With his election victory, Donald Trump will have the power to dismiss half of his criminal cases when he returns to the White House — most notably the two federal cases brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith alleging subversion of the 2020 election and the alleged illegal hoarding of classified documents. documents and obstruction. The president-elect has pleaded not guilty in all four of his criminal cases, but his guilt is unlikely to be decided in any way in these two criminal cases.
NBC News reported Wednesday that Justice Department officials “have been evaluating how to conclude the two federal criminal cases” before Trump takes office, “to comply with the department’s long-standing policy that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted.”
Presidents cannot pardon or dismiss state cases, although we do not expect Trump to face state proceedings in New York or Georgia while in office. When the judge presiding over the Georgia case asked Trump’s lawyer last year if he would take the case if Trump were to become president again, the lawyer said he believed that, under the Constitution’s supremacy clause and the duties of Trump as president, a trial could only take place after he left office.
In his New York hush money case, Trump will be sentenced on November 26 – that is, if Judge Juan Merchan on November 12 rejects Trump’s request to overturn his guilty verdicts based on the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling. Even then, Trump indicated he would immediately appeal an adverse immunity ruling, so don’t assume the conviction — for falsifying business records, stemming from the 2016 election-related Stormy Daniels hush-money cover-up — goes as planned . In any case, in that case, imprisonment is not mandatory and a sitting president is not imprisoned.
In Georgia, this multi-defendant case is already embroiled in a preliminary investigation in the defense’s attempt to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Whatever happens in that case, in which Trump is also accused of interfering in the 2020 election, don’t expect him to appear in a state criminal courtroom as president, even if he could just delay — rather than dismiss — the case .
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This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
