In the event that Donald Trump wins the election and becomes the president — his Justice Department won't slam the prosecuting brakes.
The Washington Post reported that officials have confirmed anonymously that the criminal cases against Trump will move forward at least until Inauguration Day in January 2025.
The outlet spoke with senior law enforcement officials about their game plan: they have long prepared for the two federal indictments against the presumptive Republican nominee as being constrained by deadlines.
The primary reason for this is an institutional tenet of the Justice Department policy to restrain from criminally charging a sitting president.
That policy holds for presidents, but sources and lawyers at the department told The Post they don't think it applies to pursuing matters against a president-elect.
Read also: Supreme Court rules Trump gets limited immunity from prosecution
That means motions will continue to be filed, court hearings scheduled, and a trial could plausibly still take place up until Trump's hand rests on the Bible to be sworn in.
That means up until Inauguration Day — the sources predict it will be as close to business as usual at the Justice Department.
When reached by The Post, a spokesman for special counsel Jack Smith wouldn't comment.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung stayed true to the Trump talking points, calling the cases “hoaxes” and noted that they “are imploding as their collective efforts to interfere in the election have massively backfired.”
Notably, however, that plan may still come into legal headwinds after Monday's historic Supreme Court ruling that immunized the president's official acts from criminal culpability.
Already, the ruling inspired New York's state court to push back a sentencing of the former president's conviction of 34 counts of falsifying business records in his seven-week hush money trial from July 11 to Sept. 18.
"The July 11, 2024, sentencing date is therefore vacated," Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan wrote.
What's more, Trump could also install an attorney general who might move to swiftly remove his cases from their respective dockets by dropping the charges.
Trump faces federal indictments for his election subversion trial in Washington, D.C. and his classified documents obstruction case in Fort Pierce, Florida.
“The Justice Department isn’t governed by the election calendar," former Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley, said. "Its prosecution of Trump is based on the law, the facts, and the Justice Manual — the department’s bible that lays out the post-Watergate norms that have prevented it from being weaponized.
“Until those norms change, or they’re ordered otherwise, I’d expect this Justice Department to be full speed ahead. And they should be.”
