*UPDATE* Judge Chutkan granted Smith’s request.
***Previous Reporting…
Special Counsel Jack Smith has asked Judge Tanya Chutkan to drop all charges against President-elect Donald Trump in the alleged election interference case.
After careful consideration, the Department has determined that OLC’s [Office of Legal Counsel] 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. 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. Based on the Department’s interpretation of the Constitution, the Government moves for dismissal without prejudice of the superseding indictment under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 48(a). The Government has conferred with defense counsel, who does not object to this motion.
We all figured this would happen since Smith hinted he would wind down the case against Trump after he won on November 5.
The DOJ cannot indict a sitting president:
While the 1973 OLC Opinion did not reach any conclusion on this question, in 2000, after balancing the competing interests that would arise from a federal indictment brought against a sitting President, OLC concluded that “a sitting President is immune from indictment as well as from further criminal process” and that the Constitution would thus prohibit an indictment “even if all subsequent proceedings were postponed until after the President left office.” 2000 OLC Opinion at 259. But OLC recognized that the interest in avoiding a statute of limitations bar by securing an indictment during the presidency “is a legitimate one,” and it noted the possibility that a court might equitably toll the statute of limitations to permit proceeding against the President once out of office.
“The American People re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate to Make America Great Again. Today’s decision by the DOJ ends the unconstitutional federal cases against President Trump, and is a major victory for the rule of law,” stated Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director. “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.”
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