Special counsel Jack Smith is in talks with senior Justice Department officials about how to end his two federal criminal cases against President-elect Donald Trump in line with a longstanding department policy that sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted, sources told ABC News.
CNN had previously reported, based on sources close to Smith and the DOJ, that the special counsel was likely to keep pursuing the cases against Trump, for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection and his mishandling of classified documents, even if the former president won a return to the office.
“He’s not going to be the one to say, ‘I’m going to fold the tent,’” a former DOJ official told CNN.
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In contrast to his predicted defiance, though, it now seems like Smith will instead seek to wind the cases down.
Trump has said he would “fire” Smith “within two seconds” if elected, although he cannot do so until he officially takes over in January 2025. CNN had suggested that Smith would mull his options in the months leading up to Trump’s inauguration.
Sources had told NBC News that DOJ leadership had been coming to grips with the reality that a trial of a sitting president, especially as both cases are mired in their own legal problems, was simply unfeasible.
Trump, who was convicted of 34 criminal charges in a separate case related to his hush money payments to a porn star, had been successful in delaying legal proceedings until after the election, where a victory makes any sort of legal penalty against him an uphill battle.
The classified documents case had been dismissed by a judge in July, but Smith announced the following month that he would appeal the decision. Meanwhile, Trump was granted a delay in proceedings related to his Jan 6. case as well as the sentencing for his hush money case.
The latter had been set for a hearing in September, but Trump’s legal team got it pushed back to after the election.
According to CNN, Trump’s win last night means that the conviction could be wiped out in line with the Supreme Court ruling over the summer that provided sitting presidents a measure of immunity from criminal prosecution. The judge, Juan Merchan, has given himself until Nov. 12 to make that decision.
Even if the conviction remains intact, legal experts have predicted that it is unlikely that Trump will be sentenced until he exits office in January 2029.
