As many anticipated might happen, the entire January 6 legal case against President-elect Donald Trump accusing him of conspiring to "interfere" with the 2020 election results is being dropped at the request of Special Counsel Jack Smith.
U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan granted Smith's motion to drop all J6 charges against Trump concerning his federal case to overturn the 2020 election results to grant himself a win over Joe Biden.
Smith has already taken steps to wind down two separate federal cases against Trump that he is currently overseeing now that Trump is president-elect. Trump is now the first-ever convicted felon to win the U.S. presidency.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is working with Smith to figure out how to end the D.C. case, especially after the recent Supreme Court presidential immunity ruling. The judge will now have to determine how much of that case, if any, can still proceed.
Illegitimate Special Counsel finally drops illegitimate charges ?? pic.twitter.com/NnEg92fsfl
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) November 25, 2024
(Related: Did you know that Smith, at one point, demanded private information about Americans who "favorited or retweeted" Trump's tweets?)
Will they go after Trump later?
Just hours after Smith filed his motion to drop the case, Judge Chutkan did so without prejudice, meaning it could still be reopened in the future.
Smith's filing states that prosecutors have not changed their mind concerning Trump's alleged crimes. It is simply a matter of the circumstances surrounding is looming trial that have changed – they apparently thought Kamala Harris was a shoe-in.
Trump's victory, Smith wrote, "sets at odds two fundamental and compelling national interests," Smith's motion reads, highlighting the constitutional requirement that a sitting president should not be "unduly encumbered" but committed to the rule of law.
The DOJ has had a longstanding policy in place that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted. Now that Trump is about to be a sitting president for a second time, the matter has changed substantially.
"This outcome is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant," Smith further clarified, emphasizing once again that he still, apparently, sees Trump as guilty.
The same day as the other filing, Smith also requested that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals dismiss his appeal in Trump's classified documents case, which was dismissed back in the summer by Judge Aileen Cannon. Another appeal involving two other defendants in the case, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, will still continue as planned.
Back in August, Smith filed what one media outlet described as "a slimmed-down superseding indictment" in the federal J6 case after SCOTUS ruled in favor of presidential immunity for "official acts."
Trump's four charges – conspiracy to defraud the U.S.; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights – all remain the same, though Smith's document was pared down due to the SCOTUS ruling.
Now that Trump is slated to reenter the Oval Office in January, Smith is basically having to drop everything, at least for now, which Trump spokesman Steven Cheung celebrated as "a major victory for the rule of law."
"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," Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.
On X / Twitter, someone suggested that perhaps it is time for Smith himself to be investigated, charged, found guilty, and jailed, along with "all his cohorts."
"It was a sham from day one," wrote another. "How many tax dollars were wasted on this? Jack Smith should be sued personally by the U.S. taxpayers."
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