“Why can’t Donald Trump’s federal cases be paused for four years?”
— Sheryl Keshishian, Wynnewood, Penn.
Hi Sheryl,
Jack Smith addressed this in his motion to dismiss Trump’s federal election interference case, which he incorporated into his motion to dismiss his appeal in the classified documents case.
Smith noted the Justice Department’s policy against prosecuting sitting presidents. But he observed that Trump’s situation was different, because the president-elect was charged before taking office. So Smith asked the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel whether the charges could be “held in abeyance” until Trump left office. He was told that the policy against prosecuting sitting presidents applies to Trump’s situation. “Accordingly, the Department’s position is that the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated,” Smith informed the court.
But while Trump’s federal cases are gone, the question of whether his two state cases (in New York and Georgia) can be paused is an open one. His lawyers have cited the DOJ’s reasoning to bolster their arguments that the state cases should also be dismissed, but state prosecutors aren’t bound by DOJ policy. We may learn in the weeks before Trump is inaugurated what the courts have to say about this.
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This article was originally published on MSNBC.com