Special counsel Jack Smith seeks pause in Trump’s election interference criminal trial
Special Counsel Jack Smith makes a statement to the press in Washington, D.C., in 2023. Francis Chung / POLITICO via AP file
WASHINGTON — Special counsel Jack Smith has asked the judge in Donald Trump’s election interference criminal trial to hit pause on the process and give him a month to formally request how to move forward — likely the first step in ending the prosecution.
In a filing on Friday, Smith said that “as a result of the election” the prosecution “espectfully requests that the Court vacate the remaining deadlines in the pretrial schedule to afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance.”
The Justice Department has a longstanding policy against prosecuting sitting presidents. The DOJ had begun assessing how to end the cases against Trump after he won the election, sources told NBC News this week.
Trump was indicted in the case in Aug. 2023, but significant delays have kept it from going to trial. Trump has denied all wrongdoing.
Trump was charged in connection with the effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat and accused of fraud and trying to disenfranchise American voters. Separately, he was charged with mishandling classified documents in a Florida case that was ultimately dismissed over objections to Smith’s status as a special prosecutor.