Jack Smith’s cases against President-Elect Donald Trump are wrapping up after he filed motions yesterday to dismiss the election case in Washington and the documents appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Shortly after his motion in Washington, Judge Tanya Chutkan granted his motion.
In Washington, Smith told Chutkan that the Constitution required that his election interference case against Trump be dismissed before the president-elect is inaugurated in January.
Noting the temporary nature of immunity for sitting presidents, Smith said he wanted to dismiss the case without prejudice. “This outcome is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant,” he said.
In the 11th Circuit, Smith had appealed Florida Judge Aileen Cannon’s dismissal of his classified documents case against Trump. He told the appeals court on Nov. 25 that he sought to dismiss the appeal as it related to Trump but not two other defendants who didn’t enjoy the same type of immunity.
After Smith’s filing, Trump denounced the lawsuits against him. “These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought.”
Trump added: “I persevered, against all odds, and won. Make America Great Again!”
Trump still faces criminal cases at the state level in Georgia and New York. While it’s unclear how exactly those cases will be resolved, multiple experts indicated to The Epoch Times that the Constitution would prevent prosecution or prison time while Trump is in office.
Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis’s case is in uncertain territory after the Georgia Court of Appeals unexpectedly cancelled an oral argument scheduled for Dec. 5. The appeals court was set to hear arguments over Trump’s and others’ appeal challenging Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee’s decision not to require Willis’s recusal from the case.
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan adjourned a sentencing date of Nov. 26, raising the question of whether Trump would ever face sentencing.
Trump’s attorneys are seeking a dismissal of the case based on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Trump v. United States, which held that presidents enjoy various levels of immunity from criminal prosecution. They also argued that dismissal was warranted “to facilitate the orderly transition of executive power following President Trump’s overwhelming victory in the 2024 Presidential Election.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office told Merchan on Nov. 19 that Trump’s immunity argument was incorrect but that it wouldn’t oppose a delay in the case.
—Sam Dorman
TRUMP'S PLANS FOR EDUCATION
President-elect Donald Trump has promised drastic changes to the U.S. education system, including expanding universal school choice, eliminating Critical Race Theory and transgender ideology.
Trump may also work to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), though that would require an act of Congress.
On Nov. 19 Trump announced his nomination of Linda McMahon to head the DOE, saying: “We will send education back to the states, and Linda will spearhead that effort.”
Jonathan Butcher, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation Center for Education Policy, says the DOE—established by President Jimmy Carter in 1979—is redundant.
“Washington is paying an administration to do the work that state departments of education should already be doing,” Butcher told The Epoch Times.
He also questioned the DOE’s effectiveness, saying it “certainly did not advance policy in any meaningful way.”
Identity Politics in Schools
During a campaign rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, Trump vowed to cut federal education funds to schools that push Critical Race Theory (CRT), gender ideology, and “other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content onto the shoulders of our children.”
He also promised to withhold funds from schools with vaccine or mask mandates, and to “keep men out of women’s sports.”
The nonprofit Parents Defending Education (PDE) tracks instances of identity politics in schools across the country.
For example, one California school district paid a consultant $530,000 to develop a curriculum around “CRT, whiteness, and social justice activism.”
Teachers in Vermont used story time to teach kindergartners how to explore gender identity.
A Virginia school district collaborated with a Chinese organization that wanted to establish schools with U.S. curriculum in the communist country as part of a “cultural exchange” program.
PDE found that, in most states, there was at least one example of teachers hiding a student’s “gender identity” from parents. Other schools’ websites advertised events like Transgender Day of Visibility.
School Choice Push
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) wants to push his Educational Choice for Children Act, providing income tax credits to individuals or organizations that donate money to private school voucher programs.
Cassidy also hopes to replace Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee the Republican majority in the Senate takes effect in January.
Expect these initiatives to be hotly contested by the National Education Association (NEA) teacher’s union, which endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in her campaign for president. The group issued a statement expressing disappointment at Trump’s victory.
But the NEA was pleased with referendum results in Nebraska that ended its taxpayer-funded private school voucher program, and in Colorado and Kentucky where voters passed on enshrining school choice into those states’ constitutions.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has also vowed to fight the Trump administration from day one, and to represent schools that teach Critical Race Theory and transgender ideology.
“We call on lawmakers, students, parents, educators, and community members to support the fight against these classroom censorship attacks and book challenges,” the organization’s website says. “The battle is far from over.”
—Aaron Gifford; Janice Hisle; Stacy Robinson
BOOKMARKS
Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, says a cease-fire for that country’s war with Hezbollah is in the works, and may come within days. But Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir opposes the deal, and wants Israel to fight until it completely destroys Hezbollah.
Tobacco companies will be required to display larger, more drastic warning labels on packets of cigarettes, following a U.S. Supreme Court refusal to hear an appeals case about the requirement. The companies had appealed the proposed rule on the grounds that it violated their corporations’ First Amendment rights.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 25 refused to hear the appeal of a woman whose house was severely damaged by police attempting to arrest a criminal who was hiding on her property. Texan Vicki Baker has, so far, had no success in getting either the city or her insurance company to pay the $50,000 in damages, caused by police setting off explosives at her front and garage doors to gain entry to the house.
NATO Military Committee Chief Lt. Adm. Rob Bauer is warning Western companies with business ties to Communist China to expect economic difficulties if that country goes to war. As an example Bauer cited the Russian gas company Gazprom, which faced an export ban from Russia and sanctions from the United States and the European Union as a result of the Ukraine War.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is planning to hold elections for a new Chair during its winter meeting on Feb. 1. Jaime Harrison, the current chair, is not seeking reelection, but promises that “the DNC is committed to running a transparent, equitable, and impartial election.”
—Stacy Robinson
