New York: A federal judge has dismissed the election interference case against US President-elect Donald Trump granting the special prosecutor’s request citing the changed circumstances after he won the presidency. Special Prosecutor Jack Smith filed requests to the judges in the two cases he had filed against Trump relating to his alleged role in the January 6 riot and the removal of classified documents from the White House.
Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington accepted the request and dismissed all the charges against Trump in the election interference case. In the classified documents case, Judge Aileen Cannon had dismissed the case by Smith, who appealed against it to a higher court.
He wrote to the appeals court that he was withdrawing the appeal and dropping the charges and it is expected the court will comply. Smith said that he was dropping the case because of the Justice Department policy against prosecuting sitting Presidents but said he stood by the validity of the prosecution.
“The Government’s position on the merits of the defendant’s prosecution has not changed. But the circumstances have,” he wrote, noting that “a criminal prosecution is already underway when the defendant is elected president”. Trump had denounced the two prosecutions as politically-motivated weaponisation of the judicial system.
This removes the cloud of federal prosecution hanging over him as he prepares to become President again in January. In a local-level prosecution in New York, he was convicted of fraud for recording hush money payments to a porn star as legal expenses. The prosecutor has asked the judge to indefinitely postpone the sentencing while Trump’s lawyers have asked for dismissal.