In the end Jack Smith jumped before he could be pushed. On November 25th the special counsel who spent two years pursuing Donald Trump dropped the two federal indictments against him. The Department of Justice (DoJ) forbids prosecuting sitting presidents, so this was a question of when, not if. Mr Smith will file a report about his futile endeavour before packing his things. The alternative was a stand-off with Mr Trump, who had promised to fire him “within two seconds” of his inauguration. The two criminal cases against Mr Trump in state court, in Georgia and New York, are in effect over, too.