A federal judge accepted Special Prosecutor Jack Smith's request to halt the election interference case against US President-elect Donald Trump in the first sign that cases against him are breaking down.
Washington Federal Court Judge Tanya Chutkan granted her motion on Friday.
Smith filed a one-page motion asking the judge to vacate the deadlines set for the proceedings due to "extraordinary circumstances" because the "defendant" will be declared president on January 6 and inaugurated on January 21.
The stay will give the government time to assess the situation and report to the court on December 2 how it wants to proceed, he said.
As a tradition, the federal Justice Department does not prosecute sitting presidents.
A local judge in New York set sentencing on November 26 in the case he was convicted of criminally manipulating account books to hide payments he made to a porn star who had claimed she had a tryst with him.
Since that case was filed by the local prosecutor who was elected to the position as a Democrat, then it can continue.
But as a local case, the prosecutor is not bound by tradition and the judge can proceed with his sentencing.
However, the case raises constitutional issues if he is sentenced in prison.
The case, trumpeted by Democrats as a conviction on 34 felony charges, was about bookkeeping where the hush money payments were classified as lawyer's payment and each check that was cut was turned into a separate charge.
Another federal case against Trump is pending in Florida over him allegedly holding on to classified documents after leaving office in contravention of the official secrets law.
In that case, the case was dismissed by Judge Aileen Cannon, who is a Trump appointee, claiming that Smith's appointment as special counsel was not legal.
Smith has appealed the decision in an appeals court and publicly had not made any decision on pursuing, although it would seem it would also fall.
President Joe Biden too removed classified documents after he ended the term as vice president but a special counsel who investigated him ruled against filing a case against him because a jury would see him as an '''elderly man with a poor memory and acquit him".
But that single remark spawned a series of events that culminate in Biden accepting the election loss after he had a pratfall at a televised debate with Trump and his party members revolted against him.
There is also a state case in Georgia charging Trump with so-called election interference after he pleaded with state officials "to find 11,780 votes" to put him over the majority top in the state in the 2020 election.
That case was tied up in knots with allegations of prosecutorial misconduct involving the current prosecutor, who hired an un-experienced attorney who became her boyfriend, to try the case.
In the federal election interference case that is going to be paused, Trump is charged with having attempted to subvert the 2020 election by spreading false accusations of voter fraud, which allegedly led to his supporters storming the Capitol on January 6, 2021, while Congress was certifying the election of Biden.
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