges, arguing that they were politically driven and designed to interfere with the Nov. 5 election. At the time, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said the brief was “falsehood-ridden” and accused Smith of being “hell-bent on weaponizing the Justice Department in an attempt to cling to power.”
On social media platform Truth Social, meanwhile, Trump said the case would end with his “complete victory” during the 2024 election.
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