Donald Trump's victory in the American presidential election on Tuesday, November 5 will have major consequences on the four criminal cases in which he is being prosecuted in the United States.
With this presidential election, Donald Trump was also playing his personal destiny. Prosecuted in four criminal cases in his country, his victory declared this Wednesday, November 6 risks putting an end to these prosecutions.
In the Stormy Daniels case, for which the Republican has already been convicted, the sentencing could be postponed. On May 30, 2024, he was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying accounting records related to the payment of $130,000 to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels. This payment was intended to buy his silence regarding an alleged affair with Trump just before the 2016 presidential election. The conviction is historic because it makes Trump the first former US president to be convicted of a crime.
Pronouncement of sentence postponed?
Facts for which he faces up to 4 years in prison. However, sentencing, initially scheduled for the end of November, could be postponed until after his victory. Michael Dorf, professor at Cornell Law School, quoted by Business Insider, the 47th president of the United States will likely request a postponement of his sentencing until the end of his new presidential term. And even without a postponement, experts believe it is unlikely that Judge Juan Merchan will impose a prison sentence on Trump. Indeed, the incarceration of an elected or serving president would pose insurmountable practical difficulties.
The new president also faces two major procedures at the federal level. The first concerns his indictment in 2023 for “conspiracy against the American state”. This case relates to the post-election events of 2020, culminating in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The charges relate to alleged attempts to invalidate the election of Joe Biden and his role during the attack on Congress.
The second federal case concerns the presence of confidential documents at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida residence, after his departure from the White House. This situation is considered a potential threat to national security.
Doctrine
However, a major obstacle stands in the way of justice. A doctrine from the US Department of Justice protects sitting presidents from federal prosecution, ABC and NBC point out. Which means that those initiated against Donald Trump could be interrupted immediately. Even if according to Claire Finkelstein, professor of law, “it is a very different situation” regarding procedures prior to the election, she recognizes that “in the current state of things, it could only be judged that after leaving power.
Donald Trump also declared that he would fire special prosecutor Jack Smith “in two seconds”. Even more, he could theoretically pardon himself for federal cases, a first in American history, although this pardon cannot apply in the case of the Stormy Daniels affair, which falls under local justice new -york.
Trial in Georgia?
Donald Trump finally finds himself facing a fourth major legal proceeding in Georgia. In this state where Joe Biden narrowly won in 2020, the former president faces 13 separate charges linked to allegations of electoral fraud. The particularity of this case lies in the prosecutor's use of anti-gang legislation, which can result in prison sentences ranging from five to twenty years.
The indictment is particularly explicit: “Trump and the other defendants refused to acknowledge that he had lost and knowingly and deliberately participated in a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in his favor.” .
However, the prospects for this trial to take place in the short term seem very uncertain. According to the Washington Post, it “probably won't take place before he leaves the White House.” This position is reinforced by the statements of his lawyer, Steve Sadow, who indicated to the judge “that under the Supremacy Clause and his duties as President of the United States, this trial would not take place until the end of his mandate.
In short, as Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan, told ABC: “If he wins, say goodbye to all criminal cases.” “The criminal cases are over, both legally and practically,” she said, adding that a victory for Donald Trump would be a “get out of jail free card” for him.
