As President-elect Trump wins, outgoing prosecutor Jack Smith says he needs time to think about what to do next.

An appeals court has been requested to halt federal prosecutors' attempt to resurrect the criminal case against Donald Trump legal case update, the president-elect of the United States, who was charged with improperly handling confidential data following the conclusion of his first term.

On Wednesday, Special Counsel Jack Smith, 55, submitted the plea to the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, asking for more time to think through the ramifications of Trump's imminent return to the White House.

The government humbly asks the court to put this appeal on hold and extend the time for the government's reply brief, Smith wrote. He noted that the administration will have time to evaluate this extraordinary situation and decide on the best course of action moving ahead in accordance with Department of Justice policy thanks to the requested delay.

The action has increased concerns that Trump would mostly escape the two federal court proceedings that have been brought against him.

After leaving office in 2021, Trump, 78, was charged with unlawfully retaining sensitive information at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.

In July, a federal judge Trump selected to the court dismissed the lawsuit, finding that Smith had been wrongfully appointed as special counsel case news. Smith then filed an appeal with his team.

However, Smith said on Wednesday that his office would provide a determination on how to proceed if the court approved the halt. It was scheduled to start on December 2, 2024, at the latest.

In a second federal lawsuit charging Trump of trying to US special counsel pause his loss in the 2020 election—which culminated with the then-president giving a vehement speech at a rally known as "Stop the Steal" on January 6, 2021—his administration has already obtained a similar halt.

Hundreds of Trump supporters rushed the US Capitol that afternoon in an attempt to block the two chambers of Congress from certifying Joe Biden as president.