US drops Trump election interference case, with request to dismiss classified papers suit

Justice Department cases were first federal prosecutions against a former US president

President-elect Donald Trump and US special counsel Jack Smith. Reuters

The federal case against Donald Trump on election subversion charges was dismissed in Washington on Monday after US special counsel Jack Smith requested that it be dropped before the president-elect's January 20 inauguration.

District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who oversaw the case, formally marked the end of the current federal prosecution that accused Mr Trump of leading a conspiracy to obstruct the electoral process in certifying the 2020 election, when he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. He has pleaded not guilty to the four charges.

“It has long been the position of the Department of Justice that the United States Constitution forbids the federal indictment and subsequent criminal prosecution of a sitting president,” Mr Smith wrote to the court.

“But 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 under way when the defendant is elected president.”

Mr Smith also on Monday requested a Florida court to dismiss the federal case against Mr Trump on accusations of illegally possessing classified documents after his presidency ended in 2021, as well as obstruction of justice. Mr Trump also pleaded not guilty to those charges.

The president-elect responded to the news with posts on Truth Social: "These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought."

"Over $100 million of taxpayer dollars has been wasted in the Democrat Party’s fight against their political opponent, me. Nothing like this has ever happened in our country before."

The special counsel said that the Justice Department will still appeal to continue its Florida cases against co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira.

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Mr Smith two years ago to oversee the department's politically sensitive investigations and prosecutions against Mr Trump in a semi-independent role as special counsel. The classified documents case was the first federal prosecution of a former US president.

Mr Smith said earlier in November that his team needed time to evaluate how to handle its sensitive legal proceedings with the “unprecedented circumstances” of Mr Trump entering a new presidency.

His filing on Monday said he met the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel to discuss its older guidance against indictments and prosecutions of a sitting president, and they came to a conclusion that it applied to this case.

“As a result, this prosecution must be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated,” Mr Smith wrote. He said Mr Trump's legal team has been contacted about its decisions, to which it does not object.

The cases were delayed after the US Supreme Court ruled in July that former presidents have broad immunity for official actions made while in office, and by the Trump legal team's tactics of slowing legal proceedings.

Mr Smith insisted the dismissal of the election interference case is “not based on the merits or strength” of the charges.

“That prohibition is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of crimes charged, the strength of the government's proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the government stands fully behind,” he wrote.

Ms Chutkan granted Mr Smith's request to dismiss the case "without prejudice", which legal experts say allows the Justice Department to reopen the case after Mr Trump is no longer president. The option was mentioned in both Mr Smith and Ms Chutkan's legal filings.