Former President Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan ended this week, with a jury finding him guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal that threatened to derail his 2016 presidential campaign.
But Trump still faces two federal lawsuits brought by special counsel: one in Florida accusing him of illegally retaining classified documents after leaving office and obstructing government recovery efforts, and another in Washington, D.C., accusing him of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election. A third charges similar election fraud brought by a local prosecutor in Georgia.
The process is all subject to delays and is difficult to track. We will keep you updated on the status of each one.
The case accuses Trump of illegally retaining large amounts of classified national security materials after he left office and then conspiring to thwart repeated efforts by the government to return them. The charges were brought by Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed to oversee the federal investigation into Trump.
The case is tied to efforts by Trump’s legal team to have the charges against him dismissed before the trial begins, and to that end they have filed a flurry of motions attacking the indictment on a variety of grounds, including alleging that Smith was improperly appointed to the job and that he filed the charges as part of a political effort to harm Trump.
Judge Eileen M. Cannon, who is presiding over the case, recently reversed the trial’s start date, which had originally been scheduled for May, but a new date has yet to be set, noting that “myriad interrelated” legal issues remain unresolved.
It seems increasingly unlikely that the case will go before a jury before the November election, in large part due to Judge Cannon’s habit of holding lengthy hearings on defense arguments that many other judges would rule on the merits of written motions.
If Trump is elected, he could ask the Justice Department to drop the charges, though even if it doesn’t, department policy prohibits it from prosecuting a sitting president.
Federal Election Interference Case
Smith accused Trump last summer of conspiring to subvert democracy and remain in power against the will of voters after he lost the 2020 election.
The case has been on ice since early December as a series of courts in Washington have considered a broad and novel argument that Trump has raised in his defense: that all of the charges in the indictment arise out of official duties taken while in office, and therefore that he is immune from liability.
The Supreme Court is expected to make a final decision on the immunity issue within the next few weeks, and the justices’ ruling will likely play a major role in determining whether the case goes to trial sooner or later.
A trial is unlikely before November. But the case will likely be sent back to U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to determine which charges were official and which were strictly personal. That process, which could affect the scope of charges the jury ultimately considers, could take weeks or even months to complete.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on another case that could affect the scope and timing of election interference prosecutions. That case concerns the viability of a federal election interference statute that prosecutors used to charge Trump with inciting a mob of his supporters to disrupt the certification of the election at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Georgia Election Lawsuit
Trump and 18 of his associates were indicted last August in a wide-ranging election interference case in Fulton County, Georgia, brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis.
But it’s highly unlikely that this complex organized crime case will go to trial this year. Part of the delay is due to recent revelations that Willis had an affair with Nathan Wade, the lawyer she hired to work on the case, which defense lawyers say created an unacceptable conflict of interest.
Presiding Judge Scott McAfee held several hearings on the issue earlier this year but ultimately decided he would not disbar Willis as long as Wade resigned, and Wade then stepped down.
Those hearings aren’t the only issues weighing on the case. Dozens of pretrial motions remain outstanding, including a recent dispute over legal precedent from an 1890s case. And there are appeals: Defense lawyers are appealing the disbarment decision to the Georgia Court of Appeals, and Willis’s office is appealing Judge McAfee’s decision to vacate some of the charges.
Legal experts say the trial is likely to take place sometime next year, but it could take place without Trump if he is elected president. Whether a sitting president can be tried in state court is an open legal question that will likely be argued in higher courts.
Four of the original 19 defendants have already pleaded guilty or made deals with prosecutors, including Sidney Powell, once one of Trump’s most vocal defenders, and Kenneth Chesbro, the legal architect of the scheme to place false electors and a witness in five state election investigations.
Another defendant, Trump’s former lawyer, Jenna Ellis, tearfully pleaded guilty in court, saying, “If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in post-election litigation,” adding, “I look back on this experience with deep regret.”
