Donald Trump | What will happen to the legal cases opened against the president-elect of the United States?

Donald Trump was elected president of USA and will take office on January 20 for a period of four years. However, the tycoon has two pending criminal court cases at the federal level and two other state criminal cases. What can happen with these processes?

Trump He is a convicted felon since he was convicted in New York in it Stormy Daniels case. We are just waiting for his sentence to be known.

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On Wednesday, NBC News reported that the Department of Justice seeks formulas to close the two federal cases against Trump before his inauguration. These are for allegedly instigating the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and for alleged mishandling of classified documents when he left power.

The position of the special prosecutor Jack Smithwho directs the federal cases, is to continue with the processes.

Regarding Smith, Trump promised during the campaign that he would fire him immediately once he takes office.

NBC News reported that it depends on Smith how to address the situation. One of the unknowns surrounding the possibility of closing the cases is knowing what would happen to the charges when Trump leave power in 2029, or whether these could have expired by then.

The situation of Trump is unpublished in the United States: never before had a criminal defendant been elected president.

Lawyer Joseph Malouf, legal analyst for Noticias Telemundo, explained to that channel that in the case that is ready to know the sentence Trump He has three possibilities: one is for the judge to freeze the case for four years, until his term as president ends. The second alternative is to proceed with imposing the sentence, but in that case the judge has to take into account that when he sentences Trump it will affect his job, which is to be president of the country, although the lawyer stressed that the system does not work that way because The law is the same for everyone. The third alternative is that Trump I managed to block the process and eliminate it.

“If he is sentenced to go to jail, a constitutional crisis will be created, because They are going to have the president of the United States with the codes for nuclear weapons sitting in prison“The country would not function, no one can go to jail to ask the president what to do tomorrow.”Malouf said.

The four cases against Donald Trump

• Stormy Daniels case, ready for sentencing

On November 26, Trump is summoned before a court of New York to listen to your judgment after being convicted of 34 counts of falsification of business records, related to the payment of money in exchange for silence to the porn actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign.

Daniels She has said that she had a love affair with the tycoon, something he denies.

However, as Univision reports, the judge Juan Merchan must decide by November 12 whether or not to overturn the conviction due to the decision of the United States Supreme Court that granted certain immunity to any president.

If Merchán goes ahead with the sentence, Trump could face up to four years in prisonalthough the judge is not obliged to send him to prison and could impose a lesser sentence, such as probation, home confinement, community service or a fine, CNN recalls.

On the defense side, the lawyers of Trump They could try to delay the sentencing date or postpone it indefinitely, appealing in state courts and even reaching the Supreme Court.

Because this is a state case, Trump does not have the power to pardon himself once he assumes the position of president.

• Electoral interference and assault on the Capitol

This federal case originates in the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 by Trump supporters. It also involves other actions by the magnate to try to reverse his defeat in the 2020 presidential elections against the Democrat Joe Biden.

It is handled by the US District Court for the District of Columbia, Washington.

Specifically, the accusation of special tax Jack Smith focuses on the Trump’s alleged efforts to alter the result and prevent the certification of Biden’s victory.

Smith accuses Trump of four crimes: conspiracy to defraud the US governmentconspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction or attempted obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy to violate civil rights.

Trump’s efforts included lying to state officials to induce them to ignore vote counts and fabricate votes in seven states in which he wanted to change the result: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin and New Mexico, according to the indictment.

But the process remains stalled due to the Supreme Court’s decision to consider Trump partially immune for official acts committed while in office as president. There is no set date for the start of the trial.

The prosecutor Smith maintains the case because it considers that the attempts to Trump to overturn the election were not related to his official duties as president.

Univision explained that yes Trump ends up throwing out Smiththe Justice Department and the Trump-appointed attorney general could propose dismissing the charges and ending the case.

• Mishandling of classified documents

This is another federal case that is also being handled by the special prosecutor Smith. Trump faces charges for mishandling classified documents and attempting to obstruct their recovery.

The documents were found stored primarily at his Mar-a-Lago residence, in Florida. They had been taken to that place after leaving the White House.

On August 8, 2022, the FBI found in Mar-a-Lago more than 20 boxes with documents that included more than a hundred files marked with different degrees of classification: from “confidential” to “top secret”.

In total there are more than 10,000 documents that by law belong to the US government.

Trump faces seven charges: one under the Espionage Act, as well as charges of obstruction of justice, destruction or falsification of records, conspiracy and false statements.

But that case was dismissed last July by the judge Aileen Cannonalthough prosecutor Smith appealed the ruling.

In his argument, Cannon stated that the appointment of Smith by Attorney General Merrick Garland violated the Constitution.

In August, The Washington Post reported that Justice Department officials expressed concern that the judge’s decision Cannon could endanger not only future special prosecutors, but any federal prosecutor or high-ranking official serving in a temporary position.

According to the same newspaper, some prosecutors want the appeal of Smith move forward not only to resurrect this case, but also to protect any appointments the Department of Justice makes in the future.

In this case, being federal, Trump could end up pardoning himself. Or also promote its definitive closure.

• Conspiracy to subvert Georgia election results

In this state case, Trump faces charges for conspiring to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgiaas part of a larger plot to stay in the White House after his loss to Biden.

In August 2023, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willisaccused Trump and 18 other people, including the magnate’s former lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and his White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows. In total there are 41 charges.

The evidence in this case is Trump’s phone conversation with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which the Republican asked him to “find” the votes he needed to win in the state.

But the case is stalled as Trump’s legal team tries to remove prosecutor Willis.

An appeals court must decide whether to remove Willis. The ruling could occur in 2025.

If Willis is removed, it is unlikely that another prosecutor would want to take the case and it would disappear, CNN reported.