The Justice Department is looking into how to wind down the federal cases against President-elect Donald Trump, reports NBC News.
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Trump, who handily beat Vice President Kamala Harris on Election Day, has four outstanding criminal cases. Two are federal and two are state cases.
DOJ officials are thinking there's no room to move in the federal cases — Trump faces charges for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election and allegedly withholding White House documents.
Trump during the campaign pledged to fire Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the election interference case, "within two seconds."
"He'll be one of the first things addressed," Trump said last month.
Smith is currently trying to appeal Trump's documents charges after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed them, but Trump's election ensures the government will drop that appeal when he takes office.
According to NBC, DOJ officials think no trial is possible anytime soon in either of the federal cases and, 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.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr on Wednesday encouraged prosecutors to drop the charges, saying the public "have rendered their verdict."
"The American people have rendered their verdict on President Trump, and decisively chosen him to lead the country for the next four years," Barr said in an interview with Fox News.
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"They did that with full knowledge of the claims against him by prosecutors around the country and I think Attorney General Garland and the state prosecutors should respect the people's decision and dismiss the cases against President Trump now," he added.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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