Washington — The federal judge overseeing the 2020 election case against former President Donald Trump agreed to dismiss the charges following a request from special counsel Jack Smith, bringing to a close the historic and unprecedented prosecution of the nation’s 45th and 47th president.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan granted Smith’s request just hours after he said in a filing that he is seeking to close Trump’s case because Justice Department policy forbids the prosecution of a sitting president.
“After careful consideration, the department has determined that [the Office of Legal Counsel’s] prior opinions concerning the Constitution’s prohibition on federal indictment and prosecution of a sitting president apply to this situation and that as a result this prosecution must be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated,” Smith wrote in his filing. “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 special counsel noted the historic nature of Trump’s prosecution and subsequent election to the presidency, writing that the “department and the country have never faced the circumstance here, where a federal indictment against a private citizen has been returned by a grand jury and a criminal prosecution is already underway when the defendant is elected president.”
But after consultation with the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, the special counsel said “the department’s position is that the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/jack-smith-dismiss-charges-trump-d-c-election-case/