President-elect Trump's criminal indictment for conspiring to destroy the 2020 election results has ended.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Monday. approved immediately Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a motion to dismiss the case following President Trump's election victory.
“Therefore, the court will grant the government permission to dismiss this case,” Chuktan wrote.
She dismissed the allegations without prejudice, leaving open the theoretical possibility that the government could bring charges again after Trump leaves office.
The two-page opinion, however, charged President Trump with four federal felonies over his efforts to overturn his election loss to President Biden, which culminated in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. It officially marks the end of a historic indictment filed last year.
Earlier in the day, Smith moved to drop both criminal cases against Trump, in line with the Justice Department's policy against prosecuting sitting presidents.
“After careful consideration, the Department has determined that OLC's previous opinion regarding the Constitution's prohibition on federal prosecution and prosecution of a sitting president applies to this situation and, as a result, this charge was dismissed before the defendant took office. “I decided it was necessary,” Smith wrote. He referred to the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel.
Mr. Smith is similarly seeking to dismiss his appeal to reinstate Mr. Trump's criminal charges in Florida. In Florida, the former president is accused of mishandling classified documents and obstructing government efforts to retrieve them.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has not yet approved the dismissal, but it is expected to do so. The court process allows the clerk to complete the signature without requiring a judge's approval.
