U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has just suspended the criminal case that Special Counsel Jack Smith has brought against President-Elect Donald Trump. 

USA Today reports that "Chutkan halted all deadlines Friday for filings in the election interference case."

This is the case that Smith brought against Trump in Washington, D.C., alleging that Trump committed various crimes when he attempted to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election.

As for why Smith appears to be backing off, it is because his days would appear to be numbered.

The latest

Following Trump's election victory, Smith asked Chutkan to halt all deadlines in the case.

In a court filing, he wrote that he "respectfully requests that the Court vacate the remaining deadlines in the pretrial schedule to afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy."

Chutkan, as stated at the outset, has granted Smith's request.

This means that, for the time being, the case has been put on hold.

However, it is more likely than not that, in the very near future, the case will be dismissed altogether.

Here is why:

Trump has made it extremely clear that he believes that Biden-Harris administration hired Smith to lead persecution of their top political rival, namely, Trump. Accordingly, Trump has said that, if elected, one of the first things that he would do, is to fire Smith.

Following Trump's election victory, the Trump campaign immediately called upon Smith to end all cases that he has against Trump. The campaign wrote:

The American people have re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate to Make America Great Again. 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 victory speech, unify our country and work together for the betterment of our nation

It is unclear whether Trump is going to get the opportunity to fire Smith, but it does appear as though Smith is dropping the cases.

USA Today explains:

Continuing to pursue the charges against the former president would violate longstanding policy against prosecuting a sitting president.

It now appears that it is only a matter of time before Smith and the Department of Justice decide to end the cases that they have going against Trump. The question, for them, is clearly how to pull out without completely humiliating themselves and without admitting to the American people that the cases were a sham. It is unlikely they are going to find an answer to this one.