Special Counsel Jack Smith this week moved to dismiss the criminal charges against President-elect Donald Trump in two federal cases based on his alleged interference in the 2020 election and his retention of classified documents after leaving office in 2021. That step is consistent with the Justice Department's longstanding policy against prosecuting sitting presidents. Even without that policy, the Justice Department under Trump surely would have put a swift end to the cases.
As Trump tells it, these cases were politically motivated attempts to prevent his election to a second term, epitomizing the "weaponization of government" that he and his supporters frequently decry. But unlike the New York criminal case against Trump, which resulted in 34 felony convictions based on an iffy legal theory aimed at punishing him for his hush payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, the indictments that Smith obtained alleged serious misconduct that plausibly violated several federal laws.
