A US judge has dismissed the federal criminal case accusing Donald Trump of attempting to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

It came just hours after prosecutors moved to drop the prosecution and a second case against the incoming president, citing Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.

The order on Monday (US time) from US District Judge Tanya Chutkan officially ends the federal effort to hold Trump criminally responsible for his attempts to hold onto power after losing the 2020 election, culminating in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by a mob of his supporters.

Trump responded through his Truth Social platform, hailing the decision.

“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,” he wrote.

“Over $100 Million Dollars of Taxpayer Dollars has been wasted in the Democrat Party’s fight against their Political Opponent, ME. Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before.”

The move came after Special Counsel Jack Smith, the lead prosecutor overseeing both cases, moved to dismiss the election case and end his attempt to revive a separate case accusing Trump of illegally retaining classified documents when he left office in 2021 after his first term as president.

It represents a big legal victory for the Republican president-elect, who won the November 5 US election and will return to the White House on January 20.

The Justice Department policy that the prosecutors cited dates back to the 1970s. It holds that a criminal prosecution of a sitting president would violate the US Constitution by undermining the ability of the country’s chief executive to function. Courts will still have to approve both requests from prosecutors.

In a filing in the election subversion case, the prosecutors said the department’s policy required it to be dismissed before Trump begins his second term.

“This outcome is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.

Prosecutors in the documents case signalled they will still ask a federal appeals court to bring back the case against two Trump associates who had been accused of obstructing that investigation.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung hailed what he called “a major victory for the rule of law”.

Trump had faced criminal charges in four cases – the two brought by Smith and two in state courts in New York and Georgia. He was convicted in the New York case while the Georgia case, which also relates to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, is in limbo.

The moves by Smith, who was appointed in 2022 by US Attorney-General Merrick Garland, represents a remarkable shift from the special prosecutor who obtained indictments against Trump in two cases accusing him of crimes that threatened US election integrity and national security.

Prosecutors acknowledged that the election of a president who faced ongoing criminal cases created an unprecedented predicament for the Justice Department.

Chutkan left open the possibility that prosecutors could seek to charge Trump again after he leaves office. But there would likely be challenges in bringing a case so long after the alleged conduct involved.

Trump pleaded not guilty in August 2023 to four federal charges accusing him of conspiring to obstruct the collection and certification of votes following his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump, who as president will again oversee the Justice Department, was expected to order an end to the federal 2020 election case and to Smith’s appeal in the documents case.

Florida’s Judge Aileen Cannon, who Trump appointed to the federal bench, had dismissed the classified documents case in July, ruling that Smith was improperly appointed to his role as special counsel.

Smith’s office appealed that ruling and indicated on Monday that the appeal would continue as it relates to Trump personal aide Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, a manager at his Mar-a-Lago resort, who was previously charged alongside Trump. Both Nauta and De Oliveria have pleaded not guilty, as did Trump.

In the 2020 election case, Trump’s lawyers had previously said they would seek to dismiss the charges based on a US Supreme Court ruling in July that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution over official actions taken while in the White House.

Trump denied wrongdoing in all cases and argued that the US legal system had been turned against him to damage his presidential campaign. He vowed during the campaign that he would fire Smith if he returned to the presidency.

-AAP