President-elect Trump scored his biggest legal victory to date on Monday, announcing that special counsel Jack Smith is seeking the dismissal of two federal cases he was facing.
The decision was based on the long-held view that sitting presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted while in office.
In one of the lawsuits related to President Trump's actions surrounding the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, a judge formally granted his removal from office. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said the dismissal was “without prejudice” and “consistent with the administration's understanding that the immunity granted to a sitting president is temporary and expires when he leaves office.” .
In layman's terms, this means that, in theory, new charges could be filed after President Trump leaves office at the end of his second term.
However, given the long hiatus and the fact that President Trump will be 82 years old by the end of his final term, this seems unlikely as a practical matter. If President Trump were to be replaced by another Republican, there would be no realistic chance of new charges being filed.
The situation highlights just how big of a personal prize Trump won by defeating Vice President Harris in this month's election.
Trump's victory, in addition to making him the first person since former President Grover Cleveland in the late 19th century to win non-consecutive terms, also all but ends the legal threats he faces.
The second case affected by Smith's move Monday focused on the discovery of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Charges include conspiracy to obstruct justice and 32 counts of intentional retention of national defense information.
Some court officials believed the Mar-a-Lago case was the most powerful indictment President Trump has faced.
But a judge appointed by President Trump dismissed the case in July, ruling that Smith was illegally appointed.
Smith's team was appealing the decision. The appeal will now be withdrawn.
The fate of two other criminal cases filed against Trump since he left office in early 2021 is also at stake.
Trump's team is expected to seek a dismissal of the New York case that convicted him in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records. The root of the issue was hush money paid to adult actress Stormy Daniels.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), the prosecutor in the case, has already acknowledged that sentencing will have to wait until the end of President Trump's second term. Trump's lawyers have argued that the lawsuit should be dismissed because it would hinder Trump's performance as president.
That leaves only state lawsuits related to Trump and his allies' efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. The case is also mired in pretrial strife as Team Trump seeks to force prosecutors and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) out of the case.
The bottom line is that Trump may not face consequences anywhere, even though he will leave a stain on the history books as the first convicted felon to be elected president.
Unsurprisingly, Mr. Trump and his allies emerged victorious following Mr. Smith's decision.
“These lawsuits, like every other lawsuit I have been forced into, are empty and lawless and should never have been filed,” Trump said in a social media post. Ta.
Allies agreed, with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) arguing that Smith's case “will be remembered as a dark chapter in weaponization.” Cotton echoed Trump's rhetoric about Smith, accusing prosecutors of being “fanatic” and “crazy.”
But for Democrats and liberal Americans more broadly, the real injustice is President Trump's apparent immunity from legal consequences for his actions.
Rep. Dan Goldman of New York said in an interview with CNN that the decision “establishes that Donald Trump is above the law,” adding that he has “completed no responsibility for the crimes the grand jury indicted.” There is a high possibility that they will avoid responsibility.”
Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), one of President Trump's chief tormentors during his time in the House, said Monday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and court system have “failed to uphold the principle that no one is above.” No,” he complained. It's the law. ”
“The people have the right to be better.”
Schiff suggested that the Justice Department under outgoing Attorney General Merrick Garland took too long to turn the wheels of justice against President Trump. Garland appointed Smith in late November 2022, more than two years after President Biden defeated Trump.
As with many other things in modern American life, opinions on Trump's criminal liability are largely divided along partisan lines. But the belief that he is guilty extends far beyond Democratic partisans and media critics.
a New York Times/Siena College Poll In April, Americans were asked whether they believed President Trump had “committed a serious federal crime.”
Fifty-four percent of registered voters said he did so, while 34% said he did not. 88% of Democrats and 52% of independents held this view, but only 19% of Republicans thought the same.
72% of Republicans said Trump did not commit such crimes.
For now, one thing is clear.
Trump's election victory also freed him from the real threat of legal punishment.
The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.
