Donald Trump’s legal problems — or most of them — aren’t going to follow him back to the White House.
Special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two federal cases against the former president, moved on Monday to drop all charges against the president-elect.
Not because of a lack of evidence, Smith was careful to emphasize, but because of the long-standing Justice Department policy of not impeaching or indicting a sitting president.
“The position of the Government regarding the trial of the prosecutor has not changed,” he said.
“But the situation is what it is,” the prosecutor added, nodding to Trump’s November 5 election victory over Kamala Harris.
Smith left open the possibility of Trump being tried after he leaves office – he asked Judge Tanya Chutkan to dismiss the election meddling case “without prejudice,” meaning it could be retried at some point.
Chutkan granted this request, noting that “the immunity granted to the President for a short time, ends when he leaves office.”
“Of course there may be no desire (for impeachment) in 2029, but this will save the election,” said Barbara McQuade, a law professor at the University of Michigan.
Trump, 78, has been accused of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden, and of mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House.
A Trump-appointed judge in Florida threw out the special documents case on the grounds that Smith was illegally appointed.
Smith appealed the ruling by Judge Aileen Cannon but dropped his appeal on Monday, citing Trump’s election and Justice Department policy.
The issue of election interference never came to trial, as it was delayed every time by Mr. Trump’s lawyers while he was seeking to be elected as the Republican candidate.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in July that the former president was not guilty of a serious crime related to his legal actions, forcing Smith to bring the case to trial and file a new charge.
As president, Mr. Trump could have made the two federal cases go away and could have prevented them from being brought up again by trying to pardon himself before leaving the White House.
Trump promised during the election to fire Smith “within two seconds” of taking office.
Mr. Trump was accused of defrauding the United States and conspiring to obstruct the continuation – a session of Congress called to celebrate the victory of Biden which was violently attacked on January 6, 2021 by a crowd of Trump supporters.
Mr. Trump was also accused of trying to dissuade American voters with his lies that he won the 2020 elections.
– State cases –
Trump also faced two national issues – in New York and Georgia.
He was convicted in New York in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to prevent him from disclosing a 2006 sexual encounter.
Mr. Trump was supposed to be sentenced in July, but his lawyers requested that his sentence be revoked in view of the Supreme Court’s decision.
Trump was supposed to be sentenced on Tuesday, but last week Judge Juan Merchan postponed the sentence altogether.
Trump, the first president to be convicted, faces up to four years in prison on each charge. As a first time offender, however, he was considered the most likely to be fined and investigated – and this was before he won the White House.
In Georgia, Mr. Trump is facing fraud charges over his efforts to influence the 2020 election results in the southern state, but the case is likely to be frozen while he is in office.
The case was also confirmed by an indictment by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who admitted to having an intimate relationship with the man she hired as a special prosecutor.
cl/dw