Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election in decisive fashion, and it appears he has triumphed over the ongoing lawfare campaign against him as well.
In the wake of the former president’s win on Election Day, the Department of Justice is reportedly looking to wind down the two outstanding federal criminal cases against him. Those include the election interference case overseen by Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, D.C., and the classified documents case with Judge Aileen Cannon in south Florida.
On Wednesday’s show, Megyn was joined by National Review’s Rich Lowry to discuss the breaking news and what it says about the efforts to undermine Trump’s political career.
The End of Lawfare?
Just hours after Trump was projected as the winner of both the Electoral College and the popular vote, rumors started to circulate that the Biden administration’s DOJ is planning to relieve Special Counsel Jack Smith of his duties and drop the federal cases against him.
MSNBC’s Ken Dilanian reported that sources close to the situation indicate the department is looking to wrap up the cases immediately rather than let Smith try them through Inauguration Day.
DILANIAN: What’s interesting here is that the DOJ is moving to end them even before he takes office, citing the longstanding DOJ policy that sitting presidents can’t be prosecuted.
And there were some thought that maybe special counsel Jack Smith was going to sprint through the finish line, was going to work up until the last day, force Trump to fire him, wait till a new Attorney General was appointed.
But that does not appear to be the thinking inside the department. The thinking is that these cases can’t go forward.
CNN, Fox News, and ABC News all chimed in with similar reporting. Former Attorney General Bill Barr, meanwhile, publicly urged state prosecutors in New York and Georgia – where Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis have their own business records and election interference cases against Trump – to “respect the people’s decision and dismiss the cases against President Trump now.”
As it relates to the New York case, Judge Juan Merchan announced in September that he was postponing sentencing to November 26 as not to interfere with election (it was originally scheduled to take place on September 18). In late May, a New York City jury found Trump guilty of 34 criminal charges related to falsifying business records in a ‘scheme’ to influence the 2016 presidential election.
‘The White Flag’
Megyn said the reporting confirms just how politically motivated the investigations into Trump were. “Look at the audacity of what they did [with] the banana republic sh-t going after a former president with two federal prosecutions,” she said. “And now they are on the knee. He rested the mantle of power away from them… and they have given up.”
As Lowry noted, the lawfare was designed to prevent Trump from ever successfully running for president again and yet he managed to overcome it. “He made this work out even though, at the outset, reasonable people thought, ‘Four indictments? Not survivable. Forget it. You are going to be in courtrooms the whole time. You might be going to jail,'” he explained. “And he tiptoed through the raindrops and prevailed over these people.”
Ultimately, Megyn said it is the end of this era. “There will be no additional appeal to the 11th Circuit – that will be abandoned. There will be no going back to Judge Chutkan who hates him and trying to get her to somehow say he is an insurrectionist before he gets certified,” she concluded. “This is it. That is the white flag after all this time.”
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 937 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.