Despite the odds, Trump has managed to fend off court cases, but his legal woes could follow him even after the election.
In July, the case against Trump for hoarding documents in his Mar-a-Lago estate was thrown out because the special counsel prosecuting the case was found unlawfully appointed by the Department of Justice. One of his other criminal cases regarding election interference fell through because of the Supreme Court’s decision stating former presidents can’t be prosecuted for what they did during their presidency.
In September, Trump’s attorneys managed to get his sentencing for the hush money court case pushed back until after November 5. While the former President has successfully avoided the cases brought against him in 2024, he could still find trouble after getting elected. The level of trouble he runs into also depends on whether he wins or not.
Mar-a-Lago court case dismissal
The Mar-a-Lago court case was the one that experts thought would have been the most successful. It was legally a simple, cut-and-dry case. Not only was it seen as a straightforward case by the Justice Department, but it was also about something that happened after Trump’s presidency, meaning there was no Supreme Court immunity.
In August 2022, the FBI found 11 classified documents in Trump’s estate after Trump’s lawyers only handed the FBI one box of classified documents in June of that year. The decision to seize the documents was controversial and created tension between the Justice Department and the FBI. However, it brought the case to court even though Trump claimed no wrongdoing.
The case was dismissed just two days after the first Trump assassination attempt. The federal judge in Fort Pierce, Florida, Aileen Cannon, decided to throw out the case after siding with Trump’s legal team’s arguments and because Attorney General Merrick Garland had illegally appointed prosecutor Jack Smith to the case. Judge Cannon claimed the Senate should have approved Smith’s appointment.
Jack Smith’s office appealed the court case, stating that Cannon’s dismissal decision went against decades of precedent.
Delays for legal proceedings
The hearing for Trump’s election interference case in DC was set for March 2024, but the case was pushed back to the point where a trial still hasn’t yet occurred.
The delays began with US District Judge Tanya Chuktan’s decision to give Trump’s team enough time to appeal her decision not to follow the Supreme Court decision on immunity. As Trump went up the ladder appealing, the case would not have a chance to hit trial for months after its initial expected date.
Chuktan then delayed the court case again in September to avoid interfering with the 2024 US elections. Chuktan said, “There’s no rush to judgment here” and is comfortable setting the trial date at her leisure.
Trump was meant to be sentenced for the hush money court case, which was also delayed until after the elections. Justice Juan M. Merchan felt similarly to Chuktan, not wanting the case to interfere or be interfered with by the election.