DOJ trying to end FAKE Trump PERSECUTIONS before his inaguration Jan 20 '25!

[army judge]

Nov. 6, 2024, 12:17 PM CST

By Ken Dilanian and Laura Jarrett

Justice Department officials have been evaluating how to wind down the two federal criminal cases against President-elect Donald Trump before he takes office to comply with long-standing department policy that a sitting president can't be prosecuted, two people familiar with the matter tell NBC News.

The latest discussions stand in contrast with the pre-election legal posture of special counsel Jack Smith, who in recent weeks took significant steps in the election interference case against Trump without regard to the electoral calendar.

But the sources say DOJ officials have come to grips with the fact that no trial is possible anytime soon in either the Jan. 6 case or the classified documents matter — both of which are mired in legal issues that would likely prompt an appeal all the way to the Supreme Court, even if Trump had lost the election.

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 people said.
"Sensible, inevitable and unfortunate," said former federal prosecutor Chuck Rosenberg, an NBC News contributor.

How Trump's legal jeopardy has unfolded over the past year, in terms of both the criminal charges and his sweeping election victory, is unprecedented.

The sources said it will be up to Smith to decide exactly how to unwind the charges and many questions remain unanswered. Could the prosecutions resume after Trump leaves office or would they be time-barred? What happens to the evidence? What about the two other defendants charged with helping Trump hide classified documents? Will the special counsel write a report, as special counsels usually do?

The sources say all those issues require study and research.

At the same time, Trump's legal team is weighing its own next steps for how to resolve the outstanding federal cases in his favor now that he is the projected winner of the election. The ultimate goal is to get all the federal and state cases wiped out completely — the strategic call is how best to accomplish that task, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

If the Trump side, for example, moved again in court to dismiss the charges in Washington related to election interference, then the Justice Department could use its legal response to explain its position on not moving forward with that case.

Trump's New York criminal case presents different challenges with a felony conviction and sentencing hearing scheduled for Nov. 26. The immediate goal of Trump's legal team is to get that postponed indefinitely or otherwise dismissed.

The Georgia election interference case against Trump remains tied up on appeals over ethical issues surrounding the district attorney.

"The American people have re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate to Make America Great Again," Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement. "It is now abundantly clear that Americans want an immediate end to the weaponization of our justice system, so we can, as President Trump said in his historic speech last night, unify our country and work together for the betterment of our nation."

The DOJ's thinking on Trump's federal cases flows from a 2000 memo by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, which affirmed a Watergate-era conclusion that a prosecution of a sitting president would "unduly interfere in a direct or formal sense with the conduct of the presidency."

"In light of the effect that an indictment would have on the operations of the executive branch, 'an impeachment proceeding is the only appropriate way to deal with a President while in office,'" the memo concluded, quoting the earlier conclusion.

The practical reality of Trump's electoral victory Tuesday is that he is unlikely ever to face legal consequences in relation to the serious federal criminal charges brought against him by career Justice Department prosecutors working with career FBI agents.

Some commentators have said the charges were arguably more serious than the conduct in the Watergate scandal that cost Richard Nixon the presidency and left him banished from politics.

In the case accusing Trump of conspiring to illegally overturn the 2020 election, he is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.

In the classified documents case, he is charged with willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, lying to investigators and withholding documents in a federal investigation.

"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," said Joyce Vance, a former U.S. attorney and NBC News contributor. "But the voters have spoken, and that's where we are."

She added that it has never been a foregone conclusion that Trump would be convicted — that would be up to a jury.

"What bothers me so deeply is that he's avoided the quintessential part of American justice — letting a jury decide, based on the evidence."

For more on this story, tune in to "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt" tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. CT or check your local listings.

CORRECTION (Nov. 6, 2024, 8 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misspelled the last name of the Trump campaign's spokesman. He is Steven Cheung, not Chung.




Nothing special COUNSEL -AKA- Jack Smith in Washington, D.C., 06/23.

POSTER'S NOTE: If I were Trump, I'd pardon myself and my cronies & Hunter Biden on 01/20/25, then I'd fire Jack Smith.

DOJ moving to wind down Trump criminal cases before he takes office

The step complies with long-standing Justice Department policy that a sitting president can't be prosecuted, two people familiar with the matter told NBC News.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Tax Counsel]

It's far from clear that Trump has the power to pardon himself, and I don't think he wants to wage that battle in the courts (or take the PR hit it would cause him). Far easier and better to wait until the waning days of Trump's presidency and then either resign if a Democrat wins the next election and have Vance do it before his term ends (with the bonus that Vance will get to at least have the honor of being president for a few days or weeks) or let the next Republican president do it.

Trump will no doubt pardon all of his buddies regardless of whether they were guilty and if guilty whether they had done anything to merit a pardon. Cronyism at its worst. I find that distasteful but it's his choice whom to pardon and his choice alone.

I hope at the very least he'll have to deal with the state charges against him when he leaves office. He has no power over the state judicial systems. And who knows, by the end of this term he may have racked up new potential crimes for the DOJ and the states to deal with. Trump has never been one to give much regard for the law.

 

[welkin]

I hope at the very least he'll have to deal with the state charges against him when he leaves office. He has no power over the state judicial systems. And who knows, by the end of this term he may have racked up new potential crimes for the DOJ and the states to deal with. Trump has never been one to give much regard for the law.

I think the NY appeals court is going to throw out the civil fraud case after listening to oral arguments now that the election is over. They argue that Letitia James doesn't have the authority to enforce Federal law, that there is no victim, and that it was a legal contract between two equally positioned business and the contract was fulfilled by both parties. On the chance that the court doesn't throw it out, it will make its way to the Supreme Court.

The hush money case is another one that will eventually go in the garbage before Trump takes office because of presidential immunity.

The E. Jean Carroll case is under appeal in 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That decision may come now that the election is over.

The two Federal cases brought by Jack Smith are going to be dismissed one way or the other. The documents case is already dismissed. The J6 case before judge Tanya Chutkan is going nowhere now that Trump is elected, and judge Tanya Chutkan may be impeached because of her blatant violation of the rules in adding Smith's election interference.

Impeachment of District of Columbia Judge Tanya Chutkan urged - Americans for Limited Government

There is no need to be talking about Trump being pardoned just yet.

 

[welkin]

I forgot about the Georgia election interference case; it will have to wait until 2029 to be resolved but with all the trouble Willis is in, that may disappear also.

 

[Redemptionman]

I forgot about the Georgia election interference case; it will have to wait until 2029 to be resolved but with all the trouble Willis is in, that may disappear also.

Yep, they have opened a big can of worms. The DOJ and Jack Smith will go away like they should. I am not sure if they over stepped their bounds to begin with. Either case their is going to be a new head of DOJ and new people in charge in CIA and FBI. We do not need social justice warriors at any head of any empowered agency in the USA.