Special counsel moves to dismiss election interference lawsuit against Trump

WASHINGTON — Special counsel Jack Smith asked a federal judge on Monday to dismiss a lawsuit accusing President-elect Donald Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 election, citing the Justice Department’s longstanding policy protecting presidents from prosecution while in office.

Special counsel Jack Smith. J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press, file

The move, described in court documents, marks the end of the Justice Department’s landmark effort to hold Trump accountable for what prosecutors called a criminal conspiracy to cling to power before his supporters’ attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. .

Citing the department’s longstanding guidance that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted, Justice Department prosecutors said the department’s position “is that the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant takes office.”

“This prohibition is categorical and does not affect the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s evidence, or the merits of the investigation, which the Government fully supports,” prosecutors wrote in Monday’s court filing.

The decision was expected after Smith’s team began considering how to end both the 2020 election interference case and the separate classified documents case following Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. The Justice Department believes Trump can no longer be prosecuted under longstanding policy that sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted.

Trump called both cases politically motivated and He vowed to fire Smith As soon as he took office in January.

The 2020 election lawsuit, filed last year, was once seen as one of the most serious legal threats facing the Republican vying to retake the White House. But that quickly stalled amid a legal battle over Trump’s claims of immunity from prosecution for his actions in the White House.

In July, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled for the first time that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution and sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to determine what allegations, if any, in the indictment can be prosecuted.

In the weeks before this year’s election, the case was starting to regain momentum in the trial court. In October, Smith’s team filed a lengthy brief laying out new evidence it planned to use against him at the hearing, accusing Smith of “using criminal charges” in an increasingly desperate effort to subvert the will of voters after his loss to President Biden.

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