Donald Trump’s victory in the United States presidential elections will essentially end the criminal cases brought against him, at least during the four years he will occupy the White House.
The first former US president to face criminal charges, Trump has for much of this year faced four simultaneous prosecutions, over allegations ranging from his seeking to cover up a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign to attempted to overturn his defeat in the 2020 elections.
In May, a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying business records related to Daniels’ payment, making him the first former U.S. president convicted of a crime.
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Trump, a Republican, told an interviewer on Oct. 24 that he would fire U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith — who led federal prosecutions of attempts to overturn his election defeat and withholding of classified documents after leaving office — “within two seconds” after being sworn in.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and called the proceedings politically motivated.
“The American people have heard these Democratic prosecutors’ cases against President Trump, and they’re still going to elect him,” said Mike Davis, founder of the Article III Project, a conservative legal advocacy group.
While Trump, as president, will have the authority to fire Smith and dismiss the federal cases against him, he will not have the same control over the New York hush money case or the case against him in Georgia for trying to overturn his 2020 defeat in that State. But his unique role as president makes it unlikely he will face legal consequences in either case while in office.
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“He has been rightly charged with crimes within the system we have,” said Kristy Parker, special counsel at Protect Democracy, an advocacy organization dedicated to combating what it calls authoritarian threats to the United States. Parker said if Trump settles the lawsuits, “that doesn’t mean it was the right thing.”
One more court date is scheduled before he takes office on Jan. 20, although legal experts have said that is unlikely to happen.
