Updated November 6, 2024 at 5:12 p.m. ET

Donald Trump began this year fighting two federal indictments that threatened to send him to prison. But it will end him free and clear of his most important criminal legal problems.

With his resounding victory at the polls and a long-standing Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president, the key question is not if, but when, prosecutors act to dismiss or delay his case of federal interference in the elections. elections in Washington, DC.

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

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

1. What are the pending cases that the federal government has filed against Trump?

A grand jury in Washington indicted Trump this year on four felonies in connection with his effort to cling to power in 2020, which culminated in the violent siege of the US Capitol on January 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 finally gave Trump significant immunity of prosecution for official actions he took in the White House.

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

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

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

2. What does Trump’s electoral victory mean for these cases?

They are on life support and are likely to be finished even before the inauguration in January.

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In the campaign trial, now President-elect Trump has promised to fire special counsel Jack Smith on his first day in office. But Trump would not need to fire Smith or order any new Justice Department officials to fire Smith to end the criminal proceedings.

In 2000, a lawyer with the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which advises the federal government on its powers and limits, concluded that a sitting president could not be impeached or prosecuted because that would “unconstitutionally undermine the ability of the executive branch to perform the functions assigned to it by the constitution.”

Administrations led by Republicans and Democrats have adopted the Justice Department’s policy of not prosecuting presidents.

The Florida case involving classified documents is a little more complicated. The Justice Department could file a notice with the appeals court saying it will drop the appeal. But that case It involves two other defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira.

Dismissing the appeal outright would also mean abandoning the cases prosecutors built against those two defendants, Trump’s personal assistant and the property manager at Mar-a-Lago.

What’s more, the federal government may have a broader interest, because Cannon’s reasoning could alter the way special prosecutors have been appointed for decades.

But a Justice Department veteran who was not authorized to speak publicly told NPR that Cannon’s ruling would not be considered binding precedent, so the stakes could be lower.

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

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

3. What about the special prosecutor, Jack Smith?

Special counsels are required to submit a report on their actions to the Attorney General when they complete their work. Current Attorney General Merrick Garland has pledged to make most of those reports public.

If Smith’s written report is not complete by Inauguration Day, it will be the new leaders of the Justice Department who will decide his fate.

Mike Davis, a Trump ally, told a conservative interviewer this week that the attorney general “is probably President Trump’s most important appointment.”

Davis told the interviewer that Smith’s entire office should be fired, saying, “Starting today, Jack Smith, you will be persecuted: legally, politically and financially. So get a lawyer, friend.”

4. Trump also faced criminal charges in two states, New York and Georgia. How will elections change those cases?

This year, a New York jury convicted Trump on 34 criminal counts related to accounting for an alleged payment of hush money to an adult film actress shortly before the 2016 election.

Judge Juan Merchán scheduled a hearing for Nov. 12 to evaluate how the Supreme Court’s immunity decision could affect that case. It is unclear whether Trump’s criminal sentencing scheduled for Thanksgiving week will occur. Trump’s lawyers could try to stop him given the election results.

The case against Trump in Fulton County, Georgia, for alleged election interference, has been on hold for months while a higher court considers it possible. conflicts of interest involving District Attorney Fani Willis. A hearing is scheduled for that appeal on December 5.

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