President-elect Donald Trump has been dogged for two years by federal criminal investigations and indictments led by Special Counsel Jack Smith that threatened to send him to prison for the rest of his life if convicted.

The Department of Justice is now internally discussing how to bring those cases against Trump to a swift conclusion, given the results of Tuesday's election, Fox News reported.

That is because of longstanding DOJ policy that precludes federal indictment and prosecution of a sitting president, as such actions would violate the separation of powers doctrine.

DOJ acknowledges it must dismiss charges against Trump

NBC News reported Wednesday that DOJ senior officials are trying to figure out how best to "wind down" the two federal cases against President-elect Trump before he is inaugurated and takes office in a few months.

That will be an abrupt change for Special Counsel Smith, who had been pressing hard to try and bring his prosecutions of Trump to the point of trial and conviction before the election took place, but saw both cases get stalled out by pre-trial motions.

The election interference case in Washington D.C. had only recently gotten back on track -- but remained far from trial -- after it was temporarily waylaid by the U.S. Supreme Court's presidential immunity decision, while the classified documents case in Florida had already been dismissed by the district court judge.

Now, following Trump's decisive electoral victory on Tuesday, and in light of a 2000 DOJ memo that reaffirmed conclusions reached after the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, the DOJ has determined that it can no longer pursue the criminal charges against the former president, as doing so would "unduly interfere in a direct or formal sense with the conduct of the presidency."

The memo concluded, "In light of the effect that an indictment would have on the operations of the executive branch, 'an impeachment proceeding is the only appropriate way to deal with a President while in office.'"

"Americans want an immediate end to the weaponization of our justice system"

The NBC News report noted that, at least for now, it is up to Special Counsel Smith to figure out how to conclude his dual prosecutorial efforts against President-elect Trump, though there will likely continue to be some unanswered questions, such as whether the prosecutions can resume once Trump leaves office, what happens to the evidence against him in the meantime, whether his co-defendants in the documents case will still be prosecuted, and whether a damning final report will be released to the public.

Likewise, Trump's attorneys are trying to determine how they can hasten the end of the criminal cases, most likely with new motions to dismiss that will provide federal prosecutors with the opportunity to file a response that explains why the charges will be withdrawn.

"The American people have re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate to Make America Great Again," Steven Cheung, spokesman for the Trump campaign, told NBC. "It is now abundantly clear that Americans want an immediate end to the weaponization of our justice system, so we can, as President Trump said in his historic speech last night, unify our country and work together for the betterment of our nation."

Former AG Barr says prosecutors should "do the right thing" and dismiss Trump cases

In an interview with Fox News, former Attorney General Bill Barr said that despite everyone being aware of the criminal allegations against his former boss, "The American people have rendered their verdict on President Trump, and decisively chosen him to lead the country for the next four years."

"They did that with full knowledge of the claims against him by prosecutors around the country and I think Attorney General Garland and the state prosecutors should respect the people’s decision and dismiss the cases against President Trump now," he continued and noted that the cases had already been "greatly weakened by a series of court decisions" and now had been "extensively aired and rejected by the American people."

As for the state-level cases against Trump in Georgia and New York, the latter of which already reached conviction and is awaiting a sentencing, Barr said, "Further maneuvering on these cases in the weeks ahead would serve no legitimate purpose and only distract the country and the incoming administration from the task at hand. The public interest now demands that the country unite and focus on the challenges we face at home and abroad. Attorney General Garland and all the state prosecutors should do the right thing and help the country move forward by dismissing the cases."