Capitol Assault Case Paused!
Washington, Nov 8 (EFE).-
A United States federal judge granted a request by Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, who on Friday asked for a pause in the Capitol assault case against Republican Donald Trump to assess the situation after he won last Tuesday’s presidential election.
“The Government respectfully requests that the Court vacate the remaining deadlines in the pretrial schedule to afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy,” explained Smith’s request.
Smith’s request comes as the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has advised against prosecuting a sitting president, saying it would “impermissibly undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions.”
Trump, who defeated Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s election, is being prosecuted in the District of Columbia for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to President Joe Biden, and allegedly instigating the attack on Capitol Hill.
The Republican will be certified as the winner on Jan. 6 2025 and sworn in as President on Jan. 20.
Smith stressed that the prosecution had consulted with the defense lawyers and noted that they had not objected to the recess.
According to US media, Smith had already begun discussions with members of the Justice Department about how to proceed after the election in the two federal cases against Trump: the attack on the Capitol and the indictment in Florida for taking classified documents from the White House when he left office.
The Republican said during the campaign that on his first day he would fire prosecutor Smith and order the Justice Department to drop the cases against him, which he said were motivated by political persecution.
Trump’s lawyers were due to present their case to the judge on Nov. 21 as to why he should not be tried in Washington after the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents enjoy broad immunity from prosecution.
Smith said in his memo that he may file a report on the outcome of his deliberations on Dec. 2.
The special prosecutor has not yet requested a pause in the Florida trial. The case was dismissed on 15 July, but Smith asked an appeals court on 26 Aug. to reinstate it.
Trump is facing four parallel criminal trials: these two federal trials and two others in local courts in New York and Georgia.
The only one with a conviction is the one in New York for falsifying business records to cover up a payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, with whom he allegedly had an affair, to prevent her from damaging his 2016 campaign.
The president-elect’s lawyers are also expected to ask that his upcoming sentencing in New York on 34 counts of falsifying business records be thrown out and that his election meddling case in Georgia also be put on hold.
The goal of Trump’s team, according to US media, is to have all cases against him dismissed. In the New York case, they are also considering postponing indefinitely the hearing scheduled for the end of November.
Under the US Constitution, a president cannot pardon himself in a state prosecution, as is the case in New York, and in the case of Georgia, where he is accused of election interference, he could not be pardoned by the governor. EFE
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