Four criminal indictments, a mug shot and a week-long trial in Manhattan have failed to stop former President Donald Trump from campaigning for a second term.
On the contrary, Trump faces a staggering 91 felonies. Faced Two federal and two state cases have been slowly moving forward in the last year, with judges facing prior issues leading to successful efforts to halt the cases.
“It's surprising that none of them have had a significant impact,” said Philip Holloway, a criminal defense lawyer and legal analyst. “Ultimately, it looks like things will go very well in all of these cases.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, Indictment In April 2023, he was also the only prosecutor whose case actually went to trial and a jury convicted him of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to paying off a non-disclosure agreement with porn star Stormy Daniels.
Trump was scheduled to be sentenced just days before the Republican National Convention in July – urging conversation As for whether he can still accept the nomination behind bars — the Supreme Court ruled on July 1, finding former presidents not immune from prosecution for official acts in office and forcing Bragg and all prosecutors to consider applications for their cases.
Judge Juan Merchan previously agreed to postpone the case until September 6th, and now has agreed to postpone it until November 26th.
“The imposition of sentence is deferred to avoid any unfair appearance that the proceedings were influenced or attempted to influence a presidential election in which the candidate is a candidate,” Marchan wrote.
Holloway said the verdict could “very well be overturned on appeal.”
NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 23: Former US President Donald Trump appears for his trial on charges of concealing hush money payments, at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on April 23, 2024. Former US President Donald Trump has been indicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, his first criminal indictment. (Photo by Curtis Means Pool/Getty Images)
The Supreme Court's abandonment of Marchan's timeline woke Trump's federal election interference case in Washington, D.C., from a months-long hold resulting from his appeal, putting the trial even further out of reach.
Judge Tanya Chutkan Rejected Trump's efforts for presidential immunity began in early December as he sought to speed up the appeals process to issue a ruling before the appeals court.
The case is now back in Chukkan's hands, but the timeline she has set ensures that the trial will not take place before the election, although it could easily lead to the release of unseen evidence about presidential immunity at the end of September. (RELATED: 'His Last Song': New Jack Smith indictment signals desire to 'sway public opinion' in likely doomed case)
Despite her insistence that the case must move regardless of the electoral calendar, Chutkan acknowledged that with so many looming appeals, a trial date is hardly conceivable.
“I risk reversal no matter what I do,” Chukwun acknowledged during the Sept. 5 hearing.
In addition to the issue of presidential immunity, Chukwun will also have to address the argument that prompted Judge Eileen Cannon to dismiss Trump's federal classified documents case in its entirety: Smith's illegal appointment.
Cannon ruled in July that he must dismiss the lawsuit because Smith's appointment violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution, but that process will also take time.
In Georgia, the case against Trump began to collapse under a different kind of pressure: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis's “inappropriate” relationship with the special prosecutor she appointed, Nathan Wade. (RELATED: Judge throws two counts against Trump in Fani Willis indictment)
Their relationship drew national attention after one of his co-defendants filed a motion to disbar Willis, alleging that the two vacationed together and benefited financially from Wade's appointment. After several days of proceedings, the judge questioned whether the two testified truthfully about when their relationship began, but allowed Willis to remain in his position on the condition that Wade step down.
The 13 charges Trump originally faced have also been reduced to eight. Judge Scott McAfee dismissed three charges in March and two more on Thursday.
“The largest jury verdict in history”
After Chukwang announced the timeline to ensure there would be no trial before November, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said At X, the focus now is on elections.
“With a Trump victory making a trial unlikely, this election could result in the largest jury verdict in history,” Turley wrote. “Jack Smith may never see a jury in his case.”
A loss for Trump means he “will likely face years of trials and appeals before the legal issues are finally decided.” According to Gregory Gellman, professor of law at Syracuse University;
If Trump wins, the federal case will almost certainly be dismissed, either by Trump issuing a self-pardon or by his DOJ appointees dismissing it, and he could not exonerate himself from the state-level case.
“It is unclear whether and how state prison sentences would be enforced against a sitting president, or whether any supreme federal power would prevent states from interfering with the activities of an elected president,” Germain wrote. “Prison sentences in any state criminal cases would likely pose a new constitutional crisis.”
Holloway told the DCNF that judges may not even proceed with a criminal trial against a sitting or president-elect.
“At the very least, they would have ended up stuck, but more likely not, and they would have died in the water,” he said.
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