An appeals court on Tuesday agreed to dismiss allegations of misconduct against Donald Trump. confidential documentsEffectively ends Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of Trump.
Smith’s office on Monday he first tried to dismiss the charges against Trump in June 2023, alleging that he withheld national defense information after leaving office and that he directed the deletion of security video at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
The special counsel’s office also filed a motion Monday to dismiss charges against Trump for trying to overturn the 2020 election. given on monday.
A Trump attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the decision Tuesday evening. A spokesman for Smith’s office declined to comment.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon was first was fired A dossier was filed against Trump in July, alleging that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was illegal. Federal prosecutors asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in August to reopen the case.
The outcome of those cases — two of the four criminal cases against Trump — was expected after Trump’s re-election due to a longstanding Justice Department policy. This was reported by NBC News last week Smith and his team planned to resign before Trump’s inauguration. He is expected to file a formal report on his charges before resigning.
The remaining two criminal cases, the New York hush money case and the Georgia election interference case, are also in limbo.
The president-elect’s lawyers have argued that presidential immunity protections should protect Trump from conviction in the New York case, in which he was found guilty. 34 felonies Falsified business records of hush money payments to adult film star Stormi Daniels weeks before the 2016 presidential election.
A New York judge ruled last week postponed Trump’s sentencing in the case was previously set for November 26.
The case of GeorgiaHe was arrested on charges of conflict of interest brought against Willis by Fulton County District Attorney Fanny Willis, as well as by Trump and his allies.
Trump has continued to argue that Smith’s prosecution was politically motivated and has pleaded not guilty in both of the special counsel’s cases.
“These cases, like all the others I have been forced into, are frivolous and illegal and should never have been dismissed,” Trump wrote. Type in X on monday. “It was a political robbery and a low point in our Country’s History that such a thing could happen, and yet I persevered against all odds and prevailed.”