A federal judge has dismissed a major case against Donald Trump that alleged he illegally sought to overturn the 2020 election.Jack Smith, the special prosecutor who brought the criminal case against Trump, had asked to have the charges dropped, citing a Justice Department policy that bans the prosecution of a sitting president. Judge Tanya Chutkan dismissed the case “without prejudice”, meaning the charges could be refiled after Trump finishes his second term. Smith has also asked to have his case charging Trump with improperly storing classified documents dismissed. Trump had pleaded not guilty in both cases. “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,” Smith wrote in a filing in the election case.“This outcome is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant,” Smith added in the six-page filing.After leaving office, Trump crossed into unprecedented legal territory for a former president, becoming the first to face a criminal trial and later conviction, in a case tied to a payment made to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels.At the beginning of the year, he faced nearly 100 criminal charges connected to the two federal cases and others. Then, the Supreme Court ruled this summer that he could not be prosecuted for “official acts” taken as president, and Trump went on to win the election a few months later. Now almost all those charges have been dropped, with a Georgia state prosecution currently on pause.Smith’s request in the documents case, also seeking a dismissal “without prejudice”, must also be approved by a judge,Trump posted on his social media site Truth Social that the federal cases were “empty and lawless, and should never have been broug …
