Special counsel's last criminal case against Trump dismissed
Kyiv • UNN
The US Court of Appeals has dismissed the latest federal criminal case against Donald Trump for possession of classified documents. The case was closed with the right to resume after the end of his second presidential term.
A US court has dismissed the latest federal criminal case against Donald Trump, which claimed that the president-elect illegally kept secret documents, writes UNN with reference to the BBC.
Details
An appeals court approved a motion to dismiss the case from special counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday.
Earlier on Monday, a separate case that Trump illegally tried to cancel the 2020 election was also dismissed.
Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Meric Garland to investigate Trump, said in court petitions that he requested the suspension because the Justice Department is prohibited from prosecuting the incumbent president, not because of anything relevant to the merits of the cases.
The cases were dismissed with the right to reopen them ("without prejudice"), meaning charges can be brought again after Trump completes his second presidential term.
In his request to dismiss the election case, Smith wrote: "this result is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant.
Trump pleaded not guilty in both cases.
After leaving office, Trump moved into unprecedented legal territory for the former president, becoming the first to face a criminal trial and was subsequently convicted in a case involving payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
At the beginning of the year, he was charged with about 100 criminal charges related to two federal cases and others.
This summer, the Supreme Court ruled that the former president could not be prosecuted for "official actions" committed during his tenure, and Trump won the election a few months later. Now almost all of these charges have been dropped, and the case brought by the Georgia Attorney's office has now been suspended.
In the Georgia case, where Trump is also charged with undermining the election, an appeals court is considering overturning a previous decision allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fanny Willis to continue handling the case despite her relationship with the prosecutor she hired.
Trump wrote on his social network Truth Social that federal cases were "parony and lawless and should never have been brought.
Trump has promised to fire Smith as soon as he takes office in January. Smith has reportedly said he plans to retire next year.
The termination of consideration of cases marks the end of a long judicial epic.
In the classified documents case, Trump was accused of storing dozens of confidential documents at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, and obstructing government efforts to recover them.
The verdict in New York state related to the payment of Stormy Daniels was postponed indefinitely.
Since Trump was elected president in 2024, "his criminal problems have disappeared," former federal prosecutor Niama Rahmani said.
