Special counsel moves to drop Trump’s 2020 election, classified documents cases
Donald Trump’s legal woes – or at least most of them – will not follow him back to the White House
Special counsel Jack Smith moved to abandon two criminal cases against Donald Trump on Monday, acknowledging that Trump’s return to the White House will preclude attempts to federally prosecute him for retaining classified documents or trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
The decision was inevitable, since long-standing Justice Department policy says sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution. Yet it was still a momentous finale to an unprecedented chapter in political and law enforcement history, as federal officials attempted to hold accountable a former president while he was simultaneously running for another term.
Trump emerges indisputably victorious, having successfully delayed the investigations through legal manoeuvres and then winning re-election despite indictments that described his actions as a threat to the country’s constitutional foundations.
“I persevered, against all odds, and WON,” Trump exulted in a post on Truth Social, his social media website.
He also said that “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”.
