Jack Smith plans to step down before Donald Trump takes office

Special counsel Jack Smith and his team plan to resign before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, NBC News reported , citing a source familiar with the matter.

The New York Times, citing people familiar with Smith's plans, was the first to report his planned departure.

It's the latest sign of the federal criminal cases against Trump winding down after his presidential victory. Trump said last month that he would fire Smith within "two seconds." Smith resigning before Trump takes office would prevent that.

Since Trump won the presidency again, it became inevitable that his two federal criminal cases would go away. It's just a question of when and how, exactly. The news of Smith's plans follows his team asking U.S. District Judge Tanya Chuktan in the federal election interference case to clear all litigation deadlines and to give him until Dec. 2 to tell the judge how the government plans to proceed. It's less clear how the classified documents case will wind down; that one is currently on an appeal brought by the government after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed it.

A lingering question is whether and when we will see a report on Smith's investigation. The New York Times reported that Justice Department regulations call for Smith "to file a report summarizing his investigation and decisions — a document that may stand as the final accounting from a prosecutor who filed extensive charges against a former president but never got his cases to trial."

The news of Smith's resignation plans also follows the latest delay in Trump's New York state criminal case, the only one of his four criminal cases that went to trial. He was found guilty at trial but hasn't been sentenced, and the case is currently delayed until next week , after Manhattan prosecutors, not unlike Smith's request to Chutkan, told Judge Juan Merchan they need time to evaluate how they want to proceed.

Trump also still has a pending state criminal case in Georgia, which will also not likely proceed against him while he's in office, but like the New York state case, what that means for the overall fate of the case is uncertain. Presidents cannot dismiss or pardon state cases. He pleaded not guilty in all four cases.

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