Special Counsel Moves to Dismiss Federal Cases Against Trump

Briefing|Special Counsel Moves to Dismiss Federal Cases Against Trump

Jack Smith, the special counsel who charged Donald Trump with 44 criminal counts across a pair of felony cases, asked two separate courts today to drop the charges against the president-elect. Within hours, one of the cases was dismissed.

In both filings, Smith said that the move was a necessity because of the Justice Department’s policy that it is unconstitutional to prosecute sitting presidents. He made clear that it had nothing to do with the strength of the cases. Smith had accused Trump of illegally plotting to subvert the 2020 election and unlawfully holding on to scores of classified documents after he left the White House in 2021. Judge Tanya Chutkan, who oversaw the election case, officially dismissed the proceeding today.

“This is all but the final nail in the coffin,” my colleague Alan Feuer, who covered the Trump cases, told me. “Smith is acknowledging that prosecutors won’t be able to keep the cases going with Trump set to return to the White House.”

Smith and his team are planning to complete their work, and file a final report, in the next two months. The president-elect had vowed to fire Smith within “two seconds” of taking office and to launch investigations into the prosecutors who pursued him along with other perceived enemies.

However, Smith did not definitively close the door on the prosecutions. In both filings, his requests were for dismissals “without prejudice,” leaving open the possibility that the charges might be refiled after Trump leaves office for the second time.

In other politics news:

• Trump has tapped billionaire financiers to help him deliver on his promise to boost the economy for blue-collar workers.

• Natalie Harp, a 33-year-old former far-right cable host, is poised to become the primary conveyor belt for information to and from the president.

• Trump is keeping secret the names of the donors who are funding his transition effort, a break from tradition.

• Senator Mitch McConnell, the outgoing Republican leader, is planning to focus on issues that could put him at odds with Trump.

• Gov. Gavin Newsom said California would fill the void if Trump ended the electric vehicle tax credit.

• In California’s heartland, some Latino migrants support Trump’s immigration policies.

• Democrats are soul-searching in the Southern battlegrounds.