Most of President-elect Donald Trump's legal woes will go away due to a long-held policy by the United States Justice Department (DOJ) against prosecuting a sitting president.
The policy stemmed from a memorandum written by Assistant Attorney General Randolph D. Moss that said a sitting president could not be indicted or prosecuted because it "would unconstitutionally undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions."
While Trump said he'd fire special counsel Jack Smith "within two seconds" of being re-elected to serve a second term, it no longer seems necessary. Smith is already taking steps to end both federal cases against Trump before he takes office on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, a DOJ insider told CNN.
Trump faces multiple legal challenges in state and federal cases in various locations:
- New York: Trump is charged with falsifying business records related to hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels, a pornstar, during the 2016 election.
- Washington, D.C.: Trump is accused of attempting to overturn the 2020 election results. This includes charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection and his role in encouraging the coup d'état.
- Florida: Trump faces federal charges in Florida related to mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. He also has a federal charge against him in Georgia, along with 18 co-defendants, with attempting to interfere with the 2020 election results in Georgia.
- Georgia: Trump, along with 18 co-defendants, is charged with attempting to interfere with the 2020 election results in Georgia by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Until Smith follows through, temporarily, each case remains active in its respective jurisdiction, reported CNN.
However, according to NPR, these cases "are on life support and likely to end even before the inauguration in January."
