The strategy of Donald Trump’s legal defense of delaying his pending criminal cases until after the November 5 elections has been successful: after his victory at the polls it is likely that the four cases that the president faces elected will come to nothing when he takes office on January 20.
Democratic candidate Kamala Harris is not the only prosecutor whom Trump has defeated in last Tuesday’s presidential elections. Special prosecutor Jack Smith has his days numbered and just over two months to decide what to do with the two federal cases that remain open against the next US president. In the country you cannot prosecute a sitting president. In addition, Trump has already made it clear that he will fire Smith in “two seconds” as soon as he comes to power – and the new attorney general will probably drop the charges against the magnate.
The two federal cases that Smith has on the table are that of the classified documents that were found in Trump’s mansion in Mar-a-Lago and that of the assault on the Capitol, which the former president allegedly instigated after losing the 2020 elections. The first case has 42 charges, but it has long been frozen after the judge in charge, Aileen M. Cannon, dismissed the charges against Trump arguing that Smith was improperly appointed as a special prosecutor. Smith appealed the ruling and now has to decide what to do with his appeal.
The second case, in which he is charged with four criminal charges for attempting to overturn the 2020 election result, was also at a standstill after the US Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity. The high court, with a conservative majority, recognized Trump’s partial immunity and caused a headache for the judges and prosecutors who try him: Trump has immunity for acts framed in his “constitutional authority”, but not for those considered “not officers.” Discerning where the presidential ends and where the personal begins is what has paralyzed the case.
The special prosecutor, in the spotlight
Smith had been able to mobilize the Justice machinery again last August, charging Trump with four other crimes that fell outside presidential immunity. At the time, Trump called him “unhinged.” Smith’s entire effort to pursue the cases now faces many obstacles and the deadline of January 20, 2025, when the defendant is scheduled to return to command of the United States.
The special prosecutor could drop the charges himself or resign and let the current Justice Department close them. The other option would be to continue with the cases until Inauguration Daywhen Trump takes office and orders its dismissal. Finally, if US Attorney General Merrick Garland gives his approval, he could release a final comprehensive report of the evidence against Trump. The details have never been made public, since neither trial was held.
A few hours after Trump was declared the winner in this week’s elections, Smith began analyzing how to end the two federal cases against the president-elect, sources close to him explained to the newspaper. Washington Post. This Friday, the special prosecutor has asked the Washington court to suspend all filing deadlines in the federal case of the assault on the Capitol. In the document presented to that court, Smith states that the defendant “is expected to be certified as president-elect on January 6, 2025 and take office on January 20, 2025.” Therefore, it asks the court to “annul the remaining deadlines” to have time “to evaluate this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course to follow in accordance with Department of Justice policy.”
December 2 is the date he has asked the Justice Department to submit “a status report or otherwise inform the court of the outcome of its deliberations.” This move is a clear sign that Smith is looking for a way to end the two lawsuits against Trump. Although, at the moment, Smith has not made a similar request regarding the Mar-a-Lago classified papers case.
Right now, Smith may not be so worried about that second case, but rather his own fate. The president-elect had promised to take revenge on his enemies when he returned to the White House and Smith occupies a privileged place on the magnate’s blacklist. “Dear Jack Smith: Hire a lawyer,” Mike Davis, a Trump ally whose name is being floated as a possible legal advisor in the incoming administration, has warned him.
The first president convicted
On Tuesday night, Trump made history by becoming the first US president with a final criminal conviction pending sentencing. Once again, Trump pushes the limits of judicial power into uncharted territory. After being found guilty last May of the 34 criminal offenses in the case of bribery of porn actress Stormy Daniels, Judge Juan M. Merchan had to hand down the sentence against Trump – found guilty for recording as “legal expenses” the payments to the actress with whom he had sex so that she would remain silent and thus avoid a scandal that could influence the 2016 electoral campaign, which represented a violation of the electoral financing law. The maximum sentence Trump faces is four years in prison.
However, last September, the judge decided to postpone the date of publication of that sentence until after the elections due to the possible influence it could have on the presidential elections last Tuesday. The New York judge wanted to avoid any shadow of a doubt about a possible partisan use of the judicial case against Trump, who has spent the entire campaign denouncing that he is a victim of political persecution, a slogan that has served to further mobilize his supporters. yours.
The new appointment for the sentence to be announced was set for next November 26, although now it is not known exactly what will happen to the case. Before that day, Merchan had set November 12, next Tuesday, as the deadline to decide whether presidential immunity would apply. Some experts consider it likely that the judge will opt for a lighter sentence that does not involve imprisonment, but rather probation with periodic visits to court. The sentence could even be invalidated by the fact that defense lawyers doubt that a court could sentence an elected president.
The Georgia state case is the latest in Trump’s judicial rosary. It accuses the former president and 19 other collaborators of 41 serious crimes for trying to interfere in the electoral results of the state of Georgia, where Joe Biden won the elections in 2020. For the moment, the case remains frozen while it is resolved whether prosecutor Fani Willis is disqualified for a romantic relationship with another prosecutor. Assuming that Willis could continue with the case, he would most likely end up falling like the others because Trump is president again and, therefore, enjoys immunity.
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