Following Special Counsel Jack Smith’s filing on Monday to dismiss the two federal cases against President-elect Donald Trump, the classified documents case and election subversion case, the judge overseeing the election case officially dismissed the felony charges against Trump.
“The Government has moved to dismiss the Superseding Indictment without prejudice,” Judge Tanya Chutkan said in her filing to confirm the dismissal. Kyle Cheney, a senior legal affairs reporter for Politico, shared the filing on social media.
“Here, Defendant consents to the dismissal,” the filing said, “And there is no indication that the dismissal is ‘part of a scheme of ‘prosecutorial harassment’’ or otherwise improper.”
“Rather, the government explains that it seeks dismissal pursuant to Department of Justice policy and precedent. … The court will therefore grant the Government leave to dismiss this case.”
Two years after bringing the indictments against the former president, Smith submitted a filing to the judge early Monday, asking for the election subversion case to be dismissed due to the “unprecedented situation” of Trump winning the 2024 presidential election. He also dropped his appeal to the classified documents case.
The presiding judge in the classified documents case dismissed the 40 criminal count charges against Trump in July due to Smith violating the Appointment Clause for not being appointed to special counsel by President Joe Biden nor confirmed by the Senate.
“Smith’s team said it was leaving intact charges against two co-defendants in the classified documents case — Trump valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira — because ‘no principle of temporary immunity applies to them,’” per the Associated Press.
Smith’s motion to dismiss
In the filling on the election subversion case, Smith’s office reiterated its claims that the law prohibiting a sitting president from being prosecuted “is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s proof or the merits of the prosecution, which the government stands fully behind.”
“This sets at odds two fundamental and compelling national interests: on the one hand, the Constitution’s requirement that the president must not be unduly encumbered in fulfilling his weighty responsibilities,” the filing added. “and on the other hand, 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.’”
Trump pleaded not guilty to all the charges Smith initially brought against him, taking the case to the Supreme Court on the basis of presidential immunity. Following the Supreme Court’s decision this summer giving a president broad immunity from prosecution for official acts they make while in office, Smith filed a new lawsuit against Trump.
George Washington University professor Jonathan Turley told Fox News that he knew a year ago “there was a good chance Jack Smith would never see the inside of a courtroom for a trial in this case. It made this election the largest effective jury verdict in history by re-electing Donald Trump.”
In a post on X, Utah Sen. Mike Lee reacted to Smith’s announcement:
“All that has changed is that Trump won the election(.) And now Jack Smith is moving to dismiss(.) Isn’t that tantamount to an admission that this was just politicized lawfare from the beginning?”
Before the case is officially dismissed, Judge Tanya Chutkan must review and approve Smith’s request.
