Special Counsel Jack Smith makes a statement to reporters about the 37 federal charges returned by a grand jury in an indictment of former U.S. President Donald Trump on charges of unauthorized retention of classified documents and conspiracy to obstruct justice as Smith speaks at his offices in Washington, U.S. June 9, 2023.
Leah Millis | Reuters
Special counsel Jack Smith has filed a motion to drop all four felony charges against President-elect Donald Trump in connection with his effort to overturn his 2020 presidential election in the lead-up to the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S Capitol.
Trump was first indicted on four felonies in August 2023: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. The case was then put on hold for months as Trump’s team argued that Trump could not be prosecuted.
The indictment marked an extraordinary moment in American history — the first-ever accusation that a president sought illegally to cling to power.
The dismissal also marks a historic moment. Fifty years after Richard Nixon was forced by lawmakers from both parties to resign the presidency amid allegations of criminal conduct, half of American voters will return Trump to the presidency despite his own serious charges of criminal misconduct in office.
“The Government’s position on the merits of the defendant’s prosecution has not changed. But the circumstances have,” Smith’s office wrote in Monday’s filing, adding that it is seeking to dismiss the charges ahead of Trump’s inauguration, in line with the Justice Department’s longstanding position that it can’t charge a sitting president.
“That prohibition is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Government stands fully behind,” the special counsel added.
The Supreme Court handed Trump an early victory in the case in July with its ruling on presidential immunity. But a new federal grand jury indicted Trump on the same four charges again in August, alleging that Trump’s false claims about mass voter fraud during the 2020 election were “unsupported, objectively unreasonable, and ever-changing” and that Trump “knew that they were false.”
Publicly, Trump has never conceded that his election claims were, in fact, false, and he pleaded not guilty in the case.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement, “Today’s decision by the DOJ ends the unconstitutional federal cases against President Trump, and is a major victory for the rule of law. The American People and President Trump want an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and we look forward to uniting our country.”
Following Trump’s re-election as president, the special counsel’s office was caught between “two fundamental and compelling national interests,” Smith’s team wrote. “On the one hand, the Constitution’s requirement that the President must not be unduly encumbered in fulfilling his weighty responsibilities … and on the other hand, the Nation’s commitment to the rule of law and the longstanding principle that “[n]o man in this country is so high that he is above the law.”
Smith and his team plan to resign before Trump takes office, one source told NBC News earlier this month. Special counsel regulations require Smith to file a report to the attorney general explaining his charging decisions before he steps down.
Many Jan. 6 defendants have told judges they lament that they were “gullible” enough to fall for Trump’s falsehoods, which were echoed by the president-elect’s allies, Republicans in Congress and conservative influencers on social media.
The Justice Department is focused on arresting the “most egregious” rioters before Trump returns to office. The president-elect has said he will pardon some undetermined portion of Jan. 6 rioters, whom he’s called “warriors,” “unbelievable patriots,” political prisoners and “hostages.”
He is expected to walk through the lower west tunnel, where some of the worst violence of Jan. 6 took place, to be sworn in as president on Jan. 20, 2025.