A judge validated on Monday, November 25, the end of the prosecution against Donald Trump for illegal attempt to reverse the results of the 2020 election, confirming the large legal victory of the man who is now the American president-elect.
Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan followed the recommendations made hours earlier by special prosecutor Jack Smith.
He also gave up pursuing Donald Trump for withholding classified documents after his departure from the White House in 2021, the other federal procedure targeting him.
Since the vote on November 5, Donald Trump appeared certain to escape these two procedures, for illegal attempts to reverse the results of the 2020 election won by Joe Biden, and for withholding classified documents after his departure from the House -White.
In the first case, in Washington, Judge Chutkan quickly validated Jack Smith's request to cancel the proceedings, without prejudging their possible relaunch at the end of the mandate of Donald Trump, 78 years old.
This recommendation is “consistent with the prosecution's interpretation that the immunity granted to a sitting president is temporary, expiring when he ceases office”she says.
“Unprecedented situation”
Jack Smith had already canceled all deadlines on the calendar of the two cases, giving himself until December 2 in order to“analyze this unprecedented situation and determine the course of action to follow in accordance with the policy of the Ministry of Justice”.
Because if the ministry has followed since 1973, at the heart of the Watergate scandal, a constant policy of not prosecuting a sitting president, the case of a candidate criminally prosecuted and then elected president is completely unprecedented.
“The position of the prosecution on the merits of the proceedings against the defendant has not changed. But circumstances have changed”explains Jack Smith in his request to Judge Tanya Chutkan, in Washington. The department concluded in deliberations with the special prosecutor's office that its long-standing policy “applies to this situation” never seen before, he says.
“Consequently, these proceedings must be quashed before the defendant takes the oath” on January 20, adds Jack Smith, nevertheless asking that they be without prejudging their possible relaunch at the end of the mandate of Donald Trump, 78 years old.
The ex-president and now president-elect, accused of trying to stay in power despite his defeat in 2020, is notably charged with “plot against American institutions” and“attack on the right to vote” voters.
Found guilty in New York
In the classified documents case, in Florida (southeast), Jack Smith invokes the same reasoning to abandon his appeal of the decision of federal judge Aileen Cannon, annulling the procedure.
This decision of July 15, on the grounds that the appointment of the special prosecutor in this case and the financing of his work violated the sections of the Constitution relating to appointments and expenditures, therefore remains in force.
The special prosecutor nevertheless maintains his appeal regarding Donald Trump's two personal assistants at his Mar-a-Lago property.
In this case, one of four criminal proceedings against him, he was accused of having compromised national security by keeping documents, including military plans or information on nuclear weapons, in his private residence after the end of its mandate, instead of handing them over to the National Archives.
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.
Donald Trump's campaign team immediately welcomed a “major victory for the rule of law”denouncing once again a “political instrumentalization of the judicial system”. “These prosecutions, like all those that have been inflicted on me, are empty and unjust and should never have been brought”reacted Donald Trump on his Truth Social network.
Found guilty on May 30 by the New York State courts of “aggravated accounting falsification to conceal a plot to pervert the 2016 election” – hidden payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels as a price for her silence – he could still be sentenced in the coming weeks.
But Judge Juan Merchan, who has already postponed the sentencing several times, authorized the president-elect's lawyers to submit an appeal by December 2 to have the proceedings annulled.
Donald Trump is also indicted with 14 other people in the state of Georgia (southeast) for facts similar to those in his federal case in Washington. But this matter is permanently stalled in a request for dismissal from the prosecutor, currently on appeal.
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