Donald Trump’s election to the White House could delay sentencing in hush money case and kill pending criminal prosecutions, experts say

Donald Trump’s election victory could delay his conviction in the Manhattan hush-money case and end federal lawsuits against him, legal experts say.

The once-and-future president faces a host of legal challenges that will be delayed or even eliminated by his re-election, according to state and federal defense attorneys.

There is a lawsuit filed in Georgia by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who accuses the former president of trying to overturn the 2020 election. Trump faces two federal criminal charges; one in Washington, D.C., for violating privacy laws, and the other in Florida federal court for attempted insurrection against the U.S. government.

But most immediately, the former president is scheduled to be sentenced on November 26 in Manhattan.

In May, a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a scheme to keep a former adult film star quiet about an alleged affair. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg claimed the former president tried to silence reports that he tried to keep voters in the dark during the 2016 presidential election.

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan will sentence Trump at the end of the month, but putting the president-elect behind bars could pose some risks, defense attorney Arthur Aidala told Newsday.

“Everyone has the ability to protect themselves to some degree,” the lawyer said. “I don’t see the judge putting him behind bars. Threats to the judge would get out of control.”

Aidala said victory at the polls would likely buy Trump some time.

“I can see the judge humiliating him, saying you shouldn’t have done what you did, but deferring the sentence until he leaves office,” Aidala said Wednesday. he said.

But legal opinions differ on what might happen next.

Trial attorney Mark Zauderer of the firm of Dorf, Nelson and Zauderer said it was unlikely the sentence would be suspended.

“I think there’s a good chance of a sentence,” he said.

A sentence that does not require prison time would likely survive a high court appeal, Zauderer said. However, the lawyer said that if Merchan tried to put him behind bars, he would not be able to get support from the higher courts due to the judge’s “supremacy clause”; this is the legal principle of US law that federal law trumps state law.

Former Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini, who is now a partner at Nixon Peabody, said states cannot sue a sitting president under the supremacy clause.

“There is no difference between a sitting president and a president-elect,” he said.

The issue of federal presidential immunity is also on the agenda of the case.

Merchan had originally scheduled sentencing for July, but postponed it until September after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that presidents are immune from prosecution for their official actions.

Defense attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove argued that the high court’s decision should prevail over the jury’s decision and moved to vacate the verdict. Merchan said he would decide on this proposal next week.

Defense attorneys can use the immunity issue to delay the case for many years by leaving it to the federal court system, Sini said.

D.C. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan has not yet ruled on the issue of immunity in the insurrection case filed against Trump for interfering with the certification of the 2020 election.

“They can ask the judge to postpone the sentence until that happens,” Sini said.

If Merchan decides that Trump is not immune from the lawsuit, defense attorneys will likely object, causing another delay.

Blanche and Bove did not respond to an email seeking comment. Defense attorney Susan Necheles declined to comment.

Under the same federalist principles that prevent states from prosecuting sitting presidents, Trump cannot pardon himself or dismiss the New York or Georgia cases.

But Zauderer and Sini agreed that federal lawsuits against the president-elect likely won’t move forward.

“Based on everything he’s said and knowing Trump’s view, it’s likely those cases will be dismissed,” Zauderer said. “He can do this through the Attorney General by appointing someone who is willing to do his bidding… Be brave and order the Department of Justice to dismiss the case.”

Most new presidents replace federal prosecutors from the previous administration.