US special counsel moves to dismiss Trump’s 2020 election interference case 

United States special counsel Jack Smith has asked a judge to dismiss a federal case accusing President-elect Donald Trump of seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

In a court filing on Monday, US prosecutors cited Trump’s return to the White House in January after his successful 2024 re-election campaign and a longstanding Justice Department policy not to prosecute sitting presidents.

“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,” the filing reads.

It said the Justice Department had reasoned that Trump’s “prosecution must be dismissed” before his inauguration on January 20 of next year.

“That prohibition is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Government stands fully behind,” the prosecutors wrote.

The move represents a remarkable shift from the special prosecutor, who obtained indictments against Trump in two separate cases accusing him of crimes that threatened US election integrity and national security.

In the election interference case, Trump was accused of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 vote that he lost to Democratic President Joe Biden.

Those efforts culminated in the January 6, 2021, storming of the US Capitol building in Washington, DC, by a mob of Trump supporters seeking to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s victory.

The case was once seen as one of the most serious legal threats against Trump as he vied to reclaim the White House.

The Republican, who defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 5 election, had argued he was the victim of political “persecution” and pleaded not guilty last year to four federal charges in the case.

He had been expected to dismiss Smith, the special counsel who brought the charges, when he takes office next year.

The Justice Department policy invoked by prosecutors on Monday to dismiss the case dates back to the 1970s.

It holds that a criminal prosecution of a sitting president would violate the US Constitution by undermining the ability of the country’s chief executive to function.

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, must approve the request from prosecutors.