The Justice Department Is Dropping Its Criminal Cases Against Trump

Special Counsel Jack Smith is dropping the Justice Department’s criminal election interference and classified documents cases against Donald Trump, according to motions filed Monday in D.C. court. 

The cases were unlikely to see a trial or resolution given Trump’s victory in November’s election, and the incoming administration’s imminent control of the Justice Department. Monday’s motions by Smith mark the end of the government’s furious and fraught saga seeking accountability for Trump’s involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. 

The future of the cases — especially the election inference case — were also in question given a July Supreme Court decision granting Trump, and all presidents, immunity from prosecution for “official” acts taken while in office.

In July, Florida Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the DOJ’s classified documents case against Trump, claiming Smith’s appointment as a special counsel was inherently unconstitutional. Trump stood accused of wrongfully retaining and mishandling hundreds of classified documents following the end of his first term. 

Trump has vowed retribution on Smith and other prosecutors involved in criminal cases against him. As previously reported by Rolling Stone, the president-elect has spent his years out of office building an army of attorneys prepared to punish members of the DOJ and other law enforcement organizations involved in the myriad of investigations into Trump. 

“There are almost too many targets to keep track of,” one Trump adviser told Rolling Stone.

Smith is expected to step down as special counsel before Trump is inaugurated in January, but it’s unlikely to prevent Trump’s Justice Department — which will likely be helmed by former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi — from going after him and those who worked on the cases against Trump.