Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith asked a judge Monday to dismiss four felony charges against President-elect Donald Trump related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election—marking a formal request to end the landmark prosecution before Trump retakes office.
Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to the media about an indictment of former President Donald Trump, ... [+]
Smith said the charges against Trump must be dismissed before he’s inaugurated in January due to the DOJ’s decades-old policy of not prosecuting sitting presidents.
The filing said the DOJ and the country “have never faced the circumstance here, where a federal indictment against a private citizen has been returned by a grand jury and a criminal prosecution is already underway when the defendant is elected President.”
On Nov. 8—three days after Trump was elected the next president—U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan paused all deadlines in the federal case upon Smith’s request, and Smith said he would provide a status report on Dec. 2 about how he would proceed.
In the request to pause the case, Smith said the government needed “time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy.”
This story is breaking and will be updated.
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