You're fired! Jack Smith might be out of a job by January, now that Donald Trump won the presidency once more.
According to NBC News, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is making moves to wind down their two federal criminal cases against President-elect Donald Trump before he takes office. This lawfare concession complies with a longstanding DOJ policy stipulating that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted, sources told NBC News.
New: DoJ officials are evaluating how to wind down the two federal criminal cases against Donald Trump before he takes office to comply with longstanding department policy that a sitting president can’t be prosecuted, per sources.
— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) November 6, 2024
A 2000 memo from the department's Office of Legal Counsel affirmed a Watergate-era conclusion that prosecuting a sitting U.S. president would "unduly interfere in a direct or formal sense with the conduct of the presidency."
The memo pointed to the "effect that an indictment would have on the operations of the executive branch," noting that "an impeachment proceeding is the only appropriate way to deal with a President while in office."
The turn of events post-election flies in the face of Special Counsel Jack Smith, who in recent weeks took significant steps to march onwards in the Trump election interference case without regard for the electoral calendar.
NBC's sources say DOJ officials first have come to terms with the fact that a trial is not possible any time soon in either the January 6 case or the classified documents matter.
"Now that Trump will become president again, DOJ officials see no room to pursue either criminal case against him — and no point in continuing to litigate them in the weeks before he takes office," the sources said, per NBC.
However, it will be up to Smith to decide exactly how to unwind the charges, they caveated.
"The idea that you could win an election to avoid justice just cuts so deeply against my expectations for our legal system and for our politics too" reacted NBC News contributor Joyce Vance, a former U.S. attorney. "But the voters have spoken, and that's where we are."
"What bothers me so deeply is that he's avoided the quintessential part of American justice — letting a jury decide, based on the evidence," she added.
"Sensible, inevitable and unfortunate," said former federal prosecutor Chuck Rosenberg, also an NBC News contributor.
Trump's New York case, involving Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and a felony conviction, has a hearing scheduled for November 26. Trump's legal team will likely try to postpone it indefinitely or dismiss it altogether.
Trump's Georgia election interference case is currently tied up at the appellate level over the slew of prosecutorial misconduct claims facing Fulton County DA Fani Willis.
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