Just days after Donald Trump announced in November 2022 that he would again be running for office, Jack Smith was appointed as special counsel, and a legal whirlwind set its course against the former – and now future – president. Yesterday, November 25, Smith filed for the charges to be dropped, signifying that, for now, the federal cases against 45 are over, but that doesn’t mean that Trump or his allies will not spend the next four years litigating. In fact, it seems that the lawfare campaign is ready to move beyond the personal to the political.
Smith Bows Out
Jack Smith filed two motions to dismiss cases against Trump with federal judges, one pertaining to alleged obstruction of justice surrounding his actions on January 6, 2021, and the other over claims that he mishandled classified documents. In neither filing did Smith fault the merits of his cases but rather cited longstanding Department of Justice policy to not prosecute a sitting president.
US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan granted the motion. She did so “without prejudice,” meaning that if the political winds seem fair to any future administration (after all, the decision to federally prosecute is always a political one), the charges could be refiled. After the spectacular backfire of the legal tsunami against Trump during this recent election cycle - and the electorate’s clear rejection of the efforts - it seems highly unlikely that such charges will be resuscitated after Trump leaves office in 2029.
In the second case, related to mishandled documents, Smith filed a motion to dismiss his appeal. Smith had challenged Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision this summer, accepting Trump’s lawyers' argument that Smith was illegally appointed. With no appeal, that case is now also dead in the water.
Trump Celebrates
In reaction to the news, Trump took to social media to celebrate, writing:
“These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought. Over $100 Million Dollars of Taxpayer Dollars has been wasted in the Democrat Party’s fight against their Political Opponent, ME. Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before.”
He continued, after referencing the cases against him out of New York, that “It was a political hijacking, and a low point in the History of our Country that such a thing could have happened, and yet, I persevered, against all odds, and WON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
These state-brought legal travails are not yet over, but the writing is on the wall.
Too Soon?
While the past and future president may be out of the legal weeds on a personal level, it seems that the active and motivated opposition may just be warming up.
It has been argued by both Donald Trump and his advocates that the numerous charges he faced were part of a coordinated effort to derail his presidential ambitions. Now that such efforts are moot, the new battlefield looks set to be a full-court press against his administrative agenda.
Hundreds of legal efforts were launched against Trump during his first administration, many of them successful. But this time around, his opponents have had time to prepare for what may turn out to be an onslaught of obstruction and frustration.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the quiet part out loud with regards to the preparation taking place. He said:
"Fortunately, and unfortunately, we have four years of ‘Trump-1.0’ under our belts. We know what to expect, and we won’t be caught flat-footed: What happens next is up to the president-elect. If he doesn’t violate the law, and we hope he won’t, we won’t need to take action… But based on our experience with the first Trump administration and the president-elect’s own words, we expect that won’t be the case."
Between January 2017 and January 2021, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed 97 lawsuits against the Trump administration, according to the AG office website. Ferguson is now preparing to become governor, and his hand-picked replacement, Nick Brown, is ready to carry that torch. The governor-elect told Fox News that he and his team had been working "for many months” to “prepare for this." He continued:
"Obviously, Trump’s [first] administration turned out to be a train wreck for our country and his efforts to trample on the rights of Americans and Washingtonians on our environment, reproductive freedom; the list goes on."
And Mr. Brown appears ready to continue Ferguson’s efforts. He said, “I have no interest in needlessly creating or seeking out conflict with the incoming Trump administration." "But if [the Trump team takes] actions that violate our laws or harm our people, I am ready and willing to use all available legal options to protect the residents of Washington State from such unwanted intrusions," he warned.
And the Washington lawmaker is not alone. His New Jersey counterpart, Matthew Platkin, also warned of incoming challenges. "As the president, he has the right to implement the policy agenda that he sees fit for the country. What he does not have the right to do is to violate the laws of this nation [or] this state…" he said.
"I do not wake up every day dying to sue the president of the United States, but I also will not hesitate to do so when it’s in the best interests of our residents."
We’ve Only Just Begun?
Democrat governors head 23 states, and that’s not to mention Republican states that might disagree with elements of the upcoming Trump agenda. A coalition of blue-state leaders has already emerged, called the Governors Safeguarding Democracy. Headed by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Colorado’s Jared Polis, the group is ready to start throwing lawsuit after lawsuit against the incoming administration. As LNN reported:
“The organization has two main pillars, the Reproductive Freedom Alliance (RFA) and the Governors Safeguarding Democracy (GSD) initiative. Going one mouse click further into the RFA, and we come to the raison d’être, which states: ‘The Reproductive Freedom Alliance is a nonpartisan coalition of 23 Governors committed to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom.’”
Make no mistake, this “non-partisan” outfit that lists not a single Republican in its membership is the perfect vehicle for launching multi-state lawsuits against any and all initiatives that go against its ideology.
Donald Trump may have the personal lawfare operation firmly in the rearview mirror, but the legal efforts against his upcoming presidency are dead ahead. And it seems there’s no off-ramp in sight.
