Politico reports:

Seventy-five days. That’s how long special counsel Jack Smith has to figure out how to unwind his unprecedented efforts to put former and future President Donald Trump in prison.

Smith’s two cases against Trump — one for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election; the other for hoarding classified documents and obstructing justice — were doomed the moment the 2024 race was called. That’s because longstanding Justice Department policy forbids prosecuting a sitting president, and even if it didn’t, there was never any doubt that Trump’s attorney general would drop the charges.

Trump, for his part, has promised to fire Smith “within two seconds” of taking office.

So the secretive prosecutor, who has been building both cases since November 2022, must now decide what kind of exit to make. [Continue reading…]