With his electoral victory, Donald Trump will have the power to get rid of half of his criminal workload upon his return to the White House – in particular, the two federal cases brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith for alleged subversion of the 2020 election and alleged illegal hoarding of classified documents and obstruction. The president-elect has pleaded not guilty in all four of his criminal cases, but his guilt likely won’t be adjudicated one way or another in those two cases.

NBC News reported On Wednesday, Justice Department officials “evaluated how to terminate the two federal criminal cases” before Trump took office, “to comply with the department’s longstanding policy that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted.

Presidents cannot pardon or dismiss state cases, although we do not expect Trump to face legal proceedings in the states of New York or Georgia during his term. When the judge presiding over the Georgia case last year asked Trump’s lawyer to try the case if Trump became president again, the lawyer said he thought that under the Constitution supremacy clause and Trump’s duties as president, a trial could only take place after he left office.

In his hush money affair in New York, Trump is ready to be convicted on November 26 – that is, if Judge Juan Merchan on November 12 denies Trump’s motion to overturn his guilty verdicts based on the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling. Even then, Trump signaled that he would immediately appeal an adverse immunity ruling, so don’t assume that the conviction – for falsifying business records, stemming from Stormy Daniels’ hush money cover-up tied to the 2016 election – is proceeding as planned. Regardless, incarceration is not mandatory in this case and a sitting president will not be incarcerated.

In Georgia, this multi-accused case is already attached to a pre-trial appeal in the defense’s attempt to disqualify Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis. Whatever happens next in this case, where Trump is also accused of interfering in the 2020 election, don’t expect him to appear in state criminal court as president, even if he could only delay – rather than dismiss – the case.

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