The US Justice Department (DOJ) is reportedly weighing options to shut down its two federal criminal cases against President-elect Donald Trump before he takes office, NBC News reported on Wednesday.
Citing anonymous sources, the network reported that officials are considering closing both the January 6 election interference case and the classified documents case, following the DOJ’s long-standing policy that a sitting president cannot be criminally prosecuted.
The sudden shift has surprised observers, especially given that special counsel Jack Smith had been pushing forward with both without apparent regard for the presidential campaign calendar.
But now, with Trump’s victory confirmed, DOJ officials seem to have accepted the reality that no trial is feasible anytime soon, particularly with complex legal arguments likely headed to the Supreme Court. “Sensible, inevitable, and unfortunate,” remarked former federal prosecutor Chuck Rosenberg to NBC about the potential wind-down.
The sudden pause has raised questions about the DOJ’s independence, with some asking if the legal system’s respect for presidential immunity isn’t also playing into politics. “What happened to the rule of law?” former US attorney Joyce Vance asked, expressing dismay at the reality that Trump may never face legal accountability in these federal cases.
“The idea that you could win an election to avoid justice just cuts deeply against my expectations for our legal system and for our politics,” she added.
The DOJ’s contemplation of pulling the plug follows a 2000 memo by the Office of Legal Counsel, which concluded that prosecuting a sitting president would unavoidably interfere with executive branch operations.
Nevertheless, many would see the decision as undercutting America’s much touted “rule of law” image, especially given the charges in question: conspiracy to defraud the US in the election case, and willful retention of national defense information, obstruction of justice, and lying to investigators in the classified documents case.
Trump’s legal team, meanwhile, has wasted no time strategizing how to fully eliminate his state and federal charges, NBC notes, with New York and Georgia cases posing unique challenges.