A year ago, former President Trump was considering four possible criminal trials with 91 charges and decades in prison.
Trump staked his defense on regaining the White House, a strategy that paid off in political victory.
The former president and president-elect are expected to force a stay in the case after defeating Vice President Harris in a reversal called from Decision Desk headquarters early Wednesday morning. He is expected to become the first convicted felon to hold the nation's highest office.
An impending takeover of the Justice Department allows him to drop federal criminal cases. As for Trump's state lawsuits, Trump's lawyers are expected to ask judges to freeze prosecution in Georgia and New York.
President Trump has long indicated that he plans to immediately dismantle Special Counsel Jack Smith's office once he retakes the White House.
“It's that simple: I would fire him within two seconds,” Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt last month.
That would effectively end two federal lawsuits against Trump.
In the first case, he is charged with conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election. In the second case in Florida, he is accused of mishandling classified documents after leaving office and obstructing government efforts to recover classified documents.
President Trump could simply force the Justice Department to abandon its current appeal to reinstate the documents lawsuit. A federal judge had dismissed the lawsuit, saying Smith's appointment was unconstitutional.
Trump's state-level criminal cases have not been prosecuted by the Justice Department, limiting his control over future actions.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), who convicted President Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records for illegally concealing hush money payments during the 2016 campaign; Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D), who is prosecuting the case, cannot be directly fired. Regarding the extortion charges surrounding the 2020 election.
Still, his lawyers have long suggested that a victory in the election would delay the prosecution until his term ends in 2029.
“Mr. Sadow, if your client wins the 2024 election, is there a chance he could go to trial in 2025?” Georgia Judge Scott McAfee asked during a hearing last December.
“The answer to that is, based on the Supremacy Clause and his duties as president of the United States, this trial will not take place at all until after he finishes his term,” Trump's lawyer Steve Sadow responded.
If Trump loses, his criminal case is expected to move forward in earnest, possibly later this month for falsifying business records to cover up hush-money deals with porn stars ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The first case will likely be a ruling in New York.
The New York judge overseeing the case, Judge Juan Marchan, earlier this year postponed Trump's sentencing until Nov. 26, barring him from facing any criminal penalties until after the election.
“The court is a fair, impartial, and apolitical institution,” Marchan wrote in his Sept. 6 ruling. “If it is necessary to defer a decision on a motion and a sentence, the idea that the court will make a decision or sentence that favors or disadvantages any political party or political party is dispelled. “Should” be a candidate for any position. ”
It is unclear whether Trump's sentencing will proceed as planned.
Willis won his re-election race in Georgia; According to the Associated PressThis would allow her to remain in charge of Trump's prosecution, at least for now. A state appeals court is considering whether to remove her from office over her romantic relationship with the former special prosecutor who handled the case.
With President Trump heading to the White House, the appeals court may not have a chance to rule. Sadow, President Trump's Georgia lawyer, wrote on social media platform He said he now has the “honor of representing the next and 47th President of the United States.”
Meanwhile, Trump's federal lawsuit faces an even more dire situation.
If Trump lost, the special counsel would continue his efforts to recover the federal docket case in Florida. So far, the government and Trump's lawyers have filed briefs with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. A date for oral argument has not been set.
In Mr. Trump's federal election destruction case, Mr. Smith filed a major lawsuit with the court last month that lays out the framework for future litigation within the new scope of the Supreme Court's immunity ruling.
Trump's lawyers are expected to file a response in the coming weeks, after which U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan will decide how to proceed with the case. Lawyers on both sides and outside legal observers expected her decision to eventually be appealed to the Supreme Court.
During the 15 months he has overseen the case, Chutkan has repeatedly said he would not consider the Trump campaign.
“I definitely don't want to get involved in the election,” she said at a hearing in September.
Now, with the results of the election, this case is nearing its conclusion.
