This Wednesday, November 6, satisfaction can be seen on the Republican’s face. Donald Trump is preparing to sign his return to the White House. A victory all the more delicious as by becoming the 47th President of the United States, the billionaire hopes to find himself protected from legal proceedings for the next four years.
Targeted by 88 charges, the president-elect should have appeared in court four times in 2024. But due to countless appeals filed by his lawyers and partial immunity granted by the Supreme Court, only one of these trial began. The day after his election, the so-called Stormy Daniels affair still stands in his way.
The Stormy Daniels affair
The news broke on May 30, 2024. Republican Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying documents by the New York State justice system. A first for a former American president who faces up to four years in prison. At issue: the orchestration of a payment of $130,000 made by his ex-lawyer Michael D. Cohen to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels in the days preceding the 2016 presidential election. If this unofficial agreement was well authorized and aimed to buy the silence of the actress on an extramarital relationship dating back to 2006, the disguise of this payment as legal costs for the company Trump Organization was illegal.
The sentence, which was to be pronounced on July 11, was postponed to September 18, due to partial immunity conferred on Donald Trump. In a 119-page ruling by six conservative justices this summer, the Supreme Court established that a former president can benefit from partial immunity for decisions made in the course of his duties. The announcement of the sentence was finally postponed until November 26, so as not to influence the American election.
And given the results of the race for the White House, Donald Trump could soon use his electoral victory to delay it again. Among other things, the 47th President of the United States could argue to Judge Juan Merchan that his conviction constitutes a major distraction during the presidential transition, hindering his ability to carry out his duties. But one thing is certain: the prosecution having been brought by state prosecutors and not the federal government, the future president will not be able to pardon himself. Unless others do it for him. According to the New York Timesthe policy of the Department of Justice is that a sitting president cannot be subject to criminal prosecution or incarceration. And although the New York courts are not forced to obey this rule, the American daily believes that they will respect it.
Manipulation of the results of the 2020 presidential election
Several trials are also pending. After being heard by the federal court in Washington on August 3, 2023, Donald Trump was indicted for trying to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election, won by Joe Biden. At issue: the famous assault on the Capitol by supporters of the Republican on January 6, 2021, motivated by a speech by the outgoing president. But not only that. In total, four counts are brought against him: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to deprive voters of their right to vote, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and attempted obstruction of this procedure. Among other things, the former president had begun to create fictitious lists of electors in certain key states, in order to impose them on local assemblies, before transmission to Congress for certification. If the fraud had succeeded, Donald Trump would have been able to win the White House, to the detriment of Joe Biden.
The trial, which was to begin on March 4 in Washington, was finally postponed when Donald Trump inherited his partial immunity. Since then, no other date has been set. Now elected, the 47th President of the United States, who faces several decades in prison, should soon try to pardon himself, despite the separation of powers.
The attempted fraud in Georgia
But Donald Trump will not be able to pardon himself from all of his prosecutions. Starting with the one relating to his attempted fraud in Georgia. On January 1, 2021, the outgoing president telephoned a senior official in the state of Georgia, asking him to find 12,000 ballots in his name. Essential ballots to win this key state in the 2020 presidential election. The following month, an investigation was opened and the Republican was indicted in August 2023 under a Georgian law on extortion and criminal association , providing for sentences of 5 to 20 years in prison.
Today, the date of a possible trial is still uncertain. The legal proceedings suffered a setback when the press revealed that Fani Willis, the local prosecutor, was having a relationship with one of the investigators on the case, Nathan Wade. A boon for the Trumpists who hastened to file a request for divestment. The judge also had to review the case after partial immunity was granted to Donald Trump, granting him 5 of the 13 charges against him. Result: the trial is still pending, and the Republican’s victory should not speed up the procedure.
Receiving classified documents
To top it all off, the billionaire is accused of having put the security of the United States at risk. A case which dates back to the departure of the tenant from the White House in January 2021. While Donald Trump gives way to the new President of the United States Joe Biden, he takes documents to his Florida residence at Mar-a-Lago. classified. The National Archives service realized this a few months later, in spring 2021, and requested their return. In January 2022, the Republican complied and returned 15 boxes containing 184 documents.
But after opening an investigation, the federal police believe that the former president still holds manuscripts. In June 2022, a second batch of documents was delivered to the National Archives, before the FBI searched Donald Trump’s residence on August 8, 2022. In total: more than 11,000 government documents, including 18 classified “top secret” and 103 stamped with the confidentiality seal are found. As a reminder, a 1978 law requires each American president to transmit all of his working documents to the National Archives at the end of his mandate.
For this concealment of classified documents, Donald Trump faces a prison sentence. But on July 15, Judge Aileen Cannon decided to drop the criminal charges against the Republican, ruling that the appointment of special prosecutor Jack Smith was unconstitutional. A decision that Jack Smith could soon appeal. On the condition that the 47th President of the United States does not fire him before. If the horizon currently seems clear for the winner of the election, it could well become darker at the end of his second term.