An appellate court on Tuesday granted special counsel Jack Smith‘s request to terminate his appeal against Donald Trump related to classified documents, bringing to a close the second of the Department of Justice‘s two criminal prosecutions against the president-elect.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued the brief decision one day after Smith’s prosecutors asked the court if they could withdraw their appeal in the case, citing Trump’s election victory and the DOJ’s longstanding policy that it does not prosecute sitting presidents.
Prosecutors had said in their motion that they would continue their appeal against Trump’s two co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira. The appellate judges did not object.
Smith brought more than three dozen charges against Trump in Florida last year alleging the president-elect unlawfully retained national defense information. Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the charges this summer, and Smith was in the process of appealing her decision before the 11th Circuit when Trump won the election.
Smith filed a similar dismissal motion on Monday in Washington, D.C., in which he asked a judge to toss out Trump’s election interference charges there, a request Judge Tanya Chutkan granted hours later.
Smith had brought four charges in Washington, alleging Trump illegally sought to overturn the 2020 election and defrauded the public regarding the election results. Trump was in the process of fighting the charges, but recent Supreme Court rulings also significantly stalled the case.
The appellate court’s decision on Tuesday marked the end of the court activity in both federal criminal cases for Trump, though Smith could still produce a detailed special counsel report before he leaves the DOJ.
Smith had been appointed special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 and brought the two indictments against Trump as a result of his inquiry.
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Prosecutors wrote in their court motions seeking an end to both cases that they had no other alternative after Trump’s election victory because of the DOJ’s Watergate-era policy that it does not prosecute sitting presidents.
Chutkan dismissed the Washington case without prejudice, meaning it could be brought again when Trump’s term ends, though statutes of limitations would complicate any revival attempts. Cannon’s dismissal was with prejudice, meaning it cannot be filed again.