An Update On The Donald Trump Court Cases

President Donald Trump faced four major legal battles after the loss of the 2020 election, but as he’s taken back the Oval Office, the future of the remaining active cases is unknown.
Special counsel Jack Smith began two investigations regarding Trump’s actions in the 2020 election. His first case, the “Federal Election Interference” case, accused Trump of working to prevent former President Joe Biden from entering office by taking advantage of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol Building, according to Politico.com.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan decided to call off the case Feb. 2, 2024, because it was deemed unpredictable due to Trump’s attempts to receive immunity by higher courts, according to Politico.com. The Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling July 1, 2024 declared Trump immune from any criminal prosecution for some of his actions performed as president during the 2020 election. The case was then sent back to trial court for Chutkan to decide which allegations occurred under official acts and which were classified as private matters.
According to the Washington Post, “The Supreme Court ruled … that former president Donald Trump is immune from prosecution for official acts taken while in office, but not for private conduct.”
According to NBC News, after the 2024 election, Chutkan approved Smith’s request to dismiss the charges due to the Department of Justice’s policy against hindering sitting presidents from performing their work due to ongoing legal cases.
Smith’s second investigation brought Trump to trial after he was accused of taking classified documents to his personal estate and revealing the contents to unauthorized individuals.
This FBI investigation began in 2022 after the National Archives determined 14 boxes of classified documents were missing from Trump’s presidential records, according to NBC News. The U.S. district judge presiding over the case, Aileen Cannon, dismissed the case in July of 2023, having found Smith’s position as special counsel unconstitutional. The report gathered by Smith and his team was then temporarily blocked in an appeals court in light of the upcoming inauguration.
According to CNN, Cannon indicated she had no intention to share the entirety of the report with Congress at this time.
“At the end of the day, what’s the urgency of doing this right now?” Cannon said to Justice Department attorney Elizabeth Shapiro, according to a report by CNN.
Attorney General Merrick Garland released part of the report to a handful of Congress members, but Cannon has placed a hold on the report, preventing it from spreading outside of the current department. As this is a developing story, it is unknown if any of the report will become publicly available.
Trump’s latest case was concluded with a sentence of unconditional discharge Jan. 10 by Judge Juan Merchan regarding what Politico.com dubbed the “Hush Money” case.
According to Fox News, Merchan declared Trump guilty May 30, 2024 of falsifying business documents to cover up suspicions of an extramarital affair. The initial accusation claimed Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, worked as a “fixer” to pay off adult film actress Stormy Daniels and adult model, Karen McDougal. Cohen “helped to cover up” the affairs “by paying both of the women off” and documenting the payments as corporate legal expenses. Trump denied all the allegations, according to CNN.
Trump’s sentence of unconditional discharge means that even with the guilty verdict, punishment would be considered inappropriate. As such, Merchan covered all 34 counts held against the president.
“Sir, I wish you Godspeed as you assume your second term in office,” Merchan said.
According to Fox News, Trump’s unconditional discharge sentencing also allows him to appeal the conviction should he choose to do so.
In contrast to the “Hush Money” case, the “Georgia Election Interference” case is still ongoing.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis claimed that Trump worked with 18 supporters to commit organized crime. The “organized crime” included statements that supporters faked claims that Trump had won the 2020 election, attempted to compromise voting equipment and 161 other alleged acts.
Trump arrived to Fulton County in August 2023 for his first court appearance, only to miss the hearing as he and his accused supporters were taken in by the Fulton County Jail for mug shots before possible sentencing. According to the Associated Press, of the 18 Trump supporters, four pleaded guilty before the case was brought to a sudden halt.
It was revealed that Willis was romantically involved with Nathan Wade, the lawyer she’d chosen to be the lead prosecutor against Trump and his supporters. Judge Scott McAfee later ruled that he found no conflict of interest preventing Willis from continuing to judge the case, providing Wade resigned. However, in December of 2024, the Georgia Court of Appeals removed Willis from her position as prosecutor against Trump. The court’s reasoning revolved around Willis’ romantic relationship and found the case lacked necessary details to prepare the accused for how they should defend themselves.
According to The Washington Post, Willis fought against the ruling, as she claimed the court had improper grounds to remove her. She is appealing her situation to the Georgia Supreme Court, stating the courts “erred” in its decision to remove her because of her relationship with Wade, according to ABC News.
Trump’s lawyers took the opposing stance Jan. 17, arguing in favor of the ruling and claiming the “disqualification is mandated because it is the only remedy that could purge the taint of impropriety.”
The Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia is expected to find a new prosecutor to continue the case. As this is a developing story, the final verdict is currently unknown.
McKinnon is the off-campus news editor for the Liberty Champion.