Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Special counsel Jack Smith on Monday dropped the election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump, seeking a judge’s dismissal of the charges.
In a 6-page court filing, Smith’s team argued that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has long argued “that the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated,” referring to Trump’s recent election victory.
“This outcome is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant,” the filing states.
His office said that prosecutors have conferred with Trump’s attorneys, who indicated they do not oppose the government’s motion.
“Based on the Department’s interpretation of the Constitution, the Government moves for dismissal without prejudice of the superseding indictment,” the court documents state.
The move marks an end to Smith’s criminal pursuit of Trump over the past two years or so, accusing him of attempting to illegally overturn the 2020 election. Smith also accused Trump of allegedly mishandling classified documents in a separate case, which was dismissed over the summer by a federal judge.
The decision was anticipated after Smith’s team said in court filings that it was assessing how to wind down both the 2020 election interference case and the classified documents case in the wake of Trump’s win on Nov. 5 over Vice President Kamala Harris.
According to Smith’s team, the DOJ believes the president-elect can no longer be tried in accordance with longstanding policy that says sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted.
The president-elect has often criticized the two cases that were brought by Smith, named as the special counsel by now-outgoing Attorney General Merrick Garland, describing them as attempts to use the DOJ to target a political opponent. Earlier this year, Trump told a radio host that if he were elected, he would move to remove Smith as special counsel.
Over the summer, the election case triggered a U.S. Supreme Court decision that said presidents can enjoy some immunity from prosecution for their official acts and duties.
Months later, Smith filed a superseding indictment that argued Trump acted on his own accord and not within his presidential duties when he allegedly broke the law. Trump had pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Trump also faced similar, election-related charges in Fulton County, Georgia. However, that case is in limbo after a co-defendant accused the prosecutor, Fani Willis, of being in a relationship with her special counsel, Nathan Wade, who resigned earlier this year after a judge issued an order.
That Fulton County judge, however, allowed Willis, an elected Democrat, to remain on the case. But Trump and several co-defendants petitioned the Georgia Court of Appeals to reject the judge’s ruling, effectively pausing the case.
In his business records case in New York, sentencing for Trump was postponed indefinitely last week by a judge after his election win. On May 30, Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to payments he made during the 2016 presidential campaign, which he had denied were illegal.
Sentencing in that case was initially scheduled for July but was postponed until Nov. 26. In a ruling on Nov. 22, Judge Juan Merchan wrote that he was granting a request to adjourn that sentencing date.