Without fanfare, the Justice Department’s investigation into former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election is approaching an important milestone.

After nearly nine months of behind-the-scenes clashes, Trump’s lawyers have largely lost their battle to limit testimony from some of his closest aides to a federal grand jury. The decisions, in a string of related cases, represent an almost total failure by Trump to constrain the reach of the inquiry and have strengthened the position of Jack Smith, the special counsel overseeing the investigation, as he builds an accounting of the former president’s efforts to retain power after his defeat at the polls.