One down, three to go: Here's the status of Trump's other criminal cases
WASHINGTON ? With former President Donald Trump guilty on all charges in his Manhattan hush money trial, he still faces criminal charges in three other cases, including two for allegedly trying to illegally steal the 2020 election he lost to President Joe Biden.
In all, Trump faced a combined 88 criminal counts, including the 34 in Manhattan that he was convicted of Thursday by a jury. That leaves 54 counts among the three other cases, two of them in federal court that were brought by special counsel Jack Smith on behalf of the Justice Department.
The other case, in Fulton County, Georgia, accuses Trump and 14 co-defendants ? including some of his former lawyers, and administration aides ? of trying to overturn Trump's loss in the Peach State in 2020.
None of these other cases has a trial date scheduled, and legal experts largely concur it's unlikely any will begin before Election Day on Nov. 5, a likely rematch between Biden and Trump.
That’s because prosecutors in each case are wrangling with Trump’s lawyers over legal motions and, in the Georgia case, an effort by Trump and co-defendants to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on grounds of alleged misconduct.
Also delaying matters: The Supreme Court is weighing whether Trump is immune from criminal charges as a former president.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. But like the Manhattan case, any one of these three trials could threaten to interfere with his campaigning for president if prosecutors are able to get trial preparations underway in earnest.
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Here is what we know about the pending criminal trials:
Mar-a-Lago classified documents case brought by Jack Smith
Trump was indicted on 40 counts in connection with hoarding hundreds of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, upon leaving the White House in January 2021. In his defense, he contends that as president, he declassified the records and that they were his personal property.
Smith, the Justice Department special counsel, charged Trump with the willful retention of national defense records in violation of the Espionage Act and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon continues to hear arguments dealing with evidence in the case. But two weeks before the trial’s May 20 tentative start date, Cannon postponed it indefinitely, ruling that it “would be imprudent and inconsistent” to go forward with trial preparations without first resolving disputes about classified documents.
Federal election interference case
In what is arguably the most serious case, Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., on four counts of conspiring to steal the 2020 election from Biden.
Smith charged Trump with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
But that trial has been hung up by Trump’s contention that he is immune to the charges because he was president when actions took place leading up to and including the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals each have ruled Trump isn’t immune. And despite Smith’s request that the Supreme Court weigh in early on immunity so the trial could proceed, the case was the last to be argued before the court ended its current term. That means a decision may not come for at least several weeks ? and Chutkan has assured Trump that he will have two months of pretrial preparation after the decision.
Georgia election interference case
Trump faces 10 counts in Georgia in connection with a racketeering conspiracy to try to steal the 2020 election by recruiting alternate presidential electors and pressuring state officials to recognize them as legitimate – and to find him enough votes to beat Biden in the Peach State.
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act penalizes activities of people engaging in organized crime.
Willis, the Fulton County DA, had proposed starting the trial Aug. 5, but months of delay followed after Trump co-defendant Michael Roman sought her disqualification, saying Willis' affair with Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade made her – and the entire DA’s office – unfit to preside over the case.
Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee ruled against Roman, Trump and others who joined in the effort, but they are now appealing his decision to the Georgia Court of Appeals. No date for that appeal has been set, and while McAfee has said he will allow some trial preparations, he probably will not set a trial date until the disqualification issue has been resolved.
Trump also an unindicted co-conspirator in Arizona
Former Trump campaign lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Christina Bobb were among 18 people indicted by a Maricopa County, Arizona, grand jury in April in connection with a plan to keep Trump in the White House by falsely certifying he won the state in 2020.
Trump himself was not charged in the Arizona case, but he is clearly identified in the indictment as "Unindicted Co-conspirator 1," who is described as a "former president of the United States who spread false claims of election fraud following the 2020 election."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump's three remaining criminal cases: here's a status report