The court calendar is quite dense for former President Donald Trump – in a dramatic year that will see him commute between campaign stops and trial dates.
It could all end up in a calamity for him, with possible jail time and the end of his dreams of a return to the White House.
Or the Republican front-runner beats prosecutors and is awarded no guilty verdict, or he manages to postpone most criminal trials until after a possible reelection. At least in the two federal trails, he might be able to pardon himself in case of reelection. Or he could order the Justice Department (DoJ) to drop the case, after his inauguration on January 20, 2025.
Before we dig into the criminal trials, Trump suffered two painful and very expensive losses in two civil matters in New York. In the first, he was ordered to pay the former media columnist E. Jean Carroll $83 million for defaming her after she claimed the then-businessman had sexually attacked her in a changing room at the Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman. In the first phase, a jury determined that Trump was liable for his conduct and the frequent defamation he hurled at her in public.
The second case turned out to be even more painful, personally – and also very expensive. District attorney Letitia James had indicated him over business practices at the Trump Organization, his real estate conglomerate, which has been his life work and the basis for his riches and fame. In February, he was ordered by New York judge Arthur Engoron to pay $365 Million in ill-gotten gains after the underlying fraud – mainly overstating the value of properties – was already proven last year. Interest alone is close to $100 million, so Trump owns officials more than $450 million in this case alone.
But at least he is not threatened by any jail time.
So, naturally, the stakes are much higher in criminal cases. In four different indictments, all brought against the Republican last year by special prosecutor Jack Smith and District Attorneys in New York and Atlanta, a total of 91 charges have been brought. In the case of convictions and maximum penalties, Trump would be threatened with 700 years in jail.
It has been decided already that the trial series will start in Manhattan on March 25. This is, in the minds of legal experts, possibly the weakest case, but at least the most straightforward. The candidate is accused of having paid a former affair, sex film actress Stormy Daniels, $130,000 hush money during the 2016 campaign to keep his cheating in 2006 under wraps. Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg pointed out that the payment, executed by Trump’s then “fixer” and lawyer Michael Cohen, has been hidden in company books. Normally this would constitute a misdemeanor, but Bragg leveled additional accusations that Trump had manipulated the election outcome, therefore he was charged with felonies. The trial could last a few weeks, and a verdict could come as soon as later in the spring or early summer.
The other cases are more complicated, especially when it comes to scheduling. Actually, the first trial was supposed to be Smith’s accusations that Trump wanted to cling to power after his election loss, which eventually resulted in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. But the case has been put on hold as Smith and Trump’s lawyers have called on the Supreme Court to rule if he had immunity for many of his actions because he was president at the time.
Now the nation awaits a ruling by the highest court, which could come in a few weeks. If the justices rule against Trump and send it back to judge Tanya Chutkan in the original court, this trial could start, most likely, in late spring or summer. If the panel wants to hear the case, the delay could be longer. And it is also possible that the conservative Supreme Court will side with Trump and the case will fall apart. If there is a green light for the prosecution, though, the proceedings could last 100 days, reports The Guardian.
The next trail was scheduled in Fort Pierce, Florida, regarding Trump’s mishandling of top secret documents he took from the White House and stored in his resort in Mar-a-Lago, some boxes in a bathroom. Charges were added accusing Trump of asking for surveillance footage at his estate to be deleted after FBI and Justice Department investigators visited in June 2022 to collect classified documents he took with him after leaving the White House. The indictment also charges him with illegally holding onto a document he’s alleged to have shown off to visitors in New Jersey. Judge Aileen Cannon, appointed to the federal bench by Trump, has set a start date of May 20, though she has signaled that it may be pushed back.
In Georgia, Trump is charged alongside 18 other people, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, with violating the state’s anti-racketeering law by scheming to illegally overturn his 2020 election loss. The indictment, handed up in August, accuses Trump or his allies of suggesting Georgia’s Republican secretary of state could “find” enough votes for him to win the battleground state; of harassing an election worker who faced false claims of fraud; and of attempting to persuade Georgia lawmakers to ignore the will of voters and appoint a new slate of Electoral College electors favorable to Trump.
The case was overshadowed by a recent drama involving District Attorney Fani Willis, who brought the charges against Trump. It turned out that she had a romantic relationship with one of her special prosecutors, who also worked on the Trump case. Willis took the witness stand recently in a spectacular televised court hearing. Trump’s lawyers and the legal representatives for his co-defendants wanted the prosecutor removed from the case. There is no trial date set, and it is very likely that this case will be tried after the election.
