An appeals court on Tuesday agreed to dismiss charges related to Donald Trump s alleged mishandling ofclassified documents, effectively ending Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of Trump.
Smith’s office on Mondaysought to dismiss charges, first made in June 2023, against Trump on allegations that he willfully retained national defense information after he left office and that he directed the deletion of security video at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Additionally, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan granted the special counsel’s office’s request on Monday to drop charges against Trump for his attempts to rig the 2020 election.
A request for comment on the decision on Tuesday night was not immediately answered by a Trump lawyer. Smith’s office representative chose not to comment.
The materials case against Trump was first dropped by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in July, citing illegality in Smith’s appointment as special counsel. In August, federal prosecutors requested that the case be restored by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
The resolution of such cases Due to a long-standing Justice Department principle that states a sitting president cannot be prosecuted, two of the four criminal charges against Trump were anticipated after Trump was re-elected.Smith and his team had intended to step down prior to Trump’s inauguration, according to an NBC News report from last week. Before resigning, he is supposed to submit an official report on his allegations.
The two pending criminal cases are also in limbo: the Georgia election tampering case and the New York case concerning hush money payments.
In a case in New York, where Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records connected to a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels just weeks before the 2016 presidential election, the president-elect’s lawyers have argued that Trump should be protected from sentencing by presidential immunity.
Last week, a New York judge decided to postpone Trump’s sentencing in that case, which was originally set for November 26.
Additionally, Trump and his supporters’ accusations of conflict of interest against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis have delayed the Georgia case.
Trump has continued to argue that Smith s prosecutions were politically motivated and pleaded not guilty in both of the special counsel’s cases.
“These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought,” Trump wrote in apost on Xon Monday. ” It was a political hijacking, and a low point in the History of our Country that such a thing could have happened, and yet, I persevered, against all odds, and WON.”
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!