of Donald Trump is coming to an end, though not in the way the special counsel had intended.

With Donald Trump taking office come January, Smith's cases are likely to die anyway,

so now he's taking the steps he can to wrap things up while he has the authority to do so,

filing a motion to dismiss both the election interference case and the classified documents case.

And while the move isn't unexpected, the consequences could still be significant.

Namely, what Donald Trump will feel he can now do as president more than ever.

Not just the way he wields executive power, but what and who he chooses to wield it against.

Including in this case, in particular, Jack Smith himself and the team of prosecutors who helped investigate him.

Look, I think that in some ways it's a very interesting question, maybe for a law school exam, Katie. In other ways, Mr. Trump can slam the door

shut very easily by pardoning himself from these offenses. Now, open question as to whether or not a

president can pardon himself. It hasn't happened before. It happen here but in the end I think

Katie the odds of these cases coming back to life one way or the other are

relatively small if they do come back to life it's not going to be for you know

until the end of mr. Trump's term I think that's a fair assessment Tom if I

were Jack Smith today I'd be a little bit nervous.

If I was anybody on his prosecutorial team, I'd be nervous as well, especially if I was one of those career employees who was assigned to the job and was just doing as I was assigned.

I was investigating as I was as I was told, following the law

and following the crumbs that Donald Trump left where they may.

Two Office of Legal Counsel opinions within the Department of Justice, one during the Nixon years,

one during the Bill Clinton years, said that a sitting president cannot be

charged at the time that he is president. So it was no question that this was going to be dismissed,

but if you're going to dismiss it, I mean, why on God's green earth would Jack Smith seek to

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