Photo: Kent Nishimura Getty Images / Agence France-Presse Donald Trump
Agence France-Presse à Washington
Posted at 1:44 PM Updated at 2:55 PM
- United States
The special counsel who is investigating Donald Trump for withholding classified documents after he left the White House in 2021 announced Monday that he is dropping his case against the now-president-elect.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000Jack Smith had appealed a decision by federal judge Aileen Cannon in Florida to cancel the case in July on the grounds that the appointment of the special counsel in the case was unconstitutional. He is now dropping the appeal, under a Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president that is being applied to this “unprecedented” situation.
Shortly before that, in a case alleging illegal attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Jack Smith recommended Monday that the prosecution be dropped, also on the grounds that he was now the president-elect.
Donald Trump’s campaign immediately hailed it as a “major victory for the rule of law.”
Jack Smith is thus complying with a policy adopted more than 50 years ago by the Justice Department of not prosecuting a sitting president.
Although the case of a candidate being criminally prosecuted and then elected president is “unprecedented,” the department concluded in deliberations with the special counsel’s office that this policy “applies to this situation,” Smith explains in his request to Judge Tanya Chutkan in the case involving alleged electoral interference.
But he asked the judge to end the proceedings without prejudging what would happen next, which leaves open the possibility that they could be revived at the end of Donald Trump's term.
Jack Smith had already taken this path by obtaining from the judge, a few days after the November 5 vote that resulted in the Republican presidential candidate's victory, the cancellation of all deadlines on the calendar for this case.
He had justified his request by the need to give the prosecution “time to analyze this unprecedented situation and determine the course of action to follow in accordance with the policy of the Department of Justice.”
Back in the White House, Donald Trump could either appoint a new attorney general who would fire Jack Smith or simply order his Justice Department to drop the charges against him.
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