A federal appeals court has granted special counsel Jack Smith’s request to dismiss his challenge over Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, ending the federal cases against the president-elect.
On Tuesday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted Mr. Smith’s request to dismiss the appeal without prejudice.
Mr. Smith had appealed a federal judge’s decision to dismiss his charges accusing Mr. Trump of mishandling and retaining classified documents after he left office in 2021.
Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed the case in July, reasoning Mr. Smith was unlawfully made special counsel as he was not confirmed by the Senate and was a private citizen when given the case.
The special counsel had been pursuing an appeal in the case when Mr. Trump won the 2024 election.
Mr. Smith moved Monday to dismiss his pending appeal and his other charges against Mr. Trump, accusing him of election fraud. The special counsel cited the long-standing Office of Legal Counsel opinion that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted.
It was a stunning reversal. Just last month, days before Election Day, Mr. Smith asked the federal judge overseeing the election challenge in Washington to not dismiss the case.
Mr. Smith and his team had been prosecuting Mr. Trump in Washington, D.C., over his contest of the 2020 election results and actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol.
Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee, granted that request in the D.C. election fraud case later on Monday, also dismissing it without prejudice.
The case had been delayed for months awaiting a Supreme Court ruling on immunity, which came in July and undercut some of Mr. Smith’s accusations against the former president.
The 6-3 decision by the high court found that a president has immunity for core official acts and presumed immunity for some other official conduct, but no immunity for unofficial acts. It was seen as a win for Mr. Trump because it delayed criminal proceedings against him while lower courts grappled with which charges could stand.
Mr. Smith adjusted the indictment by removing some official actions from the allegations, such as communications with Justice Department officials, but he kept all four original charges: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
Because Mr. Trump was indicted within the statute of limitations for the charges, they can be refiled when he eventually leaves office.
On Tuesday, the 11th Circuit did the same in granting Mr. Smith’s request, officially ending both federal prosecutions against Mr. Trump.
In one of his filings, Mr. Smith said the cases needed to be dismissed by Inauguration Day.
Because the cases were dismissed without prejudice, it is possible the charges could resurface when Mr. Trump leaves office in January 2029.
The president-elect is still awaiting sentencing in Manhattan, where a jury convicted him in May of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign. The sentencing is postponed while the judge decides whether to dismiss the case.
Mr. Trump is also being prosecuted in Georgia on racketeering charges related to his challenging the 2020 election results in that state.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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