Justice Department looking to wind down Trump criminal cases ahead of inauguration

If a president is too distracted to defend himself in a criminal case and can't be charged while he is sitting, then I certainly think he can't also be jailed while he is sitting,

McQuade said on the podcast

It's unlikely that Justice Juan Merchan will proceed with sentencing a President-elect,

Lat wrote

Part of what we’re seeing with this election cycle is a gap where nothing has really filled into those voids and left campaigns wondering what they can do. They’re trying things out on TikTok, they’re trying things out wherever they can, but we lack that stability. It is, in a sense, the first post social media election.”

Karpf explains

A state as a general matter cannot take any action that frustrates a federal official from performing his federal duties,

he said

Given that Trump is not going to be sent to Rikers Island by a Manhattan judge in any event, it would be prudent to postpone the sentence and allow Trump to pursue his immunity appeal. That would avoid the unseemliness of subjecting the next president of the United States to a criminal conviction and sentence when he is about to take office,

he continued

Understand, Trump is not going to prison even if Merchan metes out an incarceration sentence. Though the charges are felonies, they are not sufficiently serious under New York law to merit immediate detention; Trump will get bail pending appeal,

he wrote

Lawfare was terrible for the country. The resounding win Americans have given Trump should be its death knell,

McCarthy added later in his piece

By dismissing the charges, that just puts the ball back in Alvin Bragg's court. If Alvin Bragg wants to double down on stupid, which he's done a lot, he can [reopen the case]. But he's not going to get anywhere with that, because by then, the president will have assumed office. And the Justice Department will move under the supremacy clause that you cannot bring your case, your criminal case, against a sitting president while he's the president,

he continued

For all intents and purposes, no matter what happens if [Merchan] denies it, and the appeals court … follow the judge, and then the judge gets to sentence him. Even then the Justice Department will come in and say, ‘Look, under the Supremacy Clause, you cannot impose a criminal sentence, especially one of incarceration on a sitting president.’ And so that case will be on ice until after Trump gets out of office. But as a practical matter, this case and the Fanni Willis case are over,

he said

I would not be surprised if in the next two or three days, the government moves to dismiss,

a source close to Trump's defense told DailyMail.com

The simplest thing would be for New York to keep the sentencing as is, and for Alvin Bragg to go in and say we think that a felony conviction is sufficient and therefore we’re asking for a conditional discharge,

he said

Politically, I think they would rather have the new Trump administration’s fingerprints on the demise of the cases,

he told the Reuters news agency

Will there be any political appetite by the end of the second Trump administration to try him in Georgia? That’s a long time from the initial crimes,

he said in a post

Why on earth she wouldn't object to the mention of a condom, I don't understand."

Speaking about Trump's lawyer, Susan Necheles, Merchan noted in court

I was trying to think about anything other than what was happening there,

she told the jury

The hush money case needs to be stayed. If Judge Merchan tries to proceed with it, or even sets it for sentencing, the Department of Justice will intervene and ultimately the Supreme court will slap him down,

he said

The cash money case is a state prosecution and it will continue,

he said

However, the judge may either delay sentencing until 2029 or impose a sentence now. If the sentence includes a period of incarceration, it will be delayed until 2029. If it is a fine, it will be stayed until Trump has exhausted his appeals,

he said

I don't think he will try. [New York County District Attorney] Alvin Bragg said early on he would comply with the Department of Justice's guidance, which forbids indicting, continuing with the prosecution, or jailing a sitting president, or otherwise interfering with the president's functions,

he said

Anything that would interfere with his ability to serve as president would actually be unconstitutional and in violation of the supremacy clause,

Agnifilo told the Washington Examiner