US prosecutors cite Trump’s return to White House in January, longstanding policy not to prosecute sitting presidents.
United States special counsel Jack Smith has asked a judge to dismiss a federal case accusing President-elect Donald Trump of seeking to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
In a court filing on Monday, US prosecutors cited Trump’s return to the White House in January after his successful 2024 re-election campaign and a longstanding Department of Justice policy not to prosecute sitting presidents.
“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,” the filing reads.
It said the Justice Department had reasoned that Trump’s “prosecution must be dismissed” before his inauguration on January 20 of next year.
“That prohibition is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Government stands fully behind,” the prosecutors wrote.
The move represents a remarkable shift by the special prosecutor, who obtained indictments against Trump in two cases accusing him of crimes that threatened US election integrity and national security.
The latter case deals with the alleged mishandling of secret government documents.
Separately on Monday, prosecutors also announced that they were dropping their appeal of a federal judge’s dismissal earlier this year of the classified documents case — delivering another victory to Trump and his incoming administration.
‘Major victory’
In the election interference case, the Republican was accused of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Democratic President Joe Biden.
Those efforts culminated in the January 6, 2021, storming of the US Capitol building in Washington, DC, by a mob of Trump supporters seeking to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s victory.
The election case was once seen as one of the most serious legal threats against Trump as he vied to reclaim the White House.
Trump, who defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 5 election, had argued he was the victim of political “persecution” and pleaded not guilty last year to four federal charges in the case.
He has been expected to dismiss Smith, who brought the charges, when he takes office next year.
Trump’s team hailed Monday’s decision by US prosecutors to drop the case as a “major victory”.
“Today’s decision by the DOJ ends the unconstitutional federal cases against President Trump, and is a major victory for the rule of law,” his communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
The Justice Department policy invoked in its court filing dates back to the 1970s.
It holds that a criminal prosecution of a sitting president would violate the US Constitution by undermining the ability of the country’s chief executive to function.
US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, must approve the request from prosecutors.
