The year 2024 is set to be a tough one for Donald Trump judicially, with some believing the former president could end up behind bars even before the November 5 presidential election.
However, Republican candidates have managed to postpone three of the four trials until after the election, despite facing a total of 88 criminal charges.
He accomplished this through numerous appeals and other maneuvers by his army of lawyers, including a broad immunity ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.
He was found guilty only of the least serious count, which involved falsifying business records to conceal money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.
The latest good news for Trump came on Friday, when a judge officially postponed his sentencing in the case until November 26 — just weeks after the US presidential election.
Here’s an overview of how his legal troubles currently stand.
Challenging the 2020 election results
Donald Trump is facing federal charges for his illegal efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election won by US President Joe Biden.
Special prosecutor Jack Smith has charged Trump with “conspiracy to defraud the United States” and “obstruction of an official proceeding.”
Although Trump has not been directly accused of inciting the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021, Smith has alleged that he incited violence and chaos.
The trial was originally scheduled to begin in Washington on March 4, and if Trump is found guilty he could face decades in prison.
The case was significantly delayed, however, when the Supreme Court ruled on presidential immunity in July, saying Trump enjoys broad protection for “official acts” as president.
Smith filed an amended indictment for judgment in late August, but will now have to resume fighting with Trump’s legal team over the trial’s timeline.
The judge in the case, Tanya Chutkan, acknowledged during a hearing on Thursday that it would be impossible to set a new hearing date in the two months before the elections.
2020 election in Georgia
The former Republican president also faces charges over alleged election interference in the southeastern US state of Georgia, including a phone call in which he asked a local official to “find” 11,000 missing votes – the margin by which he lost the state to Joe Biden in 2020.
Trump had to go to Atlanta jail to have his photo taken in this case, which was the first humiliating incident for a former US President.
However, the case’s progress was hampered when it was revealed that the local prosecutor, Fanny Willis, was having an intimate relationship with Nathan Wade, the investigator she had assigned to the case.
Trump’s lawyers argued for the case to be dismissed due to conflict of interest, and the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity did not help.
As a result, the trial, which was previously scheduled to begin on August 5, has officially been put on hold while the case continues to wind through the court system for the coming months.
Classified Documents at Mar-a-Lago
In another federal case under special prosecutor Jack Smith, Trump is accused of storing top-secret documents at his private residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
He is also accused of attempting to destroy evidence. The most serious charge carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Though the trial was originally scheduled to begin on May 20, Trump scored a victory when Judge Ellen Cannon — who was appointed by the former president — halted the criminal proceedings on July 15, based on allegations that Smith was illegally appointed.
Smith appealed the decision in late August to get the case back on track, but given the speed of federal appellate courts, a decision will likely take months.
Punishment of paying money to keep quiet
The financial crimes case in New York was the only case that Trump was tried on, which lasted from mid-April to late May.
Despite Trump’s claims that the trial was “rigged”, the jury found Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to pay porn star Stormy Daniels money to avoid a scandal just before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump, who faces up to four years in prison, was originally scheduled to be sentenced in September.
However, on Friday Judge Juan Merchan postponed the hearing until three weeks after the election, giving relief to the Republican candidate.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
