 "Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump speaks at the Bitcoin 2024 event in Nashville, Tennessee, US, July 27, 2024. File Image/Reuters")
A US judge has dismissed the 2020 election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump.
Special Counsel Jack Smith on Monday (November 26) filed motions with judges in Washington DC and Atlanta to dismiss federal cases against Trump related to election interference and mishandling of classified documents. Following the motions, Judge Tanya S Chutkan, who had been presiding over the election interference case in Washington, agreed to dismiss the case.
The election interference case against Trump is related to his efforts to unlawfully overturn the 2020 election result in his favour.
After Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, Trump refused to concede and falsely maintained that the election was stolen from him. On January 6, 2021, as the Senate was certifying the election result, Trump egged on a mob of supporters who went on to the attack the US Capitol with the intention of hijacking the Senate proceedings and overturning the result illegally in his favour.
The classified documents case against Trump is related to the huge trove of classified documents found at his private residence in Florida that he should have handed over after leaving office in 2021. There have been reports that he used those documents for personal benefits after leaving office.
Smith filed for the dismissal of federal cases against Trump because a longstanding Department of Justice (DoJ) policy says that a sitting president cannot be prosecuting. In his filing, Smith maintained that the dismissal was not based on the merits of the case but on this policy alone.
“The Department’s position is that the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated. This outcome is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant,” said Smith in the filing to Chutkan, according to CNN.
Smith’s moves effectively bring the unprecedented legal proceedings involving Trump to a close on the federal level. Two state case, the Stormy Daniels case in New York and another election interference case in Georgia, will continue for the moment — even as the sentencing in the Daniels case has been delayed. Trump is the first president to be indicted and the first felon to become the president.
Any proceedings against Trump would now be limited by the Supreme Court ruling that granted immunity to a president for acts in official capacity .