As Trump awaits sentencing in his hush money trial, more cases loom

News Goon


Donald Trump is awaiting sentencing on 34 felony counts in New York on July 11, but he has other potentially more perilous legal problems ahead, including up to three other criminal trials where he faces more serious charges.

In addition to the New York trial, Trump also faces criminal charges in Georgia, Florida and Washington, D.C. Whether any of the remaining criminal cases will go to trial before Election Day is an open question, but it appears unlikely at this point.

The former president also has a number of consequential appeals outstanding, including two that could cost him over half a billion dollars if he loses and another case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court that could potentially hobble at least one of the criminal cases against him if he wins.

Here’s a look at some of Trump’s remaining court cases, and their status.

Classified documents case

While the maximum penalty Trump could face in the New York case is four years per count — a sentence he’s unlikely to receive — some of the charges in the federal classified documents case in Florida carry a maximum term of 20 years in prison.

He was hit with a 37-count federal indictment last year alleging he illegally held on to and mishandled piles of highly sensitive national security information at his Florida social club, and was subsequently slapped with additional charges alleging he’d tried to cover up his wrongdoing. Trump maintains he didn’t do anything improper and has pleaded not guilty.

The case at one point was scheduled to go to trial on May 20, but U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump nominee, postponed the trial date indefinitely earlier this month, citing “myriad” legal issues she still has to sort through.

Federal election interference case

Special counsel Jack Smith charged Trump with allegedly conspiring to defraud the U.S. by illegally subverting the results of the 2020 presidential election and the peaceful transfer of power, the first time a former U.S. president had been charged with a crime. The Washington, D.C., case, originally scheduled to go to trial before Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s hush money case against Trump, has also been paused indefinitely.

That’s because the Supreme Court took up Trump’s appeal arguing that his actions around the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol were protected by presidential immunity, leaving the case stayed while it does so. The high court heard arguments in the case in April and has yet to issue a decision.

If the conservative-leaning court, including three justices appointed by Trump, rules entirely in the former president’s favor, the case could be dismissed. If the court sends the case back to Washington-based U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan for more proceedings on whether some of his actions are insulated from prosecution, that would almost certainly delay any trial until well after the election while those issues are litigated further.

If the high court rules entirely against Trump by the end of June, it would still be theoretically possible for there to be a trial before the election, but it would be difficult, legal experts have told NBC News.

The charges in the case have maximum sentences ranging from five to 20 years in prison. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

Georgia election interference case

Trump is facing 10 criminal counts in Georgia, where Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis charged him as part of a sprawling racketeering conspiracy aimed at illegally overturning the results of the 2020 election in the state. The racketeering charge carries a penalty of 5 to 20 years in prison and Trump has pleaded not guilty.

The case, which was brought in August 2023, is the only one of the pending criminal cases where no trial date has ever been set. Prosecutors had asked Judge Scott McAfee to set an August 2024 trial date, which Trump attorney Steve Sadow argued “would be the most effective election interference in the history of the United States” because Trump would likely still be on trial on Election Day.

McAfee has not yet set a trial date, and might not until after a state appeals court decides an appeal on whether Willis and her office should be disqualified from the case.

Civil judgment appeals

Trump has three appeals pending on judgments that currently total over $560 million — a huge sum of money that has the potential to cause financial havoc for him and his company if he loses.

The largest of those judgments is the more than $350 million award handed down against Trump and the Trump Organization in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ fraud case earlier this year. The award by Judge Arthur Engoron quickly swelled to $464 million in February because of prejudgment interest, and has grown by over $100,000 a day in interest since. That amount will continue to grow until the appeal is decided.

Trump is also appealing two verdicts in cases brought by writer E. Jean Carroll. The first was a $5 million verdict from last year, after a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming the writer, and the other was an $83 million defamation verdict earlier this year. He had to post a $91 million bond to secure the judgment during the appeal.

He’s also facing lawsuits from about a dozen police officers who were injured in the Jan. 6 riot. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., denied his bid to further delay those cases last month.





This post was originally published on this site

Leave a Comment