Trump prosecutor Jack Smith resigns from Justice Department, Politico reports By Reuters

(Reuters) – U.S. special prosecutor Jack Smith, who led the federal case against Donald Trump on charges of mishandling classified documents and thwarting his 2020 election defeat, has resigned as the Republican president-elect prepares to return to the White House. , Politico reported Saturday.

Smith resigned from the Justice Department on Friday, according to court documents filed in federal court, Politico reported.

Smith, a former war crimes prosecutor, prosecuted two of the four criminal cases Trump has faced since leaving office, but saw them dropped after a Trump-appointed judge in Florida dismissed one and the US Supreme Court With three judges appointed by Trump. – found that former presidents enjoy sweeping immunity from prosecution for official acts. Neither case went to trial.

After Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election, Smith dropped both cases, citing a longstanding Justice Department rule against prosecuting sitting presidents , that Trump’s imminent return to the White House renders them untenable.

Smith’s departure is another sign of the collapse of criminal cases against Trump, which could end without any legal consequences for the incoming president, and has sparked a backlash that has helped fuel his political comeback.

Smith’s resignation from the Ministry of Justice was expected. Trump, who has often called Smith “crazy,” has said he would fire him immediately after taking office on Jan. 20 and suggested he might pursue Smith and others investigating him when he returns to office.

Trump became the first sitting or former US president to face criminal charges in 2023, first in New York, where he was accused of trying to hide money paid to a porn star during the 2016 presidential campaign in an attempt to keep the materials illegal and overturn his loss in 2020, a campaign that launched on January 6, 2021 Attack on the US Capitol: Georgia prosecutors have also charged Trump with trying to overturn his election loss in that state.

TRUMP DECLARED POLITICAL MOTIVATION

Trump has denied wrongdoing and blamed the charges as politically motivated attempts to damage his campaign.He raised millions in campaign donations from courthouse appearances and used the cases to create a powerful narrative that the political establishment was colluding against him and his supporters.

The Justice Department has defended the cases, saying they were handled by career prosecutors who acted without political influence.

Garland appointed Smith to lead the Justice Department’s twin ongoing investigations into Trump in November 2022, nearly two years after the Capitol attack.The move came days after Trump announced his campaign to return to the White House in 2024.

Garland, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden, said Smith would provide some independence in the highly sensitive investigation.

Smith returned to Washington from The Hague, where he prosecuted war crimes cases stemming from the Kosovo War of 1998-1999.

In The Hague, Smith was sentenced by former Kosovo Liberation Army commander Salih Mustafa, who ran the prison where the torture took place during the conflict.

A HISTORIC FIRST

The charges, the first federal charges against a former US president, accuse Trump of taking highly sensitive national security documents to his Florida resort and using false statements about voter fraud to try to disrupt vote counting and certification after his 2020 election loss.

“The attack on our nation’s Capitol on January 6, 2021, was an unprecedented attack on the seat of American democracy. It was fueled by a lie, designed to obstruct a cornerstone function of the country’s government,” Smith said Announcing the election indictment in August 2023, one of only two public appearances he made during his investigation.

Smith stood to end both prosecutions because it was clear Trump would be able to close them if he won the election.Both faced legal hurdles.

In the classified documents case, U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon in Florida, Trump’s nominee, dismissed all charges in July after ruling that Smith was improperly appointed as special counsel.

Smith’s office appealed that decision. Prosecutors dropped the complaint against Trump after his election victory, but signaled they would continue to revive charges against two Trump associates accused of obstructing the investigation.

The election case had been stalled for months while Trump’s lawyers invoked presidential immunity. In August, the U.S. Supreme Court largely sided with Trump, ruling that Trump cannot be held criminally liable for many of the official actions he took as president, prompting delays in the case.

Smith acknowledged in court filings that his team faced “unprecedented circumstances” after Trump defeated Democrat Kamala Harris in the election, and his office concluded that both cases could not proceed.

Trump was charged with falsifying business records in a crippling New York money trial that was delayed indefinitely after his election victory, and Trump’s lawyers are seeking to have it thrown out entirely.

The Georgia case, which also includes charges against 14 Trump allies, remains in limbo while an appeals court decides whether Attorney General Fannie Willis should be disqualified for having a romantic affair with a former top lawmaker.The case against Trump is unlikely to move forward is he still president?