President-elect Donald Trump’s criminal 2020 election interference case is on hold, at least for now. The judge overseeing the federal case granted a request from special counsel Jack Smith to pause the process and give him a month to formally request how to move forward following Trump’s 2024 election victory.
This is likely the first step in ending the proceedings since the Justice Department has a policy against prosecuting sitting presidents.
A federal grand jury indicted Trump in the case in August 2023, but delays have kept it from going to trial.
Trump is charged in connection with the effort to overturn his 2020 election loss.
He’s also accused of fraud and trying to disenfranchise American voters.
In a separate case, Trump faced charges for mishandling classified documents in Florida.
That case was ultimately dismissed over objections to Smith’s status as a special prosecutor.
Smith’s office appealed the dismissal but that appeal is now expected to be dropped as DOJ officials don’t want to pursue either criminal case.
