Hi there. Welcome to Meet the Press Now. I'm Ryan Nobles in Washington, where we are following breaking news.

This afternoon, special counsel, Jack Smith, filing motions to end both of his criminal cases against

President-elect Donald Trump, moving to dismiss his case tied to Mr. Trump's efforts to overturn

the 2020 election and abandon his appeal of a lower court ruling that dismissed the other criminal

case tied to Mr. Trump's handling of classified documents. It is filing to dismiss the election interference case specifically.

The special counsel writes, quote, the government's position on the merits of the defendant's

prosecution has not changed, but the circumstances have.

Smith goes on to say that his office must abide by long-standing Justice Department policy that prohibits

federal prosecutions of sitting presidents. He adds, that prohibition is categorical and does not

turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the government's proof, or the merits of the

prosecution, which the government stands fully behind.

Mr. Trump used today's developments to bash the cases against them,

calling them, quote, empty and lawless.

This comes after the special counsel had already signaled plans to resign in the wake of Donald Trump's election victory and wind down the cases against the president-elect.

It also comes as Mr. Trump's pick for Attorney General, Pam Bondi,

has signaled a potential prosecution into Smith and his team when Trump takes office.

NBC News reported over the weekend that the AG pick, Bondi,

vowed to prosecute the, quote, bad prosecutors who indicted Mr. Trump.

With me now, NBC News Justice Justice and Intelligence correspondent, Ken Delanian, and former U.S.

Attorney Barbara McQuaid, who's now an NBC News legal analyst.

So, Ken, today's news from the special counsel, not unexpected, but to be clear,

this is still very historic.

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