"A bottom slap in our country's history that something like this could happen, and yet I held out, and won", writes Donald Trump about the developments on his platform Truth Social. He also accuses the Democrats of being behind the "campaign" against him.
Special prosecutor Jack Smith has formally requested that the cases be dropped based on the Justice Department's policy that prevents prosecution of a sitting president.
The four criminal charges related to the storming of the Capitol, as well as the charges regarding Trump's handling of classified documents stored at his residence Mar-a-Lago in Florida after he left the White House, are thus being dropped.
The dismissal of the Capitol case has been granted, while the other case is still awaiting formal clearance to be relegated to history.
Changed circumstances
"The state's stance on the substantive issue of the defendant's prosecution has not changed", writes Smith in his submission regarding the Capitol storming – which has been considered the most serious of the legal proceedings against Trump.
"But the circumstances have", he continues.
Prosecutors have called the storming of the Capitol a criminal conspiracy to hold onto power, with supporters attacking the Congress building.
It occurred when all members of Congress were gathered to ratify the presidential election results. Among the now-dismissed charges were attempts to defraud the state, attempts to stop a public official, and attempts to stop people from exercising their constitutionally protected rights.
Trump has denied the allegations and described both cases as politically motivated. He has also promised to fire Smith as soon as he takes office in January.
Other charges on ice
Two state-level charges remain. In May, a court in New York found Donald Trump guilty of falsifying documents and violating accounting laws in connection with payments to a porn actress to keep quiet about sensitive information. The decision on punishment in that case was postponed indefinitely after Trump's election victory.
Trump has also been charged with attempting to get election officials to overturn the result of the 2020 state election in Georgia. The case is practically on ice while a court decides whether the prosecutor should be disqualified, a decision not expected until 2025.
On January 6, 2021, the US Congress members gathered in the Capitol to count the presidential election's electoral votes and formally declare Democrat Joe Biden the winner and next president.
At the same time, tens of thousands of Donald Trump supporters gathered nearby for a political mass rally. There, Trump repeated his false claims of systematic electoral fraud and claimed that he was the real winner. He urged his supporters to go to Congress and "fight like hell".
Parts of the crowd did as he said. The protests turned violent when hundreds of people stormed the Capitol, clashed with police, vandalized, and entered one of the chambers.
