A federal judge on Friday granted special counsel Jack Smith’s request to provide him more time to look into the “unprecedented circumstances” of his election-related case against President-elect Donald Trump following his Tuesday election victory.
In court papers filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Smith wrote that “as a result of the election” held on Tuesday and because of the expectation that Trump will be “certified as president-elect” on Jan. 6, 2025, and inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2025, he is asking the court to vacate several pretrial deadlines that were ordered.
Smith said that his team needs to “assess the unprecedented circumstances and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy,” according to the court filing.
Next month, Smith will file a report or will inform the court of his office’s deliberations on the matter, the court papers say, which added that Trump’s attorneys have not objected to their request after conferring with them.
Minutes later, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan granted Smith’s request, vacating all remaining pretrial deadlines in the case. She ordered the special counsel’s office to file a status report by Dec. 2.
Earlier this week, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice (DOJ) told The Epoch Times that the department has a longstanding policy of not prosecuting sitting presidents in response to questions on whether it will drop the Smith cases.
Fresh from Trump’s win, several top Republicans in Congress and Trump’s former attorney general, Bill Barr, have asked the DOJ and local district attorneys to end their prosecutions.
“Further maneuvering on these cases in the weeks ahead would serve no legitimate purpose and only distract the country and the incoming administration from the task at hand,” Barr told Fox News earlier this week. “The public interest now demands that the country unite and focus on the challenges we face at home and abroad. Attorney General Garland and all the state prosecutors should do the right thing and help the country move forward by dismissing the cases.”
The election case was one of two brought by Smith against Trump. The other, which focuses on Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents, remains in limbo after a federal judge in Florida dismissed it on grounds that Smith was not lawfully appointed by the DOJ as special counsel, although Smith appealed her decision.
It’s also not certain what will become of a case brought in Fulton County, Georgia, after Trump and his co-defendants appealed a judge’s decision earlier this year that allowed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain after it was found she engaged in a relationship with her special counsel, Nathan Wade. The Georgia Court of Appeals took up the appeal, putting a hold on the criminal proceedings.
Willis, a Democrat, was elected to another term in office as Fulton County’s top prosecutor on Tuesday, according to projections from The Associated Press. She has not commented on the Trump case after his victory, and officials in Fulton County have not returned an Epoch Times request for comment.
Trump still faces a sentencing date later in November in New York after a jury convicted him on 34 charges of falsifying business records in connection to payments his campaign made in the 2016 presidential election. It’s not clear whether the judge who is presiding over the case will move to reschedule the sentencing date or drop the charges.
In July, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that presidents should have some degree of immunity from prosecution for official acts and duties. Months later, Smith retailored his indictment and argued that Trump’s activities after the 2020 election were not done in his official capacity but were instead personal.
When Trump officially retakes the presidency, he could use his authority to dismiss the two cases brought by Smith. However, he has less capacity in the state-led criminal cases against him.
Trump had said on multiple occasions that if elected, he would dismiss the Smith cases and terminate his employment. On social media, the president-elect has said he believes that Smith should be imprisoned.
When asked by radio host Hugh Hewitt in October whether he would pardon himself or fire Smith, Trump responded: “It’s so easy. It’s so easy. I would fire him within two seconds.”
From The Epoch Times