Donald Trump will be the first elected a US president convicted of a felony. What will happen to the other federal and state cases against him once he officially takes office in January 2025?
Until Election Day on November 5, Donald Trump, the former - and soon to be - president of the United States, was threatened with the possibility of spending years in prison. But his return to the White House means several lawsuits will be dropped, and a conviction handed down in a New York court for forgery will likely be overturned.
This follows a Supreme Court ruling that ruled that presidents have broad immunity from prosecution for their actions while in office. That ruling set the prosecution back to square one in at least two lawsuits. During his first term as president, Donald Trump appointed three justices to the Supreme Court, securing a majority of six conservative justices against three from the other camp.
Also, because a sitting president cannot be tried in federal cases, the prosecutor in two such cases against Trump will now have to drop his investigations.
What are the cases against the future president?
Four charges have been brought against Trump: two at the federal level - by the Department of Justice, one in the state of New York and another in the state of Georgia. Only the New York case has been sentenced. A jury there in June convicted Trump of 34 counts of influencing the results of the 2016 election, including by buying porn actress Stormy Daniels' silence. The judge adjourned the case to allow lawyers for both sides to consider their next steps after the Nov. 5 election result.
There are also civil lawsuits against Trump
He has been found responsible for sexual violence in two civil defamation lawsuits brought by the journalist E. Jean Carroll, being awarded damages totaling $88.4 million. Trump has appealed both convictions.
The same is the fate of a conviction for civil fraud, according to which he and his companies must pay 454 million. dollar penalties. This lawsuit was filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Now, those cases are likely to be dropped. “At least in the next four years, it seems quite likely that the judicial processes against Trump will be suspended or even permanently suspended,” Eric Pozner, a professor at the Law School of the University of Chicago, told DV.
Two federal cases are dismissed
It is the practice of the US Department of Justice not to investigate sitting presidents. Therefore, Trump was not indicted after the release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report in April 2019. for Russia's attempts to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election, for alleged conspiracy or collusion between the Trump team and the Kremlin, and for obstruction of justice.
Special counsel Jack Smith, who led the federal cases against Trump, now appears to have to close them as well. But the Justice Department's refusal to prosecute sitting presidents may not apply to presidents-elect who have previously been indicted, according to a number of legal experts. That's according to Claire Finkelstein, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration.
The two wrote in the Southern California Law Review that because Trump was indicted before he became president for a second term, the Justice Department could continue its prosecution of him. In reality, however, Finkelstein admits that this is unlikely.
The one federal case in which in June 2023 Trump was indicted on 37 counts of “serious violations of our national security laws” and “engaging in a conspiracy to obstruct justice”, was dismissed by Trump-appointed Judge Eileen Cannon in July 2024. on the grounds that Special Counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutionally appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Smith is appealing the decision, but the motion to reopen the case is still pending. The other case before a District of Columbia judge involves allegations that Trump tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The aforementioned Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity from prosecution forced Smith's team to refile the indictment to reflect that fact. Before the presidential elections held on November 5, this was not done.
Conviction for bribing former porn actress?
Donald Trump's conviction in the case of forging documents to cover up a payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels means Trump is still at risk of going to jail. But there's no guarantee that will happen now that he's been elected president again.
I would be very surprised if there was a final sentence of imprisonment in this case - although the 34 offenses of which he was found guilty gave the judge the right to pass such a sentence,”, Professor Finkelstein believes. Most likely, Trump will be fined or given probation – it is even possible as part of a suspended sentence.
Georgia racketeering case stalled
Another case against Donald Trump and 18 of his alleged accomplices is pending in the Georgia Supreme Criminal Court. The indictment alleges that Trump led a “criminal racketeering scheme” in which he and the other defendants knowingly attempted to illegally alter the results of the 2020 US presidential election in Georgia.
Prof. However, Finkelstein does not believe that the Georgia district attorney can single-handedly take on a sitting US president. “The case in Georgia has been pending for a long time and my guess is that it will simply be dismissed. The court will probably decide that there is no point in prosecuting a sitting president”, Eric Posner also says.
Will Trump pardon himself?
Presidents have the power to pardon criminals who have broken federal law, and lawyers are already debating whether Donald Trump can exercise that power and pardon himself.
He likely won't have to deal with this matter if the Justice Department drops the prosecutions.
Could the cases be reopened after Trump's second term?
According to the US Constitution, presidential terms are limited to two. This means that if the investigations against Trump are only suspended and not terminated outright, they can be resumed after he leaves the White House.
„I assume that the Department of Justice will look carefully at everything and decide how to proceed,” says Finkelstein in this regard. But there is also a political side to the issue, and when the time comes for Trump to leave the White House, at 82, he will become the oldest retiring president in US history. “And it is quite possible that the government, whether controlled by Democrats or Republicans, will decide that it is not worth pursuing prosecutions against him,”, summarizes Eric Posner.