Special counsel Jack Smith is asking an appeals court to halt his appeal against President-elect Trump for his alleged mishandling of classified and top-secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
The motion was filed by Smith in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, and comes months after U.S. Judge Aileen Cannon in July dismissed the case against Trump, which centered on his handling of allegedly classified documents after leaving the White House in 2020.
Smith appealed that decision to the 11th Circuit Court, and the new motion filed Wednesday does not drop his request. Rather, it asks the court to hold the appeal against Trump in “abeyance”— effectively keeping the appeal on the docket, but halting it from being advanced in any capacity.
The filing from Smith comes just two weeks after Trump’s election to a second term, and is in keeping with longstanding Department of Justice policy against bringing criminal charges against a sitting president.
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A U.S. Coast Guard boat patrols outside the Mar-a-Lago Club on November 8, 2024, across from West Palm Beach, Florida (Photo by Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images) (Getty Images)
And it comes just days after Smith moved to vacate all deadlines in a separate 2020 election interference case against Trump in Washington, D.C.
While the charges in both cases have not been officially dropped, they appear to be heading in that direction. Smith said in his filing Wednesday that he plans to give an updated report on the official status of both cases against Trump on Dec. 2.
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Special Prosecutor Jack Smith addresses reporters after his grand jury has issued more indictments of former President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The motion is likely a welcome relief for Trump, who had vowed to fire Smith “within two seconds” if re-elected — ridding him of both a yearlong legal foe and the criminal charges Trump faced following his loss in the 2020 election.
Smith was tapped by Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 to investigate both the alleged effort by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election, as well as Trump’s keeping of allegedly classified documents at his residence in Florida after leaving the White House in 2020.
Fox News reported earlier this week that the Department of Justice had been looking to wind down its criminal cases against Trump in Washington, D.C., and Florida, citing an Office of Legal Counsel memo that states it is against Department of Justice policy to investigate a sitting president for federal criminal charges and is a violation of the separation of powers doctrine.
Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to members of the media at the Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
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The news comes after Fox News confirmed that Smith will be stepping down before Trump takes office.