The move by Special Counsel Jack Smith marks the end of the Justice Department’s landmark effort to hold Trump accountable for the unprecedented assault on the US Capitol.
Donald Trump’s supporters during the January 6 attack on the US Capitol in 2021. They took his command to “fight like hell” literally.Justice Department prosecutors, citing longstanding department guidance that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted, said the department’s position is that “the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated”.
“That prohibition 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,” the prosecutors wrote in Monday’s court filing.The decision was expected after Smith’s team began assessing how to wind down both the 2020 election
and the separate classified documents case in the wake of Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. The Justice Department believes Trump can no longer be tried in accordance with longstanding policy that says sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted.Trump has cast both cases as politically motivated and has vowed to fire Smith as soon as he takes office in January.
The 2020 election case brought last year was once seen as one of the most serious legal threats facing Trump as he vied to reclaim the White House.But it quickly stalled amid legal fighting over his sweeping claims of immunity from prosecution for acts he took while in the White House. The US Supreme Court in July ruled for the first time that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution and sent the case back to US District Judge Tanya Chutkan to determine which allegations in the indictment, if any, could proceed to trial.The case was just beginning to pick up steam again in the trial court in the weeks leading up to this year’s election.
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