Calls Grow for Jack Smith, Local Prosecutors to End Trump Cases

Multiple Republicans have called on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and local district attorneys to end their prosecutions of President-elect Donald Trump after he won the 2024 election on Tuesday.

“The American people have spoken: the lawfare must end,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) wrote in a post on X. “I call on Attorney General Garland, Alvin Bragg, and Fani Willis to immediately terminate the politically motivated prosecutions of President Donald Trump,” he said, referring to Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, and Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney.

“Further maneuvering on these cases in the weeks ahead would serve no legitimate purpose and only distract the country and the incoming administration from the task at hand,” Barr said. “The public interest now demands that the country unite and focus on the challenges we face at home and abroad. Attorney General Garland and all the state prosecutors should do the right thing and help the country move forward by dismissing the cases.”

Elaborating, he said that the U.S. electorate has “rendered their verdict on President Trump, and decisively chosen him to lead the country for the next four years.”

“They did that with full knowledge of the claims against him by prosecutors around the country and I think Attorney General Garland and the state prosecutors should respect the people’s decision and dismiss the cases against President Trump now,” Barr said.

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Trump is slated to appear before a New York judge later this month to face sentencing after he was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to payments he made during the 2016 election. He was convicted by a jury in May, although he had pleaded not guilty and denies the allegations.

However, with the election result, it’s not clear whether Trump will receive any sentencing after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that presidents should have some degree of immunity from prosecution for official acts.

It’s unclear what the judge, Juan Merchan, will do following the election. Merchan has already pushed back the sentencing date twice.

Trump faces charges in Fulton County for allegedly trying to illegally overturn the 2020 election results, although that case is currently in limbo after the president-elect and several co-defendants appealed a judge’s ruling to allow Willis to remain on the case. The Georgia Appeals Court is currently scheduled to take up a Trump appeal next year, and the case is currently on pause.

Willis, a Democrat, was elected to another term in office as Fulton County’s top prosecutor on Tuesday, according to projections from The Associated Press, which also called the presidential race in favor of Trump.

In two federal cases brought against him, Trump faces criminal charges in Washington, brought by special counsel Jack Smith, over his alleged activity following the 2020 election and the breach at the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. A separate case that was brought by Smith in Florida over his handling of classified documents was dismissed by a federal judge earlier this year, although Smith had appealed it.

When Trump officially takes office, he could use his presidential authority to dismiss the two cases brought by Smith, who was appointed by Garland. However, he has less latitude in dealing with the cases brought in New York City and Fulton County.

In public events and on social media, Trump has often said that the various criminal cases brought against him were attempts to interfere in the 2024 election.

The Epoch Times contacted the DOJ and the Fulton County District Attorney’s office for comment but received no replies by publication time.