President-elect Trump’s legal strategy of delay is paying off, with his election victory changing the trajectory of his four criminal prosecutions.
Special counsel Jack Smith on Monday moved to dismiss his two cases against Trump, and the former president’s team believes his state cases must similarly be tossed as he prepares to return to the White House.
Here’s the latest on where all of Trump’s criminal cases stand.
Hush money
Trump’s New York case, which stemmed from a 2016 hush money payment to an adult film star, was the furthest along and the only one to reach trial and end in a criminal conviction.
It’s now in limbo.
The former president had successfully delayed his sentencing on his 34 felony convictions of falsifying business records multiple times, eventually punting it until after the election. That sentencing was set to take place Tuesday, but the hearing was be called off upon Trump becoming president-elect.
New York Judge Juan Merchan now must confront whether to heed Trump’s lawyers demand that his return to the White House compels the immediate dismissal of the jury’s guilty verdict and the entire case in the interests of justice.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), who prosecuted the case, wants the verdict to stand but expressed openness to putting the case on ice at least until Trump leaves the Oval Office in 2029.
Next, both sides will lay out their arguments in writing before the judge decides. Trump’s dismissal motion is due by Monday, and Bragg’s response is due by Dec. 9.
Separately, Merchan also has yet to decide whether the verdict can stand in the wake of the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling. Merchan was set to hand down his ruling ahead of the sentencing but similarly sidelined the decision after the election.
Georgia election interference
In Georgia, Trump and more than a dozen of his allies face racketeering and other charges over accusations of a monthslong conspiracy to subvert President Biden’s 2020 win in the state.
It is the only of Trump’s four criminal prosecutions where neither the defense or prosecutors have filed court documents yet seeking to slam the brakes in the wake of the election.
The trial proceedings were already frozen well before Election Day as Trump mounted an appeal seeking to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) over her romantic relationship with a top prosecutor she appointed to the case, Nathan Wade.
The trial judge condemned Willis over the prosecutorial romance but allowed her to move forward with the case once Wade stepped aside.
The Georgia Court of Appeals had scheduled oral arguments for Dec. 5 on Trump’s appeal. But earlier this month, the court without explanation canceled the argument.
It remains unclear if the cancellation stems from Trump’s election win or some other reason. Before the election, Willis’s office had requested the court dismiss the appeal.
The trial proceedings will not resume until the appeal is resolved.
Though legal experts agree the case will, at minimum, be paused while Trump is in the White House, the prosecution could still move toward trial for his co-defendants.
Federal election interference
Special counsel Jack Smith moved to dismiss Trump’s Jan. 6 case now that he is set to return to the White House – an ask that was swiftly approved by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan.
That brings to an end the election interference case that targeted all of Trump’s actions to thwart the transfer of power that culminated with the attack on the Capitol.
Smith’s team wrote that the decision was not based on “the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Government stands fully behind” but rather an internal Justice Department memo which bars bringing charges against a sitting president.
The charges were dismissed “without prejudice,” leaving the possibility of a prosecutor bringing charges in the future after Trump leaves office.
Federal classified documents case
Smith also filed a similar motion in Trump’s Florida documents case, asking to drop an appeal he brought after a lower court judge tossed the case.
That appeal is not focused on the merits of the case but rather seeks to overturn a ruling from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that found Smith was unlawfully appointed – a decision that countered 50 years of precedent surrounding special counsel appointments.
That has yet to be approved by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but if granted, the motion would bring an end to Trump’s prosecution on Espionage Act and obstruction of justice charges related to his retention of more than 300 documents with classified markings.
Like in his election interference case, Smith moved to drop the appeal “without prejudice.”
But while the case comes to a close for Trump, the charges remain for Trumps’ two co-defendants – valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira.
