Special Prosecutor Jack Smith dismissed the case against Trump because of the Justice Department’s policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted.
From Smith’s papers:
As a result of the election held on November 5, 2024, defendant Donald J. Trumpis scheduled to be inaugurated as president on January 20, 2025. It has long been the Department of Justice’s position that the U.S. Constitution prohibits federal prosecution and subsequent criminal prosecution of a sitting president. But the Justice Department and the nation have never faced a situation where a federal indictment against a civilian was returned by a grand jury and a criminal indictment was already in progress when the defendant was elected president.
Faced with these unprecedented circumstances, the Office of the Special Counsel consulted with the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), whose interpretation of constitutional issues such as those raised herein is binding on Department of Justice prosecutors. After careful consideration, the Department has determined that the OLC’s previous opinion regarding the Constitution’s prohibition on federal prosecution and prosecution of a sitting President applies to this situation and, as a result, this indictment should be dismissed before the defendant takes office.
This is an expected result. Trump is an example of how money and political power can affect the justice system. All the lawyers on cable news and social media proclaiming that the rule of law will take care of Trump and that justice will be served are 100% wrong.
Their belief in the rule of law was religious and misguided.
The rule of law depends on money and power, and court cases against Trump were bound to die down as soon as it became clear that he would be the nominee. When the Republican Party ignored the rule of law, it opened the door for Trump to skate over all charges, and now that the president essentially has full immunity, this country will never find itself in a situation like this again.
Trump not only ignored it, he changed presidential immunity forever.
