Prosecutor drops federal criminal cases against Trump

Trump had pleaded not guilty in the case related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.

The special prosecutor who brought two key criminal cases against Donald Trump has asked judges to drop both of them after his victory in the 2024 presidential election.

Special counsel Jack Smith was overseeing cases accusing Trump of trying to overturn the 2020 election results and improperly storing classified documents after he left office.

Trump had pleaded not guilty in both cases.

In new documents filed on Monday, Mr Smith said the cases should be closed because of a Justice Department policy that bans the prosecution of a sitting president.

“It has long been the position of the Department of Justice that the United States Constitution forbids the federal indictment and subsequent criminal prosecution of a sitting President,” Smith wrote in a filing in the election case.

“This outcome is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant,” Smith added in the six-page filing.

A judge must sign off on both decisions for them to be officially dismissed. Smith requested both cases be dismissed "without prejudice", meaning the charges could be refiled after Trump finishes his second term.

Trump posted on his social media site Truth Social that the federal cases were "empty and lawless, and should never have been brought".

"It was a political hijacking, and a low point in the History of our Country that such a thing could have happened, and yet, I persevered, against all odds," he wrote.

Vice-President-elect JD Vance said the prosecutions were "always political".

"If Donald J. Trump had lost an election, he may very well have spent the rest of his life in prison," he wrote on social media.

Trump had pledged to get rid of Smith as soon as he took office. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith in 2022 to take over the two federal investigations into Trump’s conduct. Smith has reportedly said he plans to step down next year.

The request to dismiss Trump’s election subversion case marks an end to a lengthy legal saga. Smith had to refile charges against the president based on a July Supreme Court ruling that Trump was immune from prosecution over "official acts" that took place while he was in the White House.

Smith had argued in a revised indictment that Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results were related to his campaign and therefore not official acts.

The Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit was also weighing an appeal from Smith to carry on with the classified documents case, in which Trump was accused of storing dozens of sensitive files in his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort and obstructing government efforts to retrieve them. Trump-appointee Judge Aileen Cannon initially dismissed it because she ruled Smith was improperly appointed to lead the case.

When Trump won the 2024 election this month, Smith began to take steps to wind down both cases, though Smith said in the Monday filing that the documents appeal would continue for two other defendants in the case, Trump employees Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira.

Trump’s return to the White House left several state-level criminal cases against him in limbo, too.

His sentencing for his criminal conviction in the state of New York has been indefinitely delayed.

Trump also faces state charges in Georgia for his attempts to overturn election results there, but that case faces delays as well. An appeals court is considering whether to overturn a previous ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to stay on the case despite a relationship she had with a prosecutor she hired.

Since Trump won the 2024 presidency, “his criminal problems go away”, said former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani.

“It’s well established that a sitting president can’t be prosecuted,” he said.