Special Counsel Jack Smith to drop all federal charges against President-elect Donald Trump

Nov. 25 (UPI) — Special Counsel Jack Smith has now moved to drop all charges against President-elect Donald Trump related to his alleged role in the 2020 presidential election rigging effort that led to the deadly attack on the US Capitol on January 6 and a suspected mishandling of classified documents.

“The government’s position on the merits of the defendant’s allegations has not changed,” the special counsel says. wrote office Monday in its filing. “But circumstances have.”

Recently, Smith indicated his intention to finish the two ongoing criminal proceedings against Trump and then to resign with his team before Inauguration Day on January 20.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung says Monday’s decision by the special counsel ends the “unconstitutional federal cases” against Trump and characterizes it as a “major victory for the rule of law.”

The president-elect was impeached in August 2023 four felony counts for the alleged conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. But the case was put on hold for months as Trump’s legal team made efforts to circumvent the prosecution.

The former and incoming president made it clear that he intended to get rid of Smith when he takes office. During a radio interview in October, Trump said he will fire Smith “within two seconds” of becoming president again.

On Monday, Smith’s office wrote that its intention to drop all four felony charges would be consistent with the U.S. Justice Department’s longstanding tradition of not charging a sitting U.S. president with a crime.

“This prohibition is categorical and does not turn on the seriousness of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s evidence, or the merits of the prosecution, which the government fully supports,” Smith wrote in a six-page filing with the U.S. District. Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, adds it The DOJ’s position is that the US Constitution “requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is initiated.”

This arrived just days after New York Judge Juan Merchan set Trump’s sentencing date for his 34 criminal convictions. put on holdwith Trump’s lawyers arguing that the case should be thrown outright when Trump returns to the White House.

After Trump’s re-election in November against Vice President Kamala Harris, Smith was torn between “two fundamental and compelling national interests,” the filing said.

Trump was indicted by a grand jury for the alleged criminal conspiracy to block and overturn the results of the 2020 election won by the president Joe Biden and Harris. Smith had overseen the case as well as another criminal case in Florida involving the alleged mishandling of classified documents.

“On the one hand, the constitutional requirement that the president not be unduly encumbered in fulfilling his weighty responsibilities,” Smith’s team wrote, “and on the other, the nation’s commitment to the rule of law and the longstanding principle that ‘(n)o man in this country is so high that he is above the law.'”

Meanwhile, the outgoing special counsel’s office added that the new and current finding “is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant.”

Federal rules require a report from Smith summarizing the investigation into Trump’s alleged crimes. However, it is unclear whether it will be publicly available.

“The American people and President Trump want an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system,” Cheung said.

The two state cases against Trump in New York and Georgia will continue in court cases that Trump, as president, will have no constitutional power to interfere with.