Special Counsel Jack Smith announced Monday that he is dropping the federal cases against US President-elect Donald Trump regarding election subversion and mishandling of classified documents, CNN reported.
In court filings, Smith requested dismissal of the cases.
“The (Justice) Department’s position is that the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated,” Smith wrote in a six-page filing to US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, DC, regarding the election subversion case. “This outcome is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant.”
While the election subversion case led to a landmark Supreme Court decision affirming Trump’s presidential immunity from certain criminal prosecutions, Trump’s legal strategy successfully delayed proceedings, preventing a trial before the November election. Smith had originally charged Trump in Washington, DC, for efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss, culminating in the January 6, 2021, riots at the Capitol. He later filed a reworked indictment in the case, following the Supreme Court ruling.
“The Government’s position on the merits of the defendant’s prosecution has not changed,” Smith stated in the filing, as quoted by CNN.
In the separate classified documents case in Florida, Trump had been indicted for allegedly taking sensitive government materials after leaving office and obstructing efforts to recover them. He pleaded not guilty to all charges in both cases.
Smith earlier this month asked a federal appeals court to pause proceedings in his effort to overturn a judge’s decision to dismiss the criminal classified documents case against Trump.
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung called the dismissal “a major victory for the rule of law,” adding, “The American People and President Trump want an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and we look forward to uniting our country.”
Smith noted in a federal appeals court filing that the classified documents case remains active against Trump employees Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira. Both men are accused of assisting Trump in obstructing the federal investigation.
They have pleaded not guilty, and the case is under review by the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals, following Judge Aileen Cannon’s order dismissing charges against Trump.