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Special counsel Jack Smith moves to drop both federal criminal cases against Trump | 25 Nov 2024 | Special counsel Jack Smith on Monday dropped one of his criminal cases against President-elect Donald Trump and was on the verge of dropping the other — a termination that is required, Smith said, by Justice Department policy that bars continuing the prosecutions once Trump is inaugurated. In a pair of court filings, Smith said he consulted with Justice Department officials about whether an ongoing prosecution against a person elected president might proceed. Officials in the department’s Office of Legal Counsel, Smith said, concluded that a longstanding prohibition on prosecuting a sitting president applied to the two cases against Trump. The developments formalize what was already clear the moment Trump won the 2024 election: both federal criminal cases against him are about to end.