- Prosecutors sought to vacate remaining deadlines in Donald Trump’s election-interference case.
- Special counsel Jack Smith cited the “unprecedented circumstance” of Trump’s reelection.
- Justice Department policy says a sitting president cannot be prosecuted while in office.
A federal judge on Friday granted special counsel Jack Smith’s request to vacate all pending deadlines for President-elect Donald Trump’s federal election interference case.
The freezing of deadlines does not kill the case outright, but may be the first step toward Smith winding it down in advance of a Trump Department of Justice moving to dismiss, a legal expert told Business Insider.
Smith is halting work on the case in anticipation of it being dismissed once Trump takes office, said attorney John Moscow, a veteran Manhattan prosecutor who now litigates federal financial cases.
“Smith understands all existing deadlines are in furtherance of a trial which would take place after Trump was inaugurated,” he said. “That involves wasted time and effort on his part, and rather than wasting judicial resources he is bowing out gracefully.”
In asking to erase the deadlines, Smith’s office said in the motion filed earlier Friday he was moving “as a result of the election” held on November 5. Trump is expected to be certified as president on January 6 and inaugurated on January 20.
“The Government respectfully requests that the Court vacate the remaining deadlines in the pretrial schedule to afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy,” the filing read.
There is long-standing Justice Department policy that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted while in office.
“The American people have re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate to Make America Great Again,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement to Business Insider. “It is now abundantly clear that Americans want an immediate end to the weaponization of our justice system, so we can, as President Trump said in his historic victory speech, unify our country and work together for the betterment of our nation.”
The motion said Smith and his team “will file a status report or otherwise inform the Court of the result of its deliberations” by December 2.
“The Government has consulted with defense counsel, who do not object to this request,” the filing read.
A grand jury indicted Trump on felony charges alleging he subverted the 2020 election.
Over the last month, the federal judge overseeing the election interference case released a trove of prosecutors’ evidence against Trump.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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