Jack Smith seeks to dismiss Washington election charges against Trump

Washington — Special Counsel Jack Smith asked a federal district court in Washington on Monday to dismiss charges against President-elect Donald Trump stemming from an alleged scheme to overturn the transfer of power after the 2020 election. thus putting an end to historic and unprecedented prosecutions. of the country's 45th and 47th presidents.

In newly filed court papers, federal prosecutors working in Smith's office told U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan that they were seeking to close Trump's case because Justice Department policy prohibits prosecuting a president in exercise.

“After careful consideration, the department has determined that [the Office of Legal Counsel’s] “Prior opinions concerning the constitutional bar on federal indictment and prosecution of a sitting president apply to this situation and that, accordingly, these prosecutions should be dismissed before the inauguration of the accused,” he said. writes Smith. “This ban is categorical and does not depend on the seriousness of the crimes charged, the strength of the government's evidence, or the merits of the prosecution, which the government fully supports.”

The special prosecutor noted the historic nature of the prosecution of Trump and his election to the presidency, writing that “the Department and the country have never faced the situation here, where a federal indictment against a citizen private was dismissed by a grand jury and criminal court.” the proceedings were already underway when the accused was elected president.

But after consulting with the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, the special counsel said that “the Department's position is that the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before defendant's inauguration.”

Smith said in his six-page motion that he had spoken with Trump's lawyers and that they did not oppose the request to dismiss the case.

The judge is likely to grant Smith's request to dismiss the case and dismiss all four federal counts against the president-elect, after which the special counsel is expected to submit a final report to the attorney general and resign. Smith's request was expected because he and the Justice Department were in talks about how to end the prosecution after Trump was elected to a second term earlier this month.

Smith was appointed special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 after Trump announced his third bid for the White House. He took over two ongoing federal investigations into Trump's conduct, one focused on his alleged mishandling of classified documents and another related to the 2020 election.

After a month-long grand jury investigation, Smith obtained a four-count indictment against Trump, alleging that he sought to resist the peaceful transfer of power after Joe Biden's election victory and that 'he was allegedly involved in a criminal scheme in the process. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has denied any wrongdoing.

The indictment outlines a sweeping scheme in which prosecutors accuse Trump and his unnamed co-conspirators of working to undermine the legitimacy of the election results and prevent the certification of Electoral College votes in an effort to stay in power.

Trump's legal team managed to delay the case until this year after claiming that Trump was immune from prosecution because he was president at the time the alleged conduct took place. Chutkan and a Washington DC appeals court panel rejected the presidential immunity argument. The case was stayed while the Supreme Court later took up the matter.

Ultimately, the high court issued a landmark decision in the case, ruling in July that presidents are immune from federal criminal prosecution for actions taken in their official capacity as president of the United States. The Supreme Court's 6-3 opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts allowed charges to be filed when a president was acting in an unofficial or personal capacity.

Some of the alleged conduct included in Smith's 2023 indictment was disqualified from the case and the special prosecutor later obtained a superseding indictment against Trump in an effort to fit the charges into the ruling of the Supreme Court. Trump pleaded not guilty to the new indictment earlier in September.

Before Smith asked him to dismiss the case, Chutkan was in the process of applying the Supreme Court's immunity ruling to the case. In October, she released a key document from Smith that provided a comprehensive overview of the evidence prosecutors assembled in their case against Trump. The special prosecutor and his team said that when he lost the 2020 race, Trump “resorted to crimes” to maintain power.

The filing described how Trump and his aides allegedly planned to challenge the results of the 2020 election well before Election Day and pressured then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject the electoral votes on January 6, 2021.

In one striking passage, prosecutors said Trump responded: “So what? when he was told Pence might be in danger at the Capitol, where Congress had met to count the state's electoral votes. A crowd of Trump supporters entered the building, leading to the evacuation of Pence and lawmakers.

The special counsel is expected to make a similar request to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, where judges were considering whether Smith's other case against Trump — involving classified documents — should be revived after a federal judge in Florida dismissed the case in July. . Judge Aileen Cannon ruled that Smith was illegally appointed to the special counsel position by Garland and, therefore, the case against Trump was invalid. The Justice Department appealed its decision.

In addition to the two federal cases, Trump has been charged by local prosecutors in separate cases in Fulton County, Georgia and New York. The New York case stemmed from a hush-money payment made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels after the 2016 election, and a jury found Trump guilty of 34 crimes in May, making him the first former president recognized guilty of a crime.

He was scheduled to be sentenced last month in New York, but his sentencing was delayed following the election. Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges against him in the sprawling Fulton County racketeering case, which is linked to an alleged attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

Trump's bid for a second term loomed over his legal proceedings, as his federal cases were widely expected to be dropped if he succeeded in winning the White House.

Now that Smith's two cases are close to being settled, he is likely to file a final report with the attorney general, as required by special counsel regulations, and is expected to resign from his post before Trump lends oath in January. December 20, 2025, two sources familiar with Smith's plans previously told CBS News. Garland has pledged to make public all special counsel reports written during his tenure — a commitment he has so far kept — and he likely will do so in the Smith cases as well.

If, for some reason, the release of Smith's report was blocked and delayed by the Trump administration, the chances of its disclosure would become increasingly slim, since the president-elect has stated that he intends to appoint many of its top defense attorneys to senior positions within the Trump administration. Ministry of Justice.

Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, who defended Trump in the two federal cases and in other cases in New York, are expected to serve as deputy attorney general and principal deputy assistant attorney general, respectively, two powerful positions within the Department of Justice. Justice. Trump announced he would nominate former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to the top attorney general post.

He also chose D. John Sauer as solicitor general, who represents the government before the Supreme Court. Sauer made the case for immunity on Trump's behalf in April.

More from CBS News

Robert Légaré

Robert Legare is a CBS News multi-platform reporter and producer who covers the Justice Department, federal courts and investigations. He was previously an associate producer for “CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell.”

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