Smith seems to have given up on a pre-election trial, but still hopes to bring charges before inauguration

If Trump wins the election, will there be any stomach from the American public to put him on trial?

There may not be a more frustrated person on the planet than Jack Smith. For a man used to bullying his way past Judges and pushing the envelope on politicized prosecutions, things have not gone well for him.

On one side, his attempts to fast-track the documents case has been thwarted by Judge Cannon over and over. She has done nothing wrong, mind you. She has simply allowed (as Judges are supposed to do) the defense to not just make motions, but to make arguments for these motions. That is how the process is supposed to work and why the average case takes two years to get from charges to the actual trial. Smith erroneously believed that he would get a trial completed in less than half that time and do so for complicated charges that have never been brought by any other prosecutor. Cannon is simply proving to everyone why it takes as long as it does to move from charges to trial.

Meanwhile, he had a Judge in DC willing to cut corners and rule against the defense over and over, many times without bothering to hold hearings just to speed things along. While that case may have been on pace to beat the clock, the lack of hearings and documentation of any records for these decisions just backfired in a big way. The USSC has now remanded the immunity case back to her court in order to actually hold a hearing, create a record, and make a ruling which in theory can probably still be appealed. Had she bothered to do her job, then there may have been enough detail for the high court to make the call on much of this, and then Smith could have gone forward with whatever the USSC left him. But doing her job in a proper manner was akin to slowing down the process, something both her and Smith were loath to do.

So now Smith has all but conceded that he will not be able to bring any charges before the election, but is holding out hope to do so between election day and inauguration day. We an almost assume that Smith believes Trump will win in November and that his position will be terminated the minute Trump is sworn in.