Washington Post: Justice Department to pursue Trump prosecutions past the election, even if he wins

CNN —

Justice Department officials will continue to pursue the federal criminal cases against Donald Trump past Election Day, even if he wins, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

The plan is due to a view that DOJ rules against charging or prosecuting a sitting president would not kick in until Inauguration Day in January, people familiar with the discussions told The Post.

Anti-Trump demonstrators protest outside the US Supreme Court as the court considers whether former US President Donald Trump is eligible to run for president in the 2024 election in Washington, DC, on February 8, 2024. The nation's highest court is hearing arguments in the most consequential election law case since it halted the Florida vote recount in 2000 with Republican George W. Bush narrowly leading Democrat Al Gore. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP) (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article How Donald Trump is poised to avoid pre-election trials in three out of four of his criminal cases

The Washington Post’s reporting comes a day after the Supreme Court ruled that Trump may claim immunity from criminal prosecution for some of the actions he took at the end of his presidency.

The court’s decision is likely to further delay a trial on the federal election subversion charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith, leaving Trump poised to avoid pre-election trials in the most significant criminal prosecutions he faces after being found guilty in his hush money trial in May. (His sentencing in that trial has been postponed until September in the wake of the court’s ruling.)

Officials who were not part of the special counsel’s deliberations told CNN they believed the long-standing DOJ policy against criminally