Judge dismisses charges against Trump in D.C. election case after Jack Smith request

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

55% : In addition to the two federal cases, Trump was charged by local prosecutors in separate cases in Fulton County, Georgia, and New York City.
54% : Smith was appointed special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 after Trump announced his third run for the White House.
51% : Now, with both of Smith's cases closer to being settled, he is likely to file a final report with the attorney general, as is required by special counsel regulations, and is expected to resign from his post before Trump is sworn into office on Jan. 20, 2025, two sources familiar with Smith's plans previously told CBS News.
51% : Trump has said he will nominate former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for the top job as attorney general.
47% : The special counsel is also likely to submit a final report to the attorney general and resign before Trump takes office.
44% : Sauer argued the immunity case on behalf of Trump in April.
42% : The special counse sought to dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could decide to charge Trump again after he leaves office in January 2029.
38% : Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, who defended Trump in the two federal cases and other matters in New York, are set to serve as deputy attorney general and principal associate deputy attorney general respectively, two powerful posts within the Justice Department.
35% : The special counsel is expected to make a similar request to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, where judges were considering whether Smith's other case against Trump -- dealing with classified documents -- should be revived after a Florida federal judge dismissed the case in July.
30% : The special counsel and his team said that when he lost the 2020 race, Trump "resorted to crimes" to hold onto power.
29% : In October, she made public a key filing from Smith that provided a comprehensive look at the evidence prosecutors amassed in their case against Trump.
28% : The New York case stemmed from a hush-money payment made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels after the 2016 election, and a jury found Trump guilty of 34 felonies in May, making him the first former president convicted of a crime.
27% : Smith's request was not a surprise, as he and the Justice Department were in talks about how to wind down the prosecution after Trump was elected to a second term earlier this month.
26% : Some of the alleged conduct included in Smith's 2023 indictment was disqualified from the case and the special counsel later secured a superseding indictment against Trump in an attempt to contour the charges to the Supreme Court's ruling.
26% : The filing described how Trump and his aides allegedly planned to challenge the results of the 2020 election well before Election Day and pressured then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021.
25% : Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied wrongdoing.
25% : Trump pleaded not guilty to the new indictment earlier in September.
22% : The indictment laid out a sprawling scheme in which prosecutors accused Trump and his unnamed co-conspirators of working to undermine the legitimacy of the election results and halt the certification of the Electoral College votes in a bid to stay in power.
21% : Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him in the sprawling racketeering case in Fulton County, which is related to an alleged effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.
20% : Judge Aileen Cannon ruled Smith was unlawfully appointed to the role of special counsel by Garland and as a result, the case against Trump was invalid.
18% : After a monthslong grand jury investigation, Smith obtained a four-count indictment against Trump that alleged he sought to resist the peaceful transfer of power following Joe Biden's electoral victory and allegedly engaged in a criminal scheme in the process.
18% : Trump's legal team successfully delayed the case well into this year after they claimed Trump was immune from prosecution because he was president at the time the alleged conduct took place.
11% : In one striking passage, prosecutors said Trump replied, "So what?" when he was told that Pence could be in danger at the Capitol, where Congress had convened to tally state electoral votes.

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