The criminal cases brought against president elect trump have been a divisive factor throughout the 2024 election. For many the cases were seen as proof that Trump was not fit for office, but for many others the cases were evidence of the justice system being used as a political weapon.
Trump’s New York trial has undoubtedly garnered the most attention because it was the only case with the potential to come to an end before the election. In fact, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office released an article on May 30, 2024 about the outcome of the trial:
“Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. today[May 30, 2024] announced the all-count trial conviction of DONALD J. TRUMP, 77, for falsifying New York business records in order to conceal his illegal scheme to corrupt the 2016 election. TRUMP was convicted by a New York State Supreme Court jury of 34 counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree.”
While Trump was officially convicted of falsifying business records many know these as his hush money cases. The New York case was primarily about how he violated election law by paying off adult-actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. By convicting Trump of the hush money it is indirectly saying that he did have these affairs he so vehemently denies. Originally, Trump was meant to be sentenced in July, but since then the sentencing date has been pushed back multiple times. The sentencing date eventually fell on November 26th, but on November 12th Justice Juan Merchan decided to pause the case proceedings at the prosecution’s request to prepare for the next steps of the case.
The next case is charges of federal election interference related to the events of January 6th 2021. However, according to an article about Trump’s cases from Politico, the case is case is about more than January 6th:
“In the two months between Election Day in 2020 and Jan. 6, 2021, Trump mounted a wide-ranging campaign to subvert Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election. Trump and his advisers spread false information about voter fraud, urged Republican state officials to undermine the results in states that Biden won, assembled false slates of electors and pressured Mike Pence, the vice president, to unilaterally toss out the legitimate results. The effort culminated on Jan. 6, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and disrupted the peaceful transfer of power.”
The investigation, led by special counsel Jack Smith, is not only focusing on the capitol attack, but also the apparent interference that led up to it. One of Trump’s motions to dismiss the case eventually ended up in the supreme court; Trump’s legal team has taken the stance that because the actions occurred while Trump was president he is granted immunity. Due to the supreme court ruling, which pushed the responsibility of whether the case will continue to judge Tanya Chutkan, it was obvious that the trial would not be held before election day. This is also the primary reason it garnered less attention than the hush money charges despite the controversial supreme court ruling. Now that Trump has been elected it is widely expected that once in office he will use his authority to order the DOJ to dismiss the federal charges for good.
Trump’s third case which is about the mishandling of classified documents after he left the White House in 2021 is also led by Special Counsel Jack Smith. The same article from Politico summarizes the subject of prosecution well:
