Trump, who begins his second term as US president on January 20, was indicted in federal court in Florida for storing classified government files at his private Mar-a-Lago estate after his first term.
Smith explained that his actions were in line with the Justice Department’s usual practice of not prosecuting sitting presidents. Shortly before, Smith had requested that the case against Trump for attempted election manipulation be dropped for the same reason. In this case, Trump was charged with, among other things, conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstructing an official act.
With his comeback as US President, Trump is now likely to avoid these two federal proceedings as well as a third criminal case in the state of Georgia, which also concerns his attempts to manipulate the election. In a fourth trial, in which he was found guilty by a New York jury in May in connection with a hush money payment, the announcement of the sentence was postponed indefinitely last Friday.
ju/dja
