Projected winner Donald Trump is celebrating a victory in the 2024 presidential race.
But the former president still has three outstanding criminal cases hanging over him and sentencing still to come in his hush money case, in which he was convicted of 34 felony counts.
But despite predictions to the contrary, none of the charges ended up sinking Trump’s political fortunes along the way.
The former president has also won some big legal victories, including a federal judge throwing out his classified documents case, which is now under appeal. The Supreme Court also granted him and all future presidents immunity from some criminal prosecutions.
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As far as his criminal history goes, Richard Painter, a professor of corporate law at the University of Minnesota Law School and chief ethics lawyer for former President George W. Bush, offered some insight.
“It’s a very challenging situation for the prosecutors for sure. The federal prosecutor almost certainly would be dismissed by President Trump as soon assumes office again in January,” Painter said on Scripps News.
He said it would be "very difficult" to prevent Trump from firing the special prosecutor once he regains control of the White House.
"The Supreme Court of the United States and the Trump v. United States case made it very clear the president has nearly complete control over the Department of Justice and could cause a special prosecutor to be fired. The judge might try to keep the case alive for a while in the District of Columbia, but I think that would be very difficult with the Justice Department, starting with the president calling for the case to be dismissed,” Painter said. “The same would happen to Florida with the federal case down there.”
Trump’s hush money case is a little different however, being that it has resulted in a conviction. In this case, Trump will still have to report for sentencing in New York court.
“A jail sentence is very unlikely given the nature of the offense, but he could very well be put on probation, and have to report to a probation officer by Zoom, I assume, from the Oval Office, which would be a first — to have the president reporting on a regular basis to a state probation officer under court order,” Painter said. “But that might very well be the likely result of that New York case when sentencing occurs."
Painter did emphasize however that should Trump not comply with the terms of his probation, he will have to re-appear in New York court for a revocation hearing.
“As with the Georgia case, that's a mess right now. We don't know where that's going go,” Painter added.
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