Judge agrees
Two further criminal proceedings against Trump halted
Donald Trump can breathe a sigh of relief: on Monday, the judge in charge of the case agreed to dismiss the proceedings for election manipulation. A second criminal case concerning the storage of secret government documents by Trump has also been put on hold. However, it remains to be seen whether the proceedings will be resumed after his term in office as president.
"The government's position on the merits of the defendant's prosecution has not changed. But the circumstances have changed," it said in a letter of request from the Ministry of Justice to the court.
Renewed indictment possible after term of office
The public prosecutor's office emphasized that the decision had no substantive reasons. However, it is leaving open the possibility of bringing new charges as soon as the Republican is no longer president. The announcement of the sentence in the hush money proceedings against Trump was recently postponed indefinitely.
Proceedings 1: Attempted electoral fraud
Trump was indicted in Washington at federal level in connection with attempted electoral fraud and the storming of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. These were the most serious charges against the 78-year-old. If convicted, he would have faced decades in prison.
Special prosecutor Jack Smith revised the charges in the summer after the Supreme Court granted US presidents far-reaching immunity for official acts.
Proceedings 2: document affair
Trump also got away with a second case: the investigation into the document affair was also dropped. Two years ago, the FBI searched his property in Mar-a-Lago and confiscated numerous classified documents from his time in office - some with the highest classification level.
Trump always spoke of a "witch hunt"
With this decision, the Department of Justice has probably only beaten Trump to the punch. As the proceedings are at federal level, Trump would probably have stopped the investigations anyway after taking office and instructed the Department of Justice to drop the proceedings. Trump has always described the investigations against him as political persecution and spoke of a "witch hunt". Experts also believe it is possible that Trump could pardon himself once he is in office.
Trump was criminally charged several times after his first term in office. In addition to the proceedings in Washington, he was accused in the US state of Florida, for example, of unlawfully storing highly sensitive information from his time in office as president in private rooms. The judiciary also took action against him in New York and Georgia.
Initially, it looked as though Trump would spend much of the election year in court due to the numerous investigations against him. However, his lawyers managed to block the proceedings with legal dodges.
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