All eyes are on some of the major legal claims against him, including national ones, as Donald Trump prepares to take office.
Trump may be able to get rid of national indictments that accuse him of falsifying confidential information and trying to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election. According to reports, prosecutors may find fresh, and potentially deadly, legal hurdles to what have already been complicated and extraordinary proceedings.
Former captain of the Manhattan District Attorney’s test department Karen Friedman Agnifilo said,” If he wins, say goodbye to all the legal circumstances”.
A win for the former US president in the elections did serve as a “get out of jail free card” for him, according to Friedman.
Charges Trump is facingIn the New York hush money trial, Trump was convicted of falsifying his business records to cover up the payment of $130,000 made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. This was likely the first criminal case against a former or current US president.
According to a statement from ABC News, the punishment could still be carried out in November if Trump wins the election, but Jeffrey Cohen, a professor at Boston College, believes that Judge Merchan’s choice may be influenced by the new situation.
” A sitting president would n’t be forced to be incarcerated while they’re serving their presidency, and so he could theoretically serve it once he’s out of office”, said Cohen.
Trump is accused of trying to reverse the effects of the 2020 election in Fulton County by trying to do so in the event. Trump’s legal event in Fulton County, Georgia has been stalled since June.
As position cases in Georgia and Manhattan are beyond the Department of Justice’s control, Trump may have a much harder time influencing them as leader. According to experts, it is doubtful for them to continue if Trump is in office.
Trump is facing four federal charges in the national election meddling event for allegedly undermining the effects of the 2020 election, including conspiracy to defraud the US, attempted obstruction of an established proceeding, and plot against right.
Trump has entered a not-guilty plea and asserted that the accusations were made in a political move. In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling regarding presidential immunity, Judge Tanya Chutkan decides the course of the case’s proceedings. These accusations, brought by special counsel Jack Smith, are currently on hold.
One of the four criminal cases brought against Trump is the classified documents case. He was charged last year with a number of counts, including obstructing justice and keeping secret information.
After US District Judge Aileen Cannon sided with defense attorneys in July, the case involving classified documents against him was dismissed. They had asserted that the US Justice Department had illegally appointed the special counsel who filed the allegations against Trump in the case.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the classified documents case against Trump days after this ruling, citing that Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment of special counsel Jack Smith was “unconstitutional.”
Will Trump self-pardon himself?The question of whether Trump could pardon himself if re-elected remains legally challenging, as the US Constitution does not explicitly address self-pardon, and no president has ever attempted one.
While some argue that a self-pardon would contradict fundamental legal principles, referencing a 1974 Department of Justice memo that says” no one may be a judge in his own case”, others believe the Constitution’s broad pardon power does not exclude self-pardons.
A self-pardon attempt by a president almost certainly would result in significant legal challenges and may ultimately necessitate a Supreme Court decision. Furthermore, presidential pardons apply only to federal offenses and would not impact any state-level charges, such as those Trump faces in Georgia.
