The prosecutor throws in the towel and asks that the latest charges against Trump be dropped for the maneuvers to avoid accepting the 2020 defeat

A few weeks ago, Donald Trump’s judicial outlook looked very bad for him. He was waiting for a sentence – finally suspended – in the case of payments to the porn actress Stormy Daniels, which made him the first president to be convicted in a criminal case in US history. He had open cases in Georgia for the maneuvers to try to get the State authorities to “find” him 10,000 votes to win. And above all, he had in front of him the process directed by the fiscal especial Jack Smithable to convince a grand jury that there was more than enough evidence to prosecute Trump for all the maneuvers that drove not to leave the White House. Including the assault on the Capitol. That panorama, however, has now completely dissipated (at least for the next four years) and the path is completely clear for the president-elect.

This Monday, Jack Smith, whose department will become dependent at the beginning of January on one of Trump’s personal lawyers, and who is clear about the next steps, asked the judge to dismiss the charges and shelve the work of many months. The first blow was dealt in July by the Supreme Court, when it ruled that a president in office has almost total immunity for his “official acts,” which forced the case to be restructured and some evidence and witnesses to be forgotten. And the final blow was dealt at the polls.

“The department’s policy that sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted is categorical and does not depend on the seriousness of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s evidence, or the merits of the accusation, which the government fully supports,” he writes. Smith in his brief to the Court. “Based on the department’s interpretation of the Constitution, the government requests the dismissal without prejudice of the superseding charge.” Smith leave the door ajar so the charges could be refiled once Trump completes his second and final term, according to the Constitution. But it seems unlikely and too far away.

“The country has never faced a circumstance like this, in which a grand jury has returned a federal indictment against a private citizen and a criminal trial is already underway when the defendant is elected president,” the prosecutor says with resignation, who has endured pressure for 16 months, becoming the number one enemy of Trump’s legal team. Which will be, precisely, the one who takes charge of the Department of Justice in January. “In light of this unprecedented situation (..), the Department has determined that previous views on the constitutional prohibition of the federal impeachment and prosecution of a sitting president apply to this situation and that, as a result, this process must be dismissed before the accused takes office“says the motion.

Smith had until December to make a decision, but the fact that he did so so quickly appears to be a clear sign that he will conclude his investigation and leave office, before Trump’s team takes over the Department. of Justice and before being dismissed and reprimanded. Today he has also asked the appeals court in Atlanta, which is investigating Trump for not providing the documentation required since he left office, to conclude as well, but Georgia prosecutors do intend to continue prosecuting to Trump’s two co-defendants, Walt Nauta y Carlos DeOliverawho neither have immunity nor are protected by constitutional doctrine.

Last week, the New York judge who was supposed to hand down a sentence in the porn actress’s case also extended his decision indefinitely, which if it ever comes, will not be for the next four years.

Last year, Trump pleaded not guilty to federal charges of carrying out a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election, compiling a list of so-called “fake electors,” using the Justice Department to carry out “investigations of staged election crimes,” attempting to convince Vice President Mike Pence to “alter the election results” and promoting false claims during the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, “all in an effort to subvert democracy and remain in office.” can”.

The special prosecutor, before resigning, has only one task left: to present a final report. It is not expected that there will be new or unknown data, and it is not even clear that it will be able to do so before the new president takes office, since it has to go through different filters of the intelligence services, a process that sometimes Sometimes it can take weeks.