The case against US President-elect Donald Trump for allegedly conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden will be dismissed by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Mr Trump’s presidential transition team hailed the move as a “major victory”. However there is a sting in the tail because the case could be reopened in the future.
Mr Smith, in a filing with the judge in Washington presiding over the historic case, said it should be dropped in light of a longstanding Justice Department policy not to prosecute a sitting president.
The special counsel asked District Judge Tanya Chutkan to dismiss the case “without prejudice” which leaves open the possibility it could be revived after Mr Trump leaves office four years from now.
Mr Smith paused the election interference case earlier this month after Mr Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the November 5 presidential election.
“The Government’s position on the merits of the defendant’s prosecution has not changed,” Mr Smith said in the filing with Justice Chutkan. “But the circumstances have”.
“It has long been the position of the Department of Justice that the United States Constitution forbids the federal indictment and subsequent criminal prosecution of a sitting President,” Mr Smith said.
“As a result this prosecution must be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated.”
‘Major victory’
“The American People and President Trump want an immediate end to the political weaponisation of our justice system and we look forward to uniting our country,” Mr Cheung said in a statement.
Mr Trump is accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding — the session of Congress called to certify Mr Biden’s win, which was violently attacked on January 6, 2021, by a mob of the then-president’s supporters.
Mr Trump is also accused of seeking to disenfranchise US voters with his false claims that he won the 2020 election.
Mr Smith charged Mr Trump with mishandling top secret documents after leaving the White House, but that case was tossed out by a federal judge in Florida, a Trump appointee, on the grounds that Mr Smith was unlawfully appointed.
Mr Smith had appealed that dismissal but is now expected to drop the appeal. Mr Trump also faces two state cases — in New York and Georgia.
He was convicted in New York in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election to stop her from revealing an alleged 2006 sexual encounter.
Judge Juan Merchan has postponed sentencing while he considers a request from Mr Trump’s lawyers that the conviction be thrown out in light of the Supreme Court ruling in July that an ex-president has broad immunity from prosecution.
In Georgia, Mr Trump faces racketeering charges over his efforts to subvert the 2020 election results in the southern state, but that case will likely be frozen while he is in office under the policy of not prosecuting a sitting president.
