Hello everyone. It is 4 o'clock here in New York. I'm Alicia Menendez, in for Nicole Wallace.

Three and a half years since the attack on the U.S. Capitol, 17 months after Donald Trump was criminally charged by the government, he once led and will lead once more.

Special Counsel Jack Smith's cases against Donald Trump, while they're coming to a close.

Just this afternoon, the special counsel moving to dismiss the federal election case.

They also asked a court to dismiss his appeal of Judge Eileen Cannon's ruling, tossing out his indictment of Trump in the classified documents case.

The move was expected with Trump's election victory,

since it's the Justice Department's policy that sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted.

Smith, writing in his filing to Judge Chutkin today,

quote, the department and the country have never faced the circumstance here

where a federal indictment against a private citizen has been

returned by a grand jury and a criminal prosecution is already underway when the defendant is

elected president. In other words, criminal defendant Donald Trump got out of his legal troubles

by getting elected president. The special counsel making it clear that his request to dismiss

the election case

has nothing to do with the merits of this case or the evidence he's compiled. Instead, it has to

do with a constitutional contradiction that could have serious consequences for the rule of law in

this country. Special counsel saying, quote, the government's position on the merits of the

defendant's prosecution has not changed,

but the circumstances have. As a result of the election held on November 5th, 2024,

the defendant will be certified as president-elect on January 6, 2025, and inaugurated on January 20, 2025.

This sets at odds to fundamental and compelling national interests. On the one hand,

the Constitution's requirement that the President must not be unduly encumbered in fulfilling

...