Now that he will be returning to the White House, Donald Trump is going to make the federal cases against him disappear.
Trump is now the first convicted felon to become president, and so he has the authority to dismiss special counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland specifically to investigate Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election and lead the January 6 insurrection, as well as his mishandling of classified documents. Trump has already threatened to not just fire Smith, but have him deported. Though deporting Smith would be hard, given that he’s a natural-born citizen, it’s still easy for Trump to get rid of all the cases against him.
Trump is certain to appoint an attorney general who will not only dismiss cases against him but protect him from any new cases and target his enemies. Among the possible names being discussed is Judge Aileen Cannon, who already dismissed Trump’s classified documents case on the grounds that the appointment of Smith was invalid. Trump said he would consider appointing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to the role, who not only has his own legal cases against him but also tried to overturn the 2020 election results.
The charges Trump faces in Georgia for overturning the 2020 election results in that state will also go away, and the sentence for his felony conviction in New York over his hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels is delayed at the very least. The protection of the office of the president will also shield Trump from the civil judgments and penalties against him, such as the fraud judgment against him in New York and E. Jean Carroll’s defamation cases against him.
The Justice Department won’t just be headed by a Trump loyalist, but it will also be filled with a right-wing legal army set to bulldoze any obstacle or measure of accountability against the president, whether that means firing civil servants who object to Trump’s outlandish decrees or ensuring that the conservative fever dreams in Project 2025 are implemented.
The Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity already put many of the cases against Trump in jeopardy, but now that he’ll be entering the Oval Office again, the president-elect will consider himself bulletproof. Trump will eagerly be counting the days until he is sworn in January 20, 2025, when he can be a “dictator on day one” with few, if any, consequences.
