US Election 2024: What happens to Trump's criminal charges now he's president?
by Joe Smith · Irish MirrorAs Donald Trump took to the stage at West Palm Beach, Florida, to declare his “magnificent victory”, he clearly had reason to celebrate.
But as well as becoming the 47th president of the US, his election win will also have a massive impact on the multiple criminal cases facing him.
Trump currently faces four criminal indictments, two federal cases and two at a state level. The first of the two federal cases against him involves accusations that he mishandled classified documents, while the other is about him seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
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One of the state court cases is the infamous “hush money” case in Manhattan, which saw him convicted of 34 counts of felony fraud, but the sentencing hearing was delayed until after the election by Judge Merchan to avoid claims of a political motive.
The second state charge is in Georgia, where it is alleged Trump meddled with the 2020 election. Now, with Trump looking poised to take the presidency and with it, control of the Department of Justice (DoJ), the future of the cases against him looks extremely uncertain.
What will happen to the federal cases?
All the cases are complex and fiercely disputed, the election interference case is bogged down in pre-trial proceedings and the classified documents case was thrown out by a judge in Florida, with the DoJ currently appealing that decision.
Both of the cases have been brought by DoJ special counsel Jack Smith, who Trump has previously said he would fire “in two seconds” upon winning the election. The incoming president will also choose the head of the DoJ, the attorney general, and Trump will pick one that will throw out the cases against him. On top of that, the DoJ has a long-standing policy of not pursuing criminal charges against sitting presidents.
What about the state cases?
While Trump isn’t directly in charge of the supreme courts of New York or Georgia and so cannot simply fire the lawyers pursuing the cases against him, it is unlikely they will succeed while he is president.
"He doesn't control the prosecutors, so you can't fire them, and he can't pardon himself because these are state crimes, so his only option really in the state cases is suspend them," constitutional law expert Michael Dorf explained.
As president, Trump can file papers with the Georgia court, “saying you got to put this on hold for the time that I'm president because it's just not consistent with federal supremacy to have a state prosecuting a sitting president," Dorf told Business Insider.
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Meanwhile, the Manhattan case into the hush money payments is done and dusted. Trump was found guilty and it only remains for him to attend his sentencing hearing in late November. However, in July, the US Supreme Court ruled that former presidents are immune from criminal prosecution for their official acts.
The Manhattan court still has to rule on whether all or part of Trump’s convection needs to be thrown out in light of this new ruling. Even so, legal experts say it would be constitutionally unviable for Trump to face prison time while he is in the White House - meaning it is likely his sentence will have to be postponed until after he finishes his second term in office.
“At this point, Trump has essentially won in all four cases,” said Paul Butler, professor at Georgetown Law, told the Financial Times.
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