Topline
One week after former President Donald Trump’s guilty verdict in his New York criminal hush money case, the 2024 GOP nominee looks to be scoring a break in his three other criminal cases, which face delays that could make them unlikely to go to trial before the November election.
Former President Donald Trump likely will not go to trial for his three other criminal indictments ... [+]
Key Facts
Federal classified documents case: Federal Judge Aileen Cannon shuffled the calendar in the federal document handling and obstruction case Wednesday, scheduling a slew of hearings for later this month on issues like whether top prosecutor Jack Smith's appointment was invalid or whether Trump should face a partial gag order—moves that could further delay a case that’s already nowhere near trial and is inherently complicated because it involves classified records.
The case’s May trial date was bumped, with prosecutors pushing for a July trial as Trump pleads for it to be delayed until after November, and Cannon—a Trump nominee—has faced pushback from prosecutors and outside criticism from Trump opponents for the pace of proceedings and for agreeing to hear some of Trump’s debatable legal arguments.
Georgia racketeering case: Trump and 18 co-defendants face charges of plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, but the case has been mired by questions about Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who faces a disqualification hearing for Oct. 4 over an alleged conflict of interest involving her relationship with a former prosecutor (the prosecutor in question has resigned).
The Georgia case—which involves many co-defendants and was brought under the state’s complicated RICO law—could also become bogged in trial delays, with experts speculating to Forbes it could face similar hurdles during jury deliberations as Willis’s years-long RICO prosecution of rapper Young Thug, due to Trump’s celebrity status.
Federal election interference case: Trump’s federal election interference case has also been plagued with uncertainty, depending on a ruling by the Supreme Court on whether Trump is immune from charges related to actions he took while in office—after an appeals court rejected his argument for immunity.
Supreme Court justices are expected to issue a ruling before the end of the court’s current term at the end of the month, at which point a date for Trump’s federal election trial can be set, but it’s unclear if district Judge Tanya Chutkan will need to take further action to implement the Supreme Court’s order first, adding more delays.
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Tangent
While Trump has not faced a gag order in his classified documents case, he has been hammered with gag orders in some other criminal cases, including in his federal election interference case. He was also issued a gag order in New York, where the former president was found guilty last week of falsifying business records over a hush money payment before the 2016 election. That order went into effect before the high-profile trial began in April, prohibiting Trump from publicly commenting on jurors, witnesses, court staff and members of their family, following Trump’s social media spree bashing potential witnesses and making comments on the judge’s daughter. Trump was later fined $10,000 for 10 violations of that order. On Tuesday, Trump asked the judge overseeing the Manhattan case to end the gag order.
Key Background
Trump was found guilty last week on 34 counts of falsifying business records, a historic first for a former president. The charges could carry jail time, though legal experts doubt Trump would see anywhere close to a maximum sentence as a first-time offender. Trump, who had pleaded not guilty to all charges, had been set for a sentencing hearing on July 11, though he announced last week he will appeal the conviction, likely dragging the case out for months.
