Swing and a Dismiss

I completely understand why Special Prosecutor Jack Smith moved to dismiss his two cases against Trump.  I just wish he hadn’t done it.
 
There was no way that Smith’s prosecutions against Trump would go anywhere.  For starters, it’s obvious to pretty much anyone sentient that Trump would have his Attorney General end the cases.  But further, as CNN special legal analyst Ellie Honig pointed out, “He's making these moves because he has to under long-standing Justice Department policy that goes back to 1973,” saying that Smith had confirmed with the Justice Department that, under DOJ policy, the prosecution of a sitting president could not continue.
 
So, I get all that.
 
But given that these were both serious cases – “serious,” not just from the perspective of the amount of evidence that Smith and his team had amassed, but serious for what they both were about, trying to overthrow the government and taking national security secrets – I think it would have not only been far more impactful, but also the only impact that could have existed (given that Smith knew he would be unable to prosecute the cases) if the public saw that it was Trump himself who had the charges against him dismissed and forced to defend his action, rather than the prosecutor dismissing them, which risks giving the impression that he might have believed he didn’t have a case.
 
The cases couldn’t have proceeded.  So be it.  But there is a mid-term election in two years -- let voters see Trump burying his own prosecution.  Make Trump keep ranting about how it was a witch hunt and fake.  He’s been doing that for years, and he’ll keep doing it.  But those are words without substance, especially given how he’s been convicted of 34 felonies, found liable of rape, and found guilty of fraud.  And rather than just spouting words contrary to what people saw with their own eyes, there’s something visceral to people actually seeing someone at the top take action as judge and jury and making all one’s own charges go away.  Everyone understands that, even for those who believe Trump is innocent.  They may love that he did it, but they know what he did.  They know it’s putting your hand on the scale of justice and tipping it over in your favor.  And so, too, does everyone else know it.  Everyone, even those who voted for Trump but don’t believe him.  It reeks of corruption.
 
And now, instead, Trump and his MAGOP enablers in Congress can say, see, it was a witch hunt.  It was prosecutorial misconduct.  It was politization of the justice system.  Even though it wasn’t.  It was required the DOJ policy. 
 
It just wasn’t required now.
 
Further, as proof that this wasn’t dropped for lack of evidence, it’s important to note that the cases were dismissed “without prejudice,” meaning that the charges can be brought again in when Trump is out of office.  And if Jack Smith had waited to let the Trump administration get rid of the cases, it's possible they would have asked from the to dismiss the "with prejudice."  In which case they'd be finished, completely.  So, this leaves the possibility of them being brought to court again.  (Besides which, there's no guarantee Judge Chutkan would have dismissed with prejudice.)
 
The problem, unfortunately, is that, as attorney Honig said, “That's not going to happen. Let's be realistic. Some prosecutors are not going to come in four-and-change years from now and revive these cases. For all intents and purposes, it's over.”

Which brings us back to the beginning.  I completely understand why Jack Smith moved to dismiss his two cases against Trump.  I just wish he hadn’t done it.  And let Trump do it himself.