Why is US prosecutor Jack Smith dropping charges against Trump?

The federal criminal cases against Trump relating to 2020 election interference and mishandling of classified documents will no longer go ahead.

A federal judge in Washington, DC, has dismissed a criminal case filed against President-elect Donald Trump in 2023 in relation to interference in the result of the 2020 election. The case against Trump ended after US Special Prosecutor Jack Smith requested that it be dismissed on the basis of a US Department of Justice policy that prohibits prosecuting a president while in office.

A separate federal criminal case relating to the mishandling of classified documents, also filed by Smith, was previously dismissed on July 15 by US District Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida. She cited constitutional grounds. In her decision, Judge Cannon declared that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith violated the Constitution.

Smith had appealed this to the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, but has now also asked for the case against Trump to be dismissed. The appeal in regards to his co-defendants will continue.

In a six-page submission to the court on Monday, Smith’s statement read: “It has long been the position of the Department of Justice that the United States Constitution forbids the federal indictment and subsequent criminal prosecution of a sitting President.”