Jack Smith asks judge to throw out deadlines in Trump 2020 election case

Smith announced his plans to drop two criminal charges against Trump earlier this week following a statement from a spokesman for the special counsel’s office. common memo on the Justice Department’s longstanding policy prohibiting the agency from prosecuting a new or sitting president.

“The Government respectfully requests that the Court vacate the remaining time in the pre-trial schedule to allow the Government time to evaluate this unprecedented circumstance and determine an appropriate course moving forward consistent with Department of Justice policy,” Smith wrotenoting that Trump will be inaugurated on January 20, 2025.

The special counsel’s office said it would provide Presiding U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan with a status report or “otherwise inform the court” of its final decision regarding the future of the case by Dec. 2, but all signs point to dropping the case due to longstanding precedent that ruled out any such accusation would be against a sitting president.

Chutkan granted Smith’s motion almost immediately after it was filed Friday, saying the government “should submit a progress report indicating the proposed course of action in this case going forward.”

According to an October 2000 memo, Justice Department policy, dating back at least two decades, clearly states: “Indicting or prosecuting a sitting President would unconstitutionally undermine the ability of the Executive Branch to perform its constitutionally mandated functions.”

Smith, an appointee of Attorney General Merrick Garland, brought criminal charges against Trump last year over Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. Smith charged Trump with four felonies, including obstruction of official proceedings and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Trump has pleaded not guilty and said the case was a “witch hunt” orchestrated by the Biden administration to hurt his re-election chances.

The case has been in legal limbo since the Supreme Court ruled this summer that Trump has partial immunity from prosecution for official actions taken while in office, as well as matters related to his rally near the White House on January 6, 2021 and the riots that followed at the US Capitol before Trump’s speech ended.

During the rally, Trump urged his supporters to “peacefully” march to the Capitol to voice their disappointment over Trump’s 2020 election loss to Biden.

Smith has since refiled his case, arguing that Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn the election were unrelated to his official duties.

In the summer of 2023, Smith also accused Trump of taking highly sensitive documents with him when he left the White House in January 2021, claiming that Trump hid classified documents in his Mar-a-Lago home and showed them to government officials. not authorized to access them. see them. Smith charged Trump with 40 felonies, 32 of which included “willful possession” of government documents under the Espionage Act.

The secret documents case against Trump had already been dismissed by a federal district court judge, although the special counsel’s office sought to revive the case in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Both cases are unlikely to proceed because Trump has promised to fire Smith within “two seconds” if the special counsel remains at the Justice Department when Trump takes office in January. Trump called Smith “crazy” and a “Trump-hating thug.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Meanwhile, House Republicans are calling on Smith save all his records since he was the special prosecutor for these cases.

“The Office of the Special Counsel is not immune to transparency or accountability for its actions,” Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) told Smith in a letter calling for better ties between the Justice Department and the Justice Department. The White House regarding Trump’s affairs and information about the FBI’s involvement in them.