U.S. Justice Department officials are reportedly looking to wind down the Biden-Harris administration’s federal cases against President-elect Donald Trump before his inauguration in January following his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris.
NBC News reported that two sources with knowledge of the matter said that the Justice Department’s attempt to wind down the two federal cases against Trump follows the Justice Department’s policy that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted. The outlet noted that the latest report out of the Justice Department is in stark contrast to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s recent legal actions regarding the Biden-Harris administration’s election interference case against Trump.
The anonymous sources told NBC News that Justice Department officials do not believe there is time to continue the prosecution against Trump prior to his inauguration following the president-elect’s victory on Wednesday. As a result, the sources said Smith will have to decide how to unwind the federal charges against Trump in the weeks ahead.
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In a statement obtained by NBC News, Steven Chung, a Trump campaign spokesman, said, “The American people have re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate to Make America Great Again. 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.”
According to Fox News, Justice Department officials cited an Office of Legal Counsel memo from 2000, which states that investigating a sitting president would be a violation of the separation of powers. The memo warns that an investigation into a sitting president would “unduly interfere in a direct or formal sense with the conduct of the Presidency.”
The memo adds, “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.'”
