Former President Donald Trump, who is facing an unprecedented level of legal scrutiny as he presses his bid to retake the White House in the November election, may get a better sense this week of the degree to which his four pending criminal trials will impinge on his campaign.
Key hearings in Georgia and Florida will help determine the trajectory of cases in those states, and a decision on the schedule of a New York trial is expected from the judge in that case on Thursday. Finally, in Washington, Trump is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his claim, rejected by a lower court, that as a former president, he is immune from criminal prosecution.
It all adds up to an unprecedented moment in U.S. history.
“We have never had a major party presidential candidate facing criminal prosecution as he's running for president,” Ilya Somin, a professor of law at George Mason University, told VOA.
“Certainly, for any ordinary person, facing any kind of criminal charge … could be significantly disruptive to their lives,” Somin said. “For Trump, it may be a bit less disruptive because he has a massive legal team working for him, and therefore he can delegate somewhat more. On the other hand, he's also running for president, which is in itself a huge burden.”
Trump’s four criminal trials are not the former president’s only legal headache. He is also facing a civil fraud trial in New York that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars and result in the closure of large elements of his business empire.
Trump was also recently ordered to pay $83.3 million in damages to a former Elle magazine advice columnist for defaming her after he was found liable for sexually assaulting her in a department store in the 1990s.
Presidential immunity bid
In federal court in Washington, Trump is facing criminal charges for his involvement in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, including his role in inciting a mob of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, disrupting the certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory.
That proceeding has been delayed while Trump sought a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on the claim that as a former president, he is immune from criminal prosecution.
That appeal was thrown out by a unanimous three-judge panel. But on Monday, Trump appealed to the Supreme Court and requested a stay in the lower court’s ruling until the high court can make its decision.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday requested that the prosecution submit a reply to the brief filed by Trump’s team. The court gave the prosecution a deadline of Feb. 20, but it is possible that the government could reply sooner in an effort to accelerate the court’s decision.
“It's very unlikely, I think, that the Supreme Court will actually reverse the D.C. Circuit,” Somin said. “But if they choose to hear the case, that can take up another couple of months or even a bit more, and that would likely delay the trial further.”
Classified documents case
In Florida, Trump is on trial in federal court on charges that he illegally retained large numbers of highly classified documents related to national security and then resisted when the government demanded that he return them. The documents in question were kept primarily at his Florida club, Mar-a-Lago, under little or no formal security.
That trial is currently scheduled to begin on May 20, significantly later than the government had hoped. On Monday, Trump and his attorneys appeared in a closed-door hearing before the judge.
During the 4½-hour proceeding, they were expected to present arguments they plan to make in the former president’s defense, and to ask that they be granted access to certain classified information that they claim is necessary to mount a full defense.
“The documents case in Florida is, I think, the most procedurally and technically complicated of the cases that he's facing, because it involves documents of great sensitivity, and the procedures for determining how those can be used at trial are extensive and time-consuming,” David A. Super, a professor at Georgetown Law, told VOA.
“The judge in that case has not seemed to prioritize moving along terribly quickly, and to the extent she has, it has been in ways that have been unacceptable to the prosecution and seem likely to generate at least more motions and probably another appeal,” Super said.
“So, my guess is that although that is scheduled to go to trial in the spring, it has a good chance of getting pushed back past this year,” he said.
Georgia election interference case
In Georgia, Trump is involved in a complex case related to efforts to pressure state officials to overturn the results of the presidential election, in which Georgia voters chose Biden. Trump is named as one of 18 co-defendants charged with conspiracy in a trial the prosecutors had hoped to start in August.
However, it has since been revealed that District Attorney Fanni Willis may have had an inappropriate romantic relationship with the outside attorney Nathan Wade, whom she hired to prosecute the case. Trump’s attorneys are seeking to have both Wade and Willis removed from the case on grounds of unethical behavior, and the judge has scheduled a hearing on the question for Thursday.
While the controversy over Willis’ relationship with Wade may delay the proceeding, perhaps significantly if the judge determines that the prosecutor needs to be replaced, it is not expected to materially affect the underlying case itself.
Criminal fraud trial
In New York, Trump is facing criminal fraud charges in state court. He is accused of falsifying business records to cover up payments he made to ensure the silence of women who claimed to have had extramarital affairs with him, including an adult film actress who goes by the name Stormy Daniels.
On Thursday, the judge in that case is expected to rule on a number of motions that Trump’s attorneys have made, attempting to have the case thrown out.
In the likely event that the case is allowed to move forward, the next order of business will be to settle on a date for the beginning of the trial. As of now, the trial is scheduled to begin March 25, but depending on how the judge rules on the pending motions, that could change.
While it is possible that a series of rulings in Trump’s favor could see much of his legal burden lifted in the coming days, experts told VOA that such an outcome is improbable, and that the former president is likely to spend much of the coming year juggling multiple criminal prosecutions.
At this point, said Super of Georgetown, “Very few people would eagerly trade places with him.”
