What will happen to Trump's legal cases after he is re-elected? – DW – November 14, 2024

Until Election Day on November 5th, Donald Trump, the former and future President of the United States, faced years in prison. But his return to the White House in 2025 will most likely mean dropping several lawsuits, as well as a New York court guilty verdict on charges of falsifying business records.

Changes in the status of the cases against Trump are largely due to a Supreme Court decision that says presidents enjoy broad immunity from prosecution for official acts committed while in office. That ruling sent prosecutors back to the drawing board in at least two cases to see if they had a chance of success. During his first term as president, Trump appointed three justices to the Supreme Court, giving him a six-to-three conservative majority.

Additionally, because Justice Department guidelines state that a sitting president cannot be tried in federal cases, the prosecutor in two federal cases against Trump is now halting his investigations.

What proceedings are there against the new president?

Trump faces four criminal charges: two federal charges filed by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, one in New York state and another in Georgia state.

Only the New York trial has reached a verdict. A jury there convicted Trump in June of 34 felonies as part of a plan to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush-money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels. Judge Juan M. Merchan put the case on hold until at least Nov. 19 to allow lawyers for both sides to consider their next steps after the election results.

Trump has also been involved in civil litigation.

In two civil libel lawsuits brought by journalist E. Jean Carroll, he was found liable for sexual abuse and awarded damages totaling $88.4 million (€83.6 million). Trump has appealed both rulings.

He has also appealed a civil fraud ruling that required him and his companies to pay $454 million in penalties after New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a case.

Things are certainly likely to come to a standstill in the federal cases and possibly the state cases as well.

“For at least the next four years, it's very likely that the trials will be stopped in some way or possibly suspended,” Eric Posner, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, told DW.

2 federal proceedings are discontinued

The Justice Department has a policy of not prosecuting a sitting president. The same policy meant Trump was not indicted following the release of the Mueller report in 2019, which investigated allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and ties to the initial Trump campaign.

Smith, who led the federal prosecutions, is now reportedly dropping the cases.

However, the policy may not apply to new presidents who have already been impeached. This view is expressed by Claire Finkelstein, a professor at the Carey Law School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Richard Painter, a former chief ethics counsel at the White House during the George W. Bush administration.

The pair wrote last month in the Southern California Law Review Because Trump was indicted before he became president for a second time, the Justice Department could continue to prosecute him. However, Finkelstein admits that this is unlikely in reality.

“I assume that the two federal cases will definitely be withdrawn,” Finkelstein told DW. “For legal reasons, that doesn’t have to be the case.”

A federal case indicting Trump in June 2023 on 37 counts of “violating our national security laws” and “participating in a conspiracy to obstruct justice” was dismissed in July 2024 by Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon on the grounds Smith was unconstitutionally appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Smith has appealed the verdict and the motion for a retrial is still pending.

The other, being heard in the District of Columbia by Judge Tanya Chutkan, relates to Trump's attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The Supreme Court's immunity decision sent Smith's team back to the drawing board and again meant the trial would not be completed before the election.

Trump’s “hush money” conviction in New York is about to be sentenced

The verdict in Trump's “hush money” trial means he could face prison time. However, there is no guarantee that a conviction will occur after Trump's re-election.

Judge Merchan has suspended the proceedings until at least November 19 to give prosecutors a chance to express their opinion on what to do in light of the Supreme Court's immunity decision and the election victory of the former and future president.

“If a sentence is to be imposed in this case, I would be shocked if it was actually a prison sentence, even though the 34 offenses for which he was convicted would entitle a judge to impose it.” [that sentence]said Finkelstein.

“It would be more likely that a fine or probation would be imposed, and whether this would be enforced now or as part of a suspended sentence would be unclear.”

The Georgia extortion case is ongoing

Trump and 18 co-conspirators have been charged in a racketeering trial over attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.

But the case has been mired in litigation for more than a year, and prosecutors have been distracted by persistent attempts to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis over an alleged inappropriate relationship with a prosecutor she assigned to the case, Nathan Wade.

“For the Georgia Attorney General's Office to go up against a sitting president all alone, especially given the issues that have arisen in that office, is frankly a very intimidating prospect, so I imagine Fani Willis wouldn't want to do that,” said Finkelstein.

Trump has an advantage after winning the election

Presidents have the power to pardon criminals for federal crimes, and legal scholars have debated whether Trump could exercise that power in his own interest.

He probably won't have to deal with this issue if the Justice Department ends its prosecutions.

The status of state cases — where presidential pardons do not apply — may be more unclear.

But Posner echoed Finkelstein's skepticism that Trump would be punished.

“It is completely inconceivable that the judge [Merchan] “I would order him to go to prison, but he could fine Trump or impose some other punishment,” he said.

“The Georgia case […] has been stumbling along for a long time and I imagine it will just be put on hold until the courts decide that there is no point in prosecuting a sitting president.”

Could cases reopen after Trump's second term?

As Trump repeatedly reminded his supporters during the campaign and in his victory speech, he will have no more election night parties because, according to the Constitution, a president can only serve two terms.

That leaves open the possibility that if these cases are put on hold rather than dropped entirely, they could be reopened after he leaves office.

“If they request a stay of proceedings, the cases could resurface,” Finkelstein said.

“Ironically, they might see this policy [of not prosecuting a president] as a rescue because it would give them a chance to reopen the cases later if a judge was inclined to stay the proceedings.

“I expect the Justice Department to think this through very carefully and decide how they want to proceed.”

But then there is the political side of the matter, and as Posner pointed out, there may be little interest in revisiting these matters once Trump leaves the White House again. At 82, he will be the oldest outgoing president in US history.

“He’ll be old,” Posner said. “It seems very likely that the government, whether controlled by Democrats or Republicans, will feel that these prosecutions are simply not worth pursuing.”

Edited by: J. Wingard