Donald Trump began fighting two federal lawsuits this year that threatened to send him to prison. But he will end it free and clear of his most significant criminal legal problems.

With his resounding election victory and the Justice Department’s longstanding policy of not prosecuting a sitting president, the key question is not if, but when prosecutors will decide to dismiss or delay his federal election interference case in Washington, DC.

Trump recently said he would fire special adviser Jack Smith “within two seconds” of returning to the White House. Now, that won’t be necessary to put an end to his federal criminal troubles.

Smith is taking steps to end the two federal prosecutions against Trump before the president-elect takes office, according to a source familiar with the Justice Department’s deliberations.

A grand jury in Washington indicted Trump this year on four counts in connection with his efforts to cling to power in 2020, culminating in the violent siege of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Judge Tanya Chutkan had set the trial date for March 2024, but that date came and went, after the Supreme Court accepted the case and eventually granted Trump significant immunity prosecution for official actions he took at the White House.

The judge is just beginning to determine which parts of the prosecution’s case constitute official acts and which are the private conduct of a person seeking to exercise an office rather than the occupier. This process will likely end soon, or after the inauguration in January.

The Justice Department appealed a separate criminal case against Trump, accusing the former president of hoarding classified documents at his Mar a Lago compound and refusing to return them to the FBI.

Judge Aileen Cannon, appointed to the bench by Trump, dismissed the case on the first day of this year’s Republican National Convention, saying the manner in which the special counsel was appointed violated the Constitution. The Justice Department sought review from a higher court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

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