Special prosecutor Jack Smith, in charge of the federal case against Donald Trump for inciting the storming of the Capitol and attempting to obstruct the certification of the results of the 2020 election, requested that the charges against the Republican be dropped. After Trump’s victory on Nov. 5, Smith had already begun working on how to end the two federal cases he had opened against the now-president-elect. The special prosecutor had only two months before Trump’s inauguration and could no longer stand trial.
Smith thus sets aside a case that did not even have a trial date due to the constant work of the tycoon’s defense to postpone the case (like the other three) until after the election. Smith’s decision is not a capitulation to Trump, but rather an attempt to clear the way for prosecutors to bring charges against him again when Trump finishes his term and no longer enjoys presidential protection.
Although on the table there is always the possibility that Trump will do something that has never been seen before in the American justice system: use the presidential power of pardon to pardon himself and thus nullify this possibility.
The decision to dismiss the Washington trial records comes after the judge in Stormy Daniels’ case announced last Friday that she was postponing a decision on Trump’s sentencing indefinitely. The New York trial was the only one of four to take place and ended with a guilty verdict against Trump for all 34 serious crimes with which he was accused. It remains to be seen what the sentence will be, which could be up to four years in prison.
In the Washington case that Smith dismissed, Trump was charged with four crimes: two related to obstructing the certification of the 2020 election results that took place in Congress on January 6, one of conspiring to attempt to preventing the counting of election votes and another for attempting to deprive citizens of a right protected by federal law, including the right to vote.
