Donald Trump’s election victory Wednesday will essentially end criminal cases brought against him, at least for the four years he occupies the White House.
The first former US president to face criminal charges, Trump for much of this year faced four simultaneous prosecutions, over allegations ranging from his attempt to cover up a hush money payment to pornstar Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign to his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat. A New York jury in May found him guilty of falsifying business records tied to Daniels payment, making him the first former US president convicted of a felony.
Trump, a Republican, had told an interviewer on Oct 24 that he would fire US special counsel Jack Smith – who led the federal prosecutions over his attempts to overturn his election defeat and retention of classified documents after leaving office – “within two seconds” of being sworn in. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges and cast the prosecutions as politically motivated.
While Trump as president will have the authority to fire Smith and shut down federal cases against him, he will not have the same control over the New York hush money case or Georgia’s prosecution of him for trying to overturn his 2020 loss in that state. But his unique role as president makes it unlikely he will face legal consequences in either case during his term in office.
In New York, Trump’s lawyers are expected to ask Justice Juan Merchan to delay his sentencing scheduled for Nov 26 – in which he could face up to four years in prison. Sentencing a president-elect ahead of Inauguration Day would be unprecedented in US history, and legal experts expect the hearing to be delayed.
Trump also faces four charges in federal court in Washington accusing him of spreading false claims of election fraud following his 2020 defeat to Democrat Joe Biden.
In the Georgia racketeering case, prosecutors used state racketeering laws – developed to fight organised crime – to charge Trump in an alleged conspiracy to reverse his defeat in the battleground state in the 2020 election. Trump will not be able to end the prosecution, but his lawyer has already said in court he will seek to pause any activity related to Trump based on an argument that a president should not face the burden of a criminal prosecution while in office.
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