Special Counsel Jack Smith spoke to reporters in his office in Washington about the 37 federal indictments returned by the grand jury that indicted former President Donald Trump on charges of misrepresentation of classified documents and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Announced. USA June 9, 2023.
Leah Millis | Reuters
A judge on Friday suspended proceedings in the criminal election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump, a move that reflects the anticipated conclusion of the prosecution.
The suspension was requested by special counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting Trump in federal court in Washington, D.C.
Smith told Judge Tanya Chutkan early Friday that by clearing the schedule for the remaining pretrial deadlines, Smith wanted his team to assess the “unprecedented circumstances of Mr. Trump’s election victory” and to comply with the law. He said this would give him time to decide on the appropriate future direction. Ministry of Justice policy. “
“By December 2, 2024, the government intends to file a status report or otherwise notify the court of the results of its deliberations,” Smith wrote in Friday’s filing.
Prime Minister Chutkan upheld that deadline with an order nullifying other deadlines.
Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this week was seen as a harbinger of death for Smith’s prosecution of Trump.
on wednesday, NBC News Department of Justice officials Trump is considering how to conclude the election lawsuit and a separate criminal case against him before he takes office.
President Trump has said he intends to fire Smith and is expected to force the Justice Department to end the prosecution.
Justice Department policy also prohibits the department from prosecuting the president while he is in office because of the department’s position in the executive branch of government. The attorney general, who heads the Department of Justice, is appointed by the president.
Former U.S. president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump walks toward the press as 12 jurors begin deliberations in his criminal hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City, May 29, 2024. Mr. (
Doug Mills AFP | Getty Images
Mr. Trump is being indicted before Mr. Chutkan on charges related to the Republican’s efforts to reverse his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Mr. Trump also faced Smith in federal court in Florida on charges related to preserving classified government records after leaving the White House in early 2021 and for obstructing efforts by authorities to recover those documents. He was indicted by Mr.
The case was dismissed in July by Judge Eileen Cannon, a Trump nominee, who found that the Justice Department’s appointment of Smith as special counsel violated the U.S. Constitution’s Appointments Clause.
Mr. Smith appealed this denial to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
But the appeal, like the criminal election case in Washington, is believed to be doomed by Trump’s election victory.
Mr. Trump is also being indicted in Georgia state court in Atlanta on racketeering and other charges related to efforts to overturn Mr. Biden’s 2020 White House victory.
But Trump is not scheduled to go to trial in the case while he is president, even though the Justice Department has no jurisdiction over the charges brought by the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.
The president-elect is also scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 26 in New York state court in Manhattan on about 30 criminal counts of falsifying business records related to a 2016 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. is.
Trump could be sentenced to prison in this case, but he is not expected to serve any such sentence while in office.
He is being prosecuted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in the hush money case.
