What's happening in Trump's other legal battles? – Deseret News – Deseret News
Former President Donald Trump has seen his fair share of courtrooms nationwide in the last year. Last week, a verdict was reached in the historical criminal case against him in Manhattan, making him the first president in history to be convicted of a felony. However, he is still months — if not years — away from settling all his legal troubles.
Last year, in less than six months, Trump received four indictments against him totaling 88 criminal counts:
Trump and his defense have been outspoken about appealing the verdict finding him guilty on all 34 charges in the “hush money” case, but that won’t occur until after his sentencing on July 11. The other three cases he has to deal with are moving slower and will likely not reach trial until after the 2024 presidential election in November.
If that happens and Trump ends up securing his second term as president, he could have the federal charges dismissed. But if convicted before then, he could attempt to pardon himself after becoming president. However, this has never occurred in American history.
Here’s an update on what’s happening in the other three criminal cases against Trump:
The case, brought on by federal prosecutors led by special counsel Jack Smith, accused Trump of taking confidential documents with him when he left office at the beginning of 2021 and keeping them at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida. In 2022, the FBI raided his property and seized over 100 documents marked as classified.
Smith and his team have accused Trump of “obstructing government demands” to return the documents after illegally taking them. He was also accused and charged for apparently “conspiring to ask a staffer to delete surveillance video at the property, and with holding onto a document … he’s alleged to have shown to visitors at his golf club in New Jersey,” per The Associated Press.
The trial was initially set to begin on May 20, but District Judge Aileen Cannon has indefinitely postponed it until trial disputes regarding classified documents are resolved.
Trump has argued the indictment should be dismissed on the premise of prosecutorial misconduct, presidential immunity and vindictive prosecution.
Last August, Smith brought another case against Trump, accusing him of using illegal means to steal the presidential election from Biden in 2020. Trump has four charges against him:
“U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals each have ruled Trump isn’t immune,” despite his argument that he is, per USA Today. “And despite Smith’s request that the Supreme Court weigh in early on immunity so the trial could proceed, the case was the last to be argued before the court ended its current term.”
The Supreme Court’s decision regarding Trump’s immunity could fall long after the November presidential election.
Trump and 18 others were indicted last August by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis under the state of Georgia’s racketeering , or RICO, laws used primarily to prosecute mobsters. Willis accused Trump and his confidants of scheming to gain more votes to ultimately overturn Biden’s win in the swing state in 2020.
But in March, Judge Scott McAfee dismissed six of the charges related to RICO, stating that there was not enough evidence for Trump’s defense to build a case.
“The court’s concern is less that the state has failed to allege sufficient conduct of the defendants — in fact it has alleged an abundance. However, the lack of detail concerning an essential legal element is, in the undersigned’s opinion, fatal,” McAfee wrote in the ruling, per CNN.
“As written, these six counts contain all the essential elements of the crimes but fail to allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of their commission, i.e., the underlying felony solicited,” McAfee added. “They do not give the defendants enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently, as the defendants could have violated the Constitutions and thus the statute in dozens, if not hundreds, of distinct ways.”
Willis’ case then took a turn for the worse when she was found to have been having a romantic relationship with one of the special prosecutors she had hired onto the case with her. Judge McAfee allowed Willis to stay on the case so long as Nathan Wade, the prosecutor she was in a relationship with, stepped down from the case, which he did.
Following Judge McAfee’s decision, he gave Trump and his team permission to appeal the case, allowing them the opportunity to request that the Georgia Court of Appeals review McAfee’s decision not to remove Willis or void the indictment completely due to her relationship with Wade.
Trump’s defense appealed the decision, and the Georgia Court of Appeals agreed to review the judge’s ruling.
“The former president has sought to dismiss the indictment on numerous grounds, including that he has absolute immunity from prosecution and the charges violate the First Amendment,” per CBS News. “In April, McAfee rejected Trump’s bid to have the charges tossed out on First Amendment grounds. Trump and his allies are seeking to appeal that order.”