Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump takes the stage at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, the United States, after the preliminary results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election were announced on November 6, 2024.
Callahan O’Hare | Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign has been under constant threat that if he loses, he will have to fight a raft of criminal charges in state and federal courts.
With him beating Vice President Kamala Harris in the books, Trump can rest easy. Once in office, he will likely be able to significantly delay or end all criminal proceedings against him.
But he has not escaped liability in several high-profile civil cases and has been ordered to pay fines totaling more than $570 million.
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told CNBC that “in theory, Trump’s election should have no impact on these civil matters.”
“It is known that while the sitting president cannot be prosecuted, he can face civil cases,” Rahmani said.
Trump has said he plans to rapid fire His own Justice Department prosecutor, special counsel Jack Smith, has brought serious criminal charges against the former president in two federal courts over the past two years.
Both cases had been dismissed due to previous court rulings. Smith’s case in Washington, D.C., accusing Trump of illegally trying to overturn the 2020 election has been effectively narrowed and delayed by a Supreme Court ruling that granted the former president presumptive immunity for official conduct while in office.
Smith is currently trying to revive another case in which he accused Trump of mishandling classified documents and obstructing justice, which was dismissed by Florida federal judge Aileen Cannon in July.
Now, those cases are almost certain to be thrown out entirely, either under pressure from Trump’s legal team or from Smith’s team voluntarily closing shop.
“Now that Trump has won, his crime problem is gone,” Rahmani said.
“As we all know, a sitting president cannot be indicted, so the election fraud case in the D.C. District Court will be dismissed, and the Department of Justice will abandon the Eleventh Circuit’s appeal of the dismissal of the classified documents case,” he said.
A state-level criminal case in Georgia accusing Trump of unlawful interference in the state’s 2020 election is also pending. The case has been put on hold as Trump seeks to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis because of her romantic relationship with the lead prosecutor.
Under longstanding rules, whether Willis is allowed to stay or not, her case could be delayed for four years federal guidelines Sitting presidents are immune from prosecution.
Only one of the four criminal cases against which Trump was charged went to trial before the election: The New York case centered on hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
The case concluded in late May, with a jury finding Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
This makes Trump the first current or former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime. His sentencing date was originally scheduled for mid-July, but was repeatedly postponed and is now scheduled for November 26.
Judge Juan Merchant may sentence Trump to prison, but many legal experts are skeptical he will do so. The judge’s previous decision to delay sentencing Trump was based in part on his concerns about the unique circumstances of the case and his possible reluctance to punish the president-elect.
Rahmani said that Trump’s victory makes the possibility of a prison sentence already slim. “Logistically, it is impossible, and he will certainly not receive a prison sentence at any time.”
However, experts say Trump’s civil cases should not be affected by his election.
In February, New York Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump liable for business fraud and ordered him to pay more than $450 million in fines.
The case, brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, accuses Trump, his two adult sons, his companies and others of falsely inflating Trump’s assets to boost his net worth and obtain various financial benefits. .
Engoron’s penalty includes millions of dollars in prejudgment interest, with increases of $111,983 per day until paid.
As of Wednesday, Trump’s liabilities totaled nearly $483 million, according to data provided by the attorney general’s office.
Trump has appealed Ngolon’s ruling. Five judges on the New York Court of Appeals strongly questioned the validity of the AG’s case during oral arguments in September. political reporting. The appeals court has yet to rule.
Stephen Gillers, a professor at New York University School of Law, said that unlike criminal cases, Trump’s presidential victory would not have a direct impact on fraud cases.
“There is no legal basis to delay the natural progression of the case in the appeals process,” Gilles told CNBC in an email.
“Trump does not have to appear before the appeals court. The appeal does not interfere with his obligations as president-elect or president,” he said. “Basically, it’s now in the hands of the lawyers and the appeals court.”
He added that while the courts might accommodate his busy presidential schedule, they “will not drag out cases for four years.”
Gilles shared the same view on the two federal civil defamation cases that columnist E. Jean Carroll won against Trump.
The president-elect was ordered to pay Carroll more than $88 million in defamation fines for comments he made while president after Carroll claimed she raped him in the 1990s.
After predicting Trump will win election, Carroll write on X“I tried to tell you.”
Trump’s lawyers did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on how the election has affected his legal situation.
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