Convicted criminal Donald Trump will now have the power to quash criminal charges being brought against him after sensationally storming back into power.
Had he lost the election, Mr Trump was facing the prospect of four looming trials, 91 charges and the prospect of potentially dying behind bars.
But these cases are now set to be suspended and ultimately quashed due to presidential impunity delivered by the US authorities strong precedent not to jail a sitting president.
This outcome was deemed to be one of the driving forces behind the 78-year-old’s determination to reclaim the presidency. Victory has effectively handed him the power to halt the two federal and two state cases hanging over him.
The first of the two federal cases involves accusations that he mishandled classified documents while the second is about him seeking to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election which he lost to Joe Biden.
In one of the state cases, Trump was found guilty in New York earlier this year on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a “hush money” payment made to silence porn star Stormy Daniels from speaking about their affair. But following May’s conviction the sentencing hearing was delayed until after the election to avoid claims of a political motive.
Many legal observers predicted that the gravity of the offences meant he could receive a lengthy jail sentence, which given his age might have resulted in him spending the rest of his life behind bars. But after Tuesday night’s historic victory there is a presumption that the president is not only shielded from prison but that the scheduled November 26 sentencing hearing is highly unlikely to take place.
The hearing was already in doubt following a ruling in July by the US Supreme Court decreeing former presidents are immune from criminal prosecution for their official acts.
The Manhattan court still has to rule on whether all or part of Trump’s conviction needs to be thrown out in light of this new ruling.
Meanwhile a case against him in Georgia of alleged racketeering charges relating to efforts to overturn the 2020 election result, which has already been repeatedly delayed, is also now likely to bite the bullet – with Trump having seized control of the Department of Justice (DoJ) and with it the power to halt the case.
In the coming days Trump’s legal team is expected to press federal judges to either suspend or delay both these state-level cases.
And although Trump cannot directly dismiss the state prosecutors, his lawyers argue that his presidential duties would make it almost impossible to move forward with these trials until his time in the Oval Office concludes in 2029.
Last year when Georgia Judge Scott McAfee asked Trump’s attorney, Steve Sadow, whether a Trump victory would prevent a trial next year Sadow responded, “Under the Supremacy Clause and his duties as president, this trial would not take place until after his term.”
In contrast these cases would have accelerated swiftly had Trump lost.
And with the position as the 47th president of the US he will also be empowered to halt the remaining two federal case against him, relating to the Capitol Hill riot on January 6, 2021, by appointing a ‘friendly’ attorney general who would help ensure they were dismissed.
Both cases have been brought by DoJ special counsel Jack Smith who Trump previously warned he would fire “in two seconds” upon winning the election.
But even in the unlikely scenario of Smith remaining in post, criminal action is unlikely as the DoJ has a long-standing policy of not pursuing criminal charges against sitting presidents.
“At this point, Trump has essentially won in all four cases,” confirmed Paul Butler, professor at Georgetown Law.
Legal cases that likely won’t be affected by Trump’s win however is his pending appeals of civil judgments against him totalling more than £388 million.
The president-elect is appealing the largest award — more than £370 million and growing by more than £82,000 a day — in a civil fraud case in New York state court pertaining to historic business dealings.
Trump is also appealing a pair of jury awards totalling about £68 million that he has to pay writer E. Jean Carroll after she filed two suits against Trump, one for allegedly sexually assaulting her in the 1990s and defamation and another for defaming her while he was president.
The appeals court is expected to rule in the sexual assault case first, and that ruling could come at any time.
