Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy is convinced that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutions of President-elect Donald Trump are politically motivated.

McCarthy delivered his argument following a decision by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to vacate deadlines in the federal election interference case, a move Smith had requested. According to McCarthy, Trump’s victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election made the prosecutions untenable and politically biased.

Speaking to Sandra Smith on America Reports, McCarthy said, “They’re taking the position that the long-standing office of legal counsel guidance at the Justice Department [that] basically says that you can neither indict nor prosecute a sitting president.”

“They are conceding that President-elect Trump will be certified, that is, at the joint session of Congress which as we all know now, will be January 6th. His victory will be ratified, state-certified electoral votes will be ratified, he will for all intents and purposes be a sitting president as of January 20th. And they are taking the position that under those circumstances, the cases shouldn’t go forward,” he added.

McCarthy further suggested that the government could have suspended the cases but instead seemed to be positioning them for dismissal, emphasizing that the true goal of these prosecutions was to prevent Trump’s reelection. Now that he [Trump] has won, there’s no point in it.” he added.

Special Counsel Jack Smith had secured multiple indictments against Trump in the past year, including a superseding indictment in August 2023 related to Trump’s attempts to challenge the 2020 election results. 

Smith also brought forth new charges in July 2023 over the retention of classified materials after Trump faced a 37-count grand jury indictment earlier in 2023.

Despite these legal setbacks, Trump is still facing potential sentencing in Manhattan for his conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. New York Judge Juan Merchan is expected to rule on the president-elect’s motion to vacate the guilty verdicts on Nov. 12.

“…we’ll get a good read on whether the lesson has been assimilated by the end of Tuesday, when we see what Judge [Merchan] does. Because if he denies Trump’s motions, he has signaled he may try to sentence Trump by November 26. I sure hope that doesn’t happen,” McCarthy said of Merchan’s upcoming ruling.