Trump federal cases wind down as state cases remain in limbo

WASHINGTON (TNND) — Donald Trump’s legal troubles at the federal level appear over for now, but two state-level cases are still in limbo.

Special Counsel Jack Smith moved to shut down the two federal cases against Donald Trump related to taking classified documents from the White House and Trump’s role in January 6th. Trump declared victory on Truth Social, calling the process a “political hijacking.”

Smith deferred to the Justice Department policy of not prosecuting Presidents or president-elects while still leaving a very slim possibility the cases can be revisited after Trump's term ends. Some Democrats didn't agree with the decision.

“Donald Trump is simply evading accountability because he won the presidential election. And there's a Department of Justice Policy that has never been vetted, that has never been approved or even challenged in front of a court that prohibits prosecuting a sitting president," said Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y.

Trump’s still facing two state-level cases out of New York and Georgia. His sentencing in the New York hush money case was supposed to happen Tuesday, but it’s been delayed indefinitely.

Former U.S. Attorney John Fishwick Jr. doesn’t believe a delay in the New York case would make it through an entire Trump second term.

Some judge is going to say you can’t just put a case on hold against a President of the United States...I don’t think the Supreme Court would let the case be put on hold for four years, I think they would say you can’t have something hanging over the President of the United States about a criminal prosecution, and if the case is pending, arguably something’s hanging over Trump," he said.

There are also potential future implications related to Trump’s federal cases. The Florida judge in his classified documents case previously ruled Jack Smith was unconstitutionally appointed to the case. It’s a ruling that could come back to bite a new Justice Department.

“I think future defendants, other political cases, could say if a special counsel was appointed ‘look, they don’t have the authority to prosecute me’ and that case could eventually make its way back to the Supreme Court against another defendant," said Fishwick Jr.

Trump’s legal team has until next week to request his New York case be completely dismissed, and the prosecution will then have a week to respond.