The Justice Department plans to continue pursuing criminal cases against former President Donald Trump even if he wins in November, people familiar with the discussions say.
According to DOJ lawyers, the department's policy against prosecuting a sitting president wouldn't apply to Trump if he's the president-elect and hasn't yet been sworn in, sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Washington Post.
The plans come after this week's Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity, which has already caused a delay in Trump's sentencing on 34 felony carts of falsifying business records in New York and is expected to lead to delays in his election interference trial in Washington, D.C.
The plans to continue filing motions and taking other legal action, including the possibility that a trial could be conducted in the two months between Election Day and Inauguration Day, fall in unfamiliar territory for the DOJ.
A president-elect gains access to high-level briefings and more security, but does not officially become the country's leader until being sworn into office on Jan. 20. Still, it will be up to the courts to determine how to hold hearings or a trial that involves a president-elect.
"The Justice Department isn't governed by the election calendar," Anthony Coley, a former DOJ spokesman for Attorney General Merrick Garland, told the Post. "Its prosecution of Trump is based on the law, the facts, and the Justice Manual — the department's bible that lays out the post-Watergate norms that have prevented it from being weaponized."
Unless there are other orders or the norms change, "I'd expect this Justice Department to be full speed ahead, and they should be," said Coley.
A spokesman for special counsel Jack Smith declined to comment, but Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said the cases against the former president are "hoaxes."
"They are imploding as their collective efforts to interfere in the election have massively backfired," Cheung said.
The questions come after the Supreme Court's ruling Monday, in a 6-3 ideological-line vote, that Trump and other presidents enjoy broad immunity from prosecution for presidential acts.
The decision said presidents don't have immunity for private acts, but questions remain about what defines the difference.
According to legal experts, the ruling means it is unlikely that Trump's trial on charges of allegedly obstructing the 2020 election results will happen before the November election.
DOJ officials had already doubted the trial would take place before the election.
Trump is also facing charges in Florida of mishandling classified documents, another case that has faced several delays. Both federal cases had been expected to go on trial this past spring.
Trump is also facing a criminal indictment in Georgia on charges of conspiracy to allegedly obstruct the 2020 elections there.
That case has also been on hold concerning an appeals issue and is likely to be affected by the Supreme Court immunity ruling.