There are indications that the four criminal cases against Trump may be dropped, including the classified documents case and the January 6 "insurrection" case pushed by special counsel Jack Smith. These cases were extremely weak and were thought by legal experts to be defeatable anyway, being put in place solely for election interference purposes, something which a Trump-appointed special prosecutor must go after.
Remaining concerns are the upcoming sentencing in the New York state court on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to an ageing porn actress. Trump's lawyers are seeking to delay the sentencing date. It is not clear why there has been no appeal against the decision, which legal professors such as Professor Turley has described as not being based upon any defined crime. Electoral fraud for paying someone not to bad mouth a public figure? Isn't that blackmail? And it is a bit rich coming from the Democrats who have failed in their first election to swing it by fraud.
"As Donald Trump clinched his resounding presidential victory early Wednesday, the four criminal cases against him seemed to begin their march to dissolution.
The election win prompted special counsel Jack Smith to start discussing how to wind down the two federal prosecutions of the president-elect, according to a person familiar with the internal deliberations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. One case accuses Trump of hoarding highly classified documents after leaving the White House; the other charges him with trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
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In New York, meanwhile, Trump's lawyers were expected to try to delay his upcoming sentencing in state court on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to an adult-film actress.
The possible slowing down of the federal cases — which could in theory barrel forward until Inauguration Day — could give Smith time to deliver a final report detailing the findings of his two probes to Attorney General Merrick Garland before Trump becomes the 47th president.
A Trump campaign spokesman said Trump's victory at the polls shows that Americans believe the cases against him are political.
"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," spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement Wednesday.
Smith must also weigh how to proceed with his appeal of U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon's decision to dismiss the Florida classified-documents case. The judge, a Trump appointee, ignored decades of legal precedent to rule that Smith's appointment was unlawful.
Justice Department officials have expressed concern that Cannon's decision could jeopardize not just future special counsels but any federal prosecutor or senior official serving in a temporary position, The Washington Post reported in August.
Dropping the appeal may not be a simple decision for Smith, because prosecutors want the decision overturned not only to resurrect the case but also to protect Justice Department appointments during the Trump administration and beyond.
Trump's four criminal cases, including a state election-obstruction case in Georgia, were brought within months of one another in 2023.
They initially seemed as if they could jeopardize his chances of being elected again to public office. But Trump denied wrongdoing in every case, insisting that the charges were proof that the government was trying to hurt him politically. Soon, his support skyrocketed. Republican elected officials rallied around him, echoing his claims that the justice system was "rigged."
Trump's lawyers filed every possible appeal and sought delays wherever they could, at times citing his presidential campaign as a reason he could not meet court deadlines or attend proceedings. They succeeded in pushing all but the New York trial past the presidential election, in the process winning a landmark Supreme Court ruling that greatly expanded presidential immunity and narrowed the federal election-interference case in D.C.
As Trump prepares to return to the White House, each of the criminal cases is in jeopardy.
Trump is scheduled to go before New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan on Nov. 26 to learn his punishment in the hush money trial, which some experts have said would be unlikely to include jail time — even if he had lost the election. His election victory could make it harder to impose any sentence, even probation.
It was not clear Wednesday when Trump's lawyers would formally seek to postpone or reschedule the sentencing. Trump's attorney Todd Blanche did not respond to messages. The sentencing was originally scheduled for July but was delayed until November so Trump could argue that his conviction was built on evidence that should have been disqualified under the Supreme Court's July 1 immunity ruling.
A spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney's office, which prosecuted the case, declined to comment.
Trump vowed as a candidate that he would "fire" Smith to halt the federal trials. There is no doubt that he will try to appoint an attorney general committed to doing so if Smith does not wind down the cases on his own.
But even without such action, Trump would not go on trial anytime soon — if at all. The Justice Department has long recognized that presidents are immune from criminal prosecution while in office. As Justice Department attorney Michael Dreeben acknowledged to the Supreme Court in April in the case involving Trump's potential immunity from prosecution: "He can't be prosecuted while he's a sitting president."
A spokesperson for Smith's office declined to comment. So did a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office for the District of Columbia, which is prosecuting people charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. In this year's campaign, Trump made pardoning at least some of those defendants a signature promise.
Legal experts say new presidents and attorneys general in the past have not removed special counsels appointed by their predecessors. However, in past administrations, those special counsels have not been prosecuting the new president.
Directly ousting Smith "could harm the reputation of the department and make it look like the department was a political entity," Mary McCord, who served as acting assistant attorney general for national security during the Obama administration and the beginning of the Trump administration, said in an interview before the election.
Even after he becomes president, Trump will owe potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in civil fines and judgments related to a business fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James and a pair of defamation and sexual assault lawsuits brought by the writer E. Jean Carroll. He is appealing all three of those judgments, however.
The judge in the federal election-obstruction case in D.C., U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, has been deciding what allegations can remain in the indictment, based on the Supreme Court's immunity ruling. Both the president-elect and the special counsel's office face deadlines on Nov. 21 and in December to file legal arguments over Trump's challenges to Smith's appointment as special counsel, and to whether Trump can be prosecuted while not in office for actions taken while president.
Even if Chutkan ruled on those matters before Trump was inaugurated, her decision probably would be appealed, with no trial date on the horizon.
The 11th Circuit has not yet scheduled oral argument in the appeal of Cannon's dismissal of the Florida case. Any eventual ruling could also be appealed to the Supreme Court, again delaying the case well past the time when Trump will take power. In addition, Trump's Justice Department could drop the appeal, refusing to defend the Biden administration's position in court.
Neither Trump nor his attorney general can halt the state cases he faces. But prosecutors in Georgia will struggle to go forward with trying him for allegedly attempting to overturn the state's 2020 election results, because federal guidelines say a president should not stand trial while in office. And, while it has never been tested, legal experts say those guidelines would probably extend to state cases.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) brought charges against Trump and more than a dozen allies in August 2023. The case was paused months ago after Willis was accused of having an inappropriate romantic relationship with an outside lawyer she hired to lead the prosecution.
Trump and some of his co-defendants have appealed Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee's decision not to remove Willis and her office from the case. Oral arguments in that appeal are scheduled for Dec. 5, with a decision by March and an appeal to the state Supreme Court expected after that.
Steve Sadow, Trump's lead attorney in Georgia, previously argued that if Trump regained the presidency, the case would have to be delayed until 2029. "Under the supremacy clause and its duty to the president of the United States, this trial would not take place at all until after he left his term of office," Sadow said.
Willis, who won her own reelection race Tuesday, declined through a spokesman to comment. She has strongly implied in the past that she will seek to move forward with the case against Trump unless a court blocks her.
Even if proceedings are paused against Trump, the Georgia election-interference case will move on for the 14 others who are charged, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani. A trial against them could produce politically damaging revelations about Trump.
But Trump's Republican allies in Georgia and Washington, who have already sought to stymie the case, are expected to continue those efforts, including trying to force Willis to testify before a Georgia state Senate subcommittee investigating her and her office."
"Former President Donald Trump's projected win will get him out of at least some of his criminal charges, as his ascension to the White House makes it all but certain the two pending federal criminal cases against him will be dropped—with the Justice Department possibly ending the cases even before his inauguration—though Trump will likely only be able to delay his two cases in state court.
Trump faces four pending criminal cases against him, including federal charges for trying to overturn the 2020 election and allegedly withholding White House documents, a conviction in New York state court for falsifying business records and state charges in Georgia for trying to overturn the 2020 election.
Federal Election Case: Trump's federal charges for trying to overturn the 2020 election, which have not yet gone to trial, are virtually certain to get dropped once he takes office in January, as Trump has promised to fire Special Counsel Jack Smith—who's leading the investigation—"within two seconds" and can appoint officials to the Justice Department who will drop the charges against him.
Federal Documents Case: While Smith is currently trying to appeal Trump's documents charges after Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed them, Trump's election ensures the government will drop that appeal when he takes office and the charges will go away.
It's also likely the federal cases will go away sooner, as NBC News and CNN, citing anonymous sources, report the Justice Department is discussing how to "wind down" the cases against Trump before he takes office, with Smith in "active talks" with DOJ leadership on how to end the prosecutions.
New York Conviction: Trump cannot pardon himself on the 34 felony counts he's already been convicted on in New York or have the case dropped—since as president he won't have any control over state charges—but his election is very likely to delay his sentencing, now scheduled for Nov. 26, or at least ensure he would not have to serve any sentence until after he leaves office.
Georgia Election Case: Trump's Georgia charges are already on hold while an appeals court decides whether to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the case, but even if Willis stays on, Trump's lawyers will almost certainly try to delay proceedings until after Trump leaves office, meaning Willis would not be able to prosecute him until 2029.
Judge Juan Merchan, who oversees Trump's New York case, is scheduled to rule Nov. 12 on whether the charges against Trump will stand, as the ex-president has asked him to throw out the charges based on the Supreme Court's ruling giving former presidents some immunity from criminal charges. That ruling will give the first indication of how Trump's criminal conviction in New York could play out from here now that Trump's been elected.
What About Trump's Civil Cases And Legal Fees?In addition to the four criminal cases against him, Trump also has a number of civil cases that are still pending, including appeals of writer E. Jean Carroll's two defamation cases against him and the civil fraud case against Trump and his company. Those cases resulted in multimillion-dollar legal judgments against Trump, who has been ordered to pay more than $90 million including interest in the two Carroll cases and more than $478 million and counting in the fraud case. Those cases and fees will not be affected by his election, as while presidents can't be held liable for actions they take while in office, the Supreme Court ruled in Clinton v. Jones that presidents can be sued in civil court for actions taken before they were president. Trump's victory "does nothing to change either the fact, as determined by two separate juries, that he sexually assaulted and defamed Ms. Carroll, or the applicable legal principles under which he was held liable for that conduct," Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan said Wednesday, as quoted by the New York Daily News. Appeals courts heard oral arguments in the fraud case and one of the Carroll cases in September, with rulings expected sometime over the next few months.
While Trump has vowed to immediately fire Smith when he takes office, technically that's not up to him, as only the attorney general can hire and fire special counsels—who are themselves meant to be third parties that can ensure a more independent investigation. That being said, Trump is certain to name an attorney general who would be willing to do his bidding on the matter and fire Smith. It's also unclear what repercussions Trump could face if he were to forgo the legal process and try to get rid of Smith himself, as the Supreme Court has given him broad leeway to avoid both criminal and civil legal challenges based on his actions in office.
Key BackgroundTrump is the first sitting or former president to be indicted on criminal charges. The ex-president likely being able to avoid most of his criminal counts comes after Trump and his lawyers successfully delayed the cases against him for months, indefinitely postponing trials in his federal cases that were initially scheduled to take place last spring. Trump's federal election case got postponed while the ex-president appealed his presidential immunity claims all the way up to the Supreme Court, also filing a flurry of motions in his federal documents case that allowed Cannon to delay the proceedings before she ultimately dismissed the charges. While Trump's case in New York did go to trial, his lawyers successfully postponed his sentencing, which was originally supposed to happen in July. Merchan in September agreed to delay the sentencing until after the election, ruling he wanted to avoid any perception that his sentence would be impacted by political bias.
TangentJudge Cannon, whom legal experts have criticized, claiming she's been overly deferential to Trump, could become a part of the next Trump administration, as ABC News reported before the election the Trump-appointed judge was on his shortlist for attorney general."