Trump's allies in legal jeopardy despite election victory

President-elect Trump’s victory in the White House has sent his legal cases into a downward spiral, but his allies facing prosecution or other legal challenges remain unclear.

Dozens of Trump aides, associates and supporters, including senior officials in his first administration, face criminal charges linked to their efforts to keep the former president in power after he lost the 2020 election. Many also faced disbarment, bankruptcy, and civil lawsuits.

While Trump’s criminal cases conclude with his imminent return to the nation’s highest office, the same protections he enjoys as president do not extend to his allies.

More than a dozen people in Georgia, along with Trump, have been charged with trying to overturn the state’s election results. Biden won the state by 11,779 votes in 2020.

Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, and Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who led the 2020 push, are among the defendants in the case, along with numerous attorneys and aides. Trump supporters who signed false documents saying they were the state’s real voters are also charged.

Gregory Germain, a law professor at Syracuse University, said the Justice Department’s view on separation of powers makes clear that state criminal investigations into Trump should be shelved, at least while he is in office: in a blog post After the November elections.

“Most likely, criminal prosecutions in the state will be suspended during Trump’s presidency,” he wrote. “If they try to proceed with the cases, or even decide to suspend the sentence, I suspect the decisions will be overturned on appeal.”

However, this is not the case for the other 14 defendants whose charges are pending.

With Trump effectively out of the picture, any limitations the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling would have placed on the investigation — which blocked certain evidence and caused further delays — are now gone, said Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis. He can make his allies’ prosecutions stronger.

“They live with a hope and a prayer that things are changing in the world to their benefit,” Kreis said of Trump’s other defendants, referring to the former president’s election victory. “But when it comes to actual trial practice, they may be more upset than pleased.”

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis won re-election this fall, ensuring she retains her place at the helm of the historic case. One Interview with Atlanta News FirstHe declined to make any plans moving forward but stated that he had no intention of letting the case collapse for any defendant.

“If there is an indictment of someone in this office, we will continue to pursue those charges, no matter who it is,” Willis said. “I’m here for eight more years, that’s my plan. So if that’s what it takes to get justice in some cases, we come to work every day, we come to work and we seek justice.”

Still, the fate of the Georgia case is in the hands of the state appeals court; the court is considering whether Willis should be kicked out of the investigation because of her previous romantic relationship with one of the case’s top prosecutors; he too has since resigned.

Arizona’s 2020 election trial, in which Trump is an unindicted co-conspirator of 16 defendants currently facing charges, is also expected to move forward, according to the state’s Democratic attorney general.

“I have no intention of dropping this case,” Mayes said. he said last week. “A grand jury in the state of Arizona determined that these individuals who attempted to overthrow our democracy in 2020 must be held accountable.”

The prosecution hit a snag earlier this week when the judge oversaw the case he pulled away after urging his colleagues to address attacks on Vice President Harris’ presidential campaign in an email to other justices.

A spokesman for Giuliani said the judge’s remarks underscored the “partisan and unfounded nature of this entire case,” but Mayes’ office pushed back, saying the email represented “a cry for decency and respect” and “does not reflect bias.” Mayes’ spokesman, Richie Taylor, said the case “was never motivated by politics.”

The Arizona case is set to be heard in January 2026, but the judge’s rejection could cause delays.

Trump’s troubles in Arizona may not be over either. Kreis said the state’s statute of limitations on most felonies is seven years, which means a former president could face charges there in the final year of his term and leave office with few mechanisms to stop them.

All three Trump allies face off charges in Wisconsin and 16 so-called “fake voters” are indicted in Michigan. A lawsuit was filed against six alternate electors in Nevada, but a court dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction; The state objected. In New Mexico and Pennsylvania, prosecutors said the legal standards for filing charges were not met.

If Trump allies are convicted in state cases, Trump will not be able to grant pardons or other relief because that power is reserved only for federal crimes.

Criminal prosecutions aside, Trump’s allies face a problem many other legal issues For his efforts to keep Trump in the White House.

Giuliani was disbarred and forced to turn over most of his assets to two election officials he slandered. Two other men involved in the incident, Jeff Clark and John Eastman, also faced disciplinary action. Lawyers Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro and Jenna Ellis admitted to the charges arising from their post-2020 election work.

Even as president, there is little Trump can do to help.

“I think they’re out on their own,” Kreis said.

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