The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has dropped its against President-elect Donald Trump.
The case related to Trump’s alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election result.
It was dismissed in a Washington D.C. court this week. The judge allowed it to be dropped “without prejudice,” meaning Trump could face action over the same allegations in the future.
It comes after the President-elect’s sentencing for a New York criminal case was delayed indefinitely.
Lawsuits
There have been four major court cases brought against Trump since his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.
In May, a New York court found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
He was the first former U.S. President to be convicted of a crime.
Last week, the judge in that case delayed sentencing indefinitely.
Another case was over the alleged storage of classified documents at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, after he left the White House. This case was dropped by a Florida judge in July.
Trump’s lawyers argued that U.S. Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, the lead lawyer on the case, was ineligible to serve in his role because of a constitutional issue.
The remaining two cases related to his alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
One was federal, also led by Smith, and the other was filed in the state of Georgia. The Georgia case is still active.
The DoJ case against Trump
U.S. elections are held in November. The official result is certified in early January, and the winner is inaugurated as President later that month. In the interim, the outgoing President is still the U.S. head of state.
Joe Biden won the 2020 U.S. election on 7 November 2020, and was inaugurated on 20 January 2021.
After the election but while he was still President, Trump and several of his allies were accused of campaigning to overturn the result, and alleged attempts to pressure officials to intervene.
On 6 January 2021, supporters of Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol aiming to stop the certification of the 2020 Presidential election results.
The DoJ then launched an investigation into Trump, led by Smith.
In August 2023, it filed charges alleging Trump “perpetrated… criminal conspiracies” to obstruct legitimate proceedings and deny U.S. citizens their voting rights.
Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges, which related to both Trump’s alleged actions in the days following the election, and on 6 January.
Dismissal
While in office, U.S. Presidents have immunity from being prosecuted on criminal charges.
This immunity is not specifically outlined in law, but has been established by DoJ decisions in the 1970s and 2000s.
The rationale is that it would be too disruptive if the head of state were to try to run the country and participate in a criminal trial at the same time.
The DoJ referenced its previous decisions in the filing to dismiss the case “without prejudice”.
“The Government’s understanding [is] that the immunity afforded to a sitting President is temporary, expiring when they leave office,” the court decision said.
This suggests the DoJ plans to re-open the investigation when Trump leaves office in January 2029.
Earlier this year, Trump’s lawyers fought the DoJ’s investigation in the U.S. Supreme Court. They argued he couldn’t be tried over his alleged attempts to overturn the election because they were official actions taken as President.
The court found Presidents have “at least a presumptive immunity” from being tried for official actions taken while in the White House.
“Presumptive immunity” means prosecutors must prove that taking a President to trial for official actions wouldn’t interfere with White House “authority and functions” going forward.
