This could have been a year of a federal court reckoning for Trump. Judges had other ideas
A year that began with the prospect of a federal court reckoning for Trump will conclude without any chance at trial, leaving voters without an up-or-down jury verdict in the two most consequential cases against the Republican presidential nominee
WASHINGTON (AP) — The indictment charging Donald Trump with hoarding classified documents leveled one jaw-dropping allegation after another, including that he showed off a secret Pentagon attack plan to guests at his golf club and suggested his lawyer mislead the FBI about the presence of the White House records.
But those details proved beside the point to the Trump-appointed judge presiding over the prosecution, who dismissed the case on grounds that the special counsel who brought it was unlawfully put in the job.
A separate criminal case accusing Trump of conspiring to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election seemed an opportunity for a trial this year focused on Trump's failed effort to retain power after his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
But the Supreme Court erased that possibility with an opinion that granted former presidents expansive immunity from prosecution.
