The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case has canceled any remaining court deadlines after prosecutors said they need time to assess “the appropriate course going forward” after the Republican’s presidential victory this week.
This is infuriating.
Nothing has changed re: Trump’s status as a regular citizen, and the DOJ’s memo only applies to sitting presidents. The DOJ and Jack Smith were prosecuting criminal conduct. In winding down these cases now, they are voluntarily refusing to prosecute someone they believe is a criminal when their role was to do so on behalf of the people. Likewise, the judge is voluntarily abandoning his duty to expediently seek justice on behalf of the people.
The proper course here would be to continue to treat him as a regular criminal, not delay anything, and on January 20th, decide then if you want to quit.
This preemptive compliance is doing 90% of Trump’s work in creating an authoritarian state where he is above the law. Don’t just roll over, you hacks, do your jobs.
There’s actually a good video by Legal Eagle on this issue. Basically if they keep the cases open, the new DOJ can dismiss the case with prejudice in January (since it will be impossible to finish the case before due to appeals processes and similar), and if they drop the charges without prejudice, the crimes will be past statute of limitations in 4 years, so it’s impossible for trump to face any consequences now. But if they stop the prosecution now, at least they might have a chance to do a concluding report a la the Mueller report just better, documenting the crimes and evidence. It’s shit but theoretically the best outcome possible now.
The problem is it’s not clear who could enforce a judgment on him. If DC police tried to arrest him, they wouldn’t get through the door. Him being president makes it very difficult, as a practical matter, to actually punish him in any way.