The special prosecutor investigating the case against Donald Trump for illegal attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Jack Smith, recommended on Monday that the prosecution be stopped on the grounds that he was now the president-elect.
The special prosecutor who is investigating the case against Donald Trump for withholding classified documents after his departure from the White House in 2021 has also announced that he is giving up pursuing the man who is now the elected president of the United States.
Jack Smith appealed the decision of Federal Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida to overturn the proceedings in July on the grounds that the appointment of the special prosecutor in the case was unconstitutional. He is now dropping that appeal, under a Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president applied to this “unprecedented” situation.
Donald Trump’s campaign team immediately welcomed a “major victory for the rule of law”.
“Today’s decision by the Department of Justice puts an end to the unconstitutional federal cases brought against President Trump and constitutes a major victory for the rule of law,” applauded its communications director, Steven Cheung, in a press release.
The special prosecutor thus complies with a policy adopted more than 50 years ago by the Department of Justice, consisting of not prosecuting a sitting president.
Although the case of a candidate being criminally prosecuted and then elected president is “unprecedented,” the department concluded during deliberations with the special prosecutor’s office that this policy “applies to this situation,” explains Jack Smith in his asks Judge Tanya Chutkan.
But he asked the judge to end the proceedings without prejudging the course of events, which leaves open the possibility that they could be relaunched at the end of Donald Trump’s mandate.
Jack Smith had already embarked on this path by obtaining from the judge, a few days after the vote of November 5 which resulted in the victory of the Republican presidential candidate, the cancellation of all the deadlines on the calendar of this affair.
He motivated his request by the need to give the prosecution “time to analyze this unprecedented situation and determine the course of action to follow in accordance with Department of Justice policy.”
Back in the White House, Donald Trump could either appoint a new Justice Minister who would fire Jack Smith or simply order his Justice Department to drop the charges against him.
