{"id":423999,"date":"2024-11-26T13:51:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-26T13:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=423999"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"DOJ-courts-dismiss-election-interference-case-against-Trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/DOJ-courts-dismiss-election-interference-case-against-Trump\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ, courts dismiss election interference case against Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><p dir=\"ltr\">(The Center Square) \u2013 A federal court approved Special Counsel Jack Smith&#8217;s Monday request to\u00a0dismiss his federal election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump, due to the Department of Justice\u2019s policy against prosecuting sitting presidents.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><p dir=\"ltr\">Smith&#8217;s filing for dismissal \u201cwithout prejudice\u201d emphasized the temporary nature of the president\u2019s prosecutorial immunity, leaving the door open to post-presidential prosecution \u2013 even of the same case.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cPrior opinions concerning the Constitution\u2019s prohibition on federal indictment and prosecution of a sitting President apply to this situation,\u201d\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/25402417-jack-smith-filing-in-jan-6-trump-case\">wrote<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0Smith in a filing acquired by CNN. \u201cAs a result this prosecution must be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In August 2023, a grand jury indicted Trump on four felony counts for his alleged efforts to interfere with Congress\u2019s certification of the 2020 presidential election and the lawful transfer of federal power.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><p dir=\"ltr\">Over the summer, the United States Supreme Court ruled presidents are absolutely immune to acts committed as president for core duties, presumptive immunity for official acts within the outer perimeter of official responsibility, and no immunity for unofficial acts.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Smith\u2019s filing said the case against Trump remains strong and could continue after his term, with Trump\u2019s immunity as president not counting against the statute of limitations; were the case to be dismissed \u201cwith prejudice,\u201d it would not have been able to be brought back or refiled.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThat prohibition [on prosecuting sitting presidents] is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government\u2019s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Government stands fully behind,\u201d wrote Smith. \u201cAlthough the Constitution requires dismissal in this context, consistent with the temporary nature of immunity afforded a sitting President, it does not require dismissal with prejudice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><p dir=\"ltr\"><em>This story was updated to reflect the dismissal request&#8217;s approval by a federal court.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(The Center Square) \u2013 A federal court approved Special Counsel Jack Smith&#8217;s Monday request to\u00a0dismiss&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23812],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-423999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423999\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}