Donald Trump started this year fighting two federal prosecutions that threatened
to send him to prison. But he will end it free and clear of his most significant criminal
legal problems.

With his resounding victory at the polls, and a longstanding Justice Department
policy against prosecuting a sitting president, the key question is not if, but when,
prosecutors move to dismiss or delay his federal election interference case in
Washington, D.C.

Trump recently said he would fire special counsel Jack Smith “within two seconds”
after he returned to the White House. Now, that won’t be necessary to bring his
federal criminal troubles to an end.

Smith is taking steps to end both federal cases against Trump before the president-
elect takes office, according to a source familiar with the Justice Department deliberations.

A grand jury in Washington indicted Trump this year on four felony charges in
connection with his effort to cling to power in 2020, culminating in the violent siege
on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Judge Tanya Chutkan had set a trial date for March 2024, but that date came and
went, after the Supreme Court accepted the case and ultimately handed Trump
significant immunity from prosecution for official actions he took in the White House.

The judge is just now beginning to consider what parts of the prosecution’s case
amount to official acts, and which are private conduct of a person seeking rather
than holding office.

The Justice Department has appealed in a separate criminal case against Trump that
accuses the former president of hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago
resort and refusing to the return them to the FBI.

Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump, dismissed the
documents case on July 15, the first day of the Republican National Convention
this year, reasoning that the way the special counsel had been appointed violates
the Constitution. The Justice Department has been seeking review by a higher
court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Former Attorney General William Barr says voters have evaluated the allegations
against Trump — and decisively rendered their own verdict.

"Further maneuvering on these cases in the weeks ahead would serve no legitimate
purpose and only distract the country and the incoming administration from the task
at hand," Barr said in a written statement first reported by the Guardian.