US Justice Department is considering dropping two cases against Trump

This article was last updated on November 7, 2024

Canada: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…

US Justice Department is considering dropping two cases against Trump

According to American media, the Justice Department is in discussions with special prosecutor Jack Smith about dropping two criminal cases against Donald Trump. One is about the Capitol storming in January 2021, the other about the unlawful retention of secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

The reason is that the US justice system in principle does not prosecute a sitting president. Trump will become president for the second time on January 20. The lawsuits against him will certainly not be completed before then.

In addition, the transfer of government responsibility from the old to the new government must proceed smoothly, writes CBS News. This will be difficult if those criminal cases are still pending, because special prosecutor Smith must consult with Minister of Justice Garland on important decisions. Garland is a minister in the government of the current President Biden.

Trump says he is innocent in both cases. Two weeks ago, he called Smith “deranged” and said Smith should be deported. He also said he will fire Smith “within two weeks” once he is president again.

Delay

There have been delays in both cases. In the secret documents case, a judge ruled that Smith’s appointment as special prosecutor was unlawful. Smith’s appeal against this ruling is still pending.

At the time of the Capitol storming, Trump was still president. In that case, he relies on the immunity from prosecution that applies to sitting presidents.

Smith says that does not apply, because Trump was involved in the storming as a presidential candidate and not in his position as president. The Supreme Court has asked a lower court to determine what charges Trump could face in this case.

Other things

The other two cases still pending against Trump concern falsifying documents that showed that Trump hush money had paid porn star Stormy Daniels and about influencing the election results Georgia.

“Now that he has been re-elected, Trump will shrug it off,” said American expert Kenneth Manusama about the Stormy Daniels case. “A punishment can be determined, but once he becomes the sitting president, that punishment cannot be enforced against him,” Manusama said in News Hour.

He expects the case in Georgia to also come to an end. “That case will also not be able to move forward if Trump is president because he is immune from criminal prosecution while in office. And I don’t think we should be so naive as to think that anything will happen before the inauguration on January 20. “