How did Trump’s claim that voters would elect him manage to silence some of his legal troubles?

WASHINGTON (AP) — One year later January 6, 2021US Capitol attack, Attorney General Merrick Garland in question The Justice Department was determined to hold all perpetrators “at every level” accountable for the “assault on our democracy.” This bold statement will not apply to at least one person: Donald Trump.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s move to drop the case on Monday federal election interference lawsuit A verdict against Trump means jurors will likely never decide whether the president-elect is criminally liable for his attempts to cling to power after losing the 2020 campaign. Decision to move away from election accusations and separate secret documents case The move against Trump marks an abrupt end to the Justice Department’s unprecedented legal efforts that once threatened Trump’s freedom but appeared to galvanize his supporters.

The dismissal of lawsuits accusing Trump of endangering American democracy and national security also eliminates the most serious legal threats he faces as he returns to the White House. It was the culmination of a months-long defense effort to delay the trial at every step and use criminal allegations to Trump’s political advantage, giving voters rather than jurors the final say.

“We’ve always known that the rich and powerful have an advantage, but I don’t think we would ever believe that someone could give it all up,” said Stephen Saltzburg, a George Washington University law professor and former Justice Department official. “If ever there was a Teflon defendant, it’s Donald Trump.”

While prosecutors have left the door open to the possibility that federal charges could be refiled after Trump leaves office, that seems unlikely. Meanwhile, Trump’s presidential victory has raised questions about the future of two-state criminal cases against him in New York and Georgia. Trump was supposed to be sentenced on Tuesday 34 felony convictions in New York hush money caseHowever, it is possible that the sentence could be postponed until after Trump leaves office, and the defense is pressing to dismiss the case entirely.

Smith’s team has emphasized that their decision to drop the federal cases is not a reflection of the merits of the charges, but an acknowledgment that they cannot move forward under the Justice Department’s long-standing policy that sitting presidents cannot face criminal charges. criminal prosecution.

Trump’s presidential victory “has pitted two fundamental and compelling national interests against each other: On the one hand, the Constitution requires that the President not be unduly hindered in the discharge of his burdensome responsibilities. . . and, on the other, the Nation’s commitment to the rule of law,” prosecutors wrote in court documents.

The move, coming just weeks after Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, underscores just how big his personal stake is in the campaign, in which Trump has turned his legal troubles into a political rallying cry. Trump accused prosecutors of pressing charges to keep him out of the White House and vowed to take revenge on those he sees as enemies if he wins a second term.

“If Donald J. Trump had lost an election, he may well have spent the rest of his life in prison,” Vice President-elect J.D. Vance wrote in a social media post Monday. “These investigations were always political. “Now is the time to ensure that what happened to President Trump never happens again in this country.”

Republican leader Mitch McConnell and some other Republicans followed the Jan. 6 attack by Trump supporters that injured more than 100 police officers. Those who voted for Trump’s acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial He said it’s up to the justice system to hold Trump accountable.

The lawsuit, filed Jan. 6 last year in Washington, alleges an increasingly desperate criminal conspiracy to subvert the will of voters following Trump’s 2020 loss, and Trump using the mob of angry supporters who attacked the Capitol as a “tool” in his pressure campaign. was accused. then Vice President Mike Pence and prevent the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.

Hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters, many of whom said they felt called to Washington by Trump, either pleaded guilty or were convicted by a jury on federal charges in the same courthouse where Trump was tried last year. As the trial date approached, officials at the courthouse within sight of the Capitol were busy making plans for the influx of reporters expected to cover the historic trial.

But Trump’s claim enjoyed absolute immunity from the prosecution quickly bound the case through appeal all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled in July Former presidents have broad immunity from investigationand sent the case back to the trial court to decide what claims could proceed. However, the case was dismissed before the court had a chance to do so.

Accused Trump in other indictment brought to Florida improper storage His Mar-a-Lago mansion contains sensitive documents related to nuclear capabilities, he enlists aides and lawyers to help him preserve records requested by investigators, and he cavalierly displays the Pentagon’s “attack plan” and secret map.

But U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon He dismissed the case in July on the grounds that Smith was appointed illegally. Smith appealed to the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals but dropped the appeal Monday. Smith’s team said it would continue its fight in the appeals court to revive charges against Trump’s other two defendants because “no provisional immunity principle applies to them.”

Jurors in New York spent weeks last spring hearing evidence in a state trial alleging Trump’s scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election. Hush money payment to porn actress Who said the two had sex? While New York prosecutors recently expressed openness to delaying the sentence until Trump’s second term, Trump’s lawyers are fighting to have the conviction thrown out entirely.

A trial in Georgia is unlikely to be held while Trump is in office in a state lawsuit accusing him and more than a dozen others of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. The case has been on hold since the appeals court agreed to review whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be removed from office. romantic relationship with the special prosecutor he hired to prosecute the case.

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Associated Press reporter Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed.