What happens to Donald Trump’s outstanding criminal cases now he’s going to be president again?

In winning the 2024 election, Donald Trump became the first convicted felon elected to America’s highest office. With his sentencing just weeks away on a New York hush-money trial, his return to the White House has cleared some legal headaches plaguing the 78-year-old.

Trump is currently embroiled in three criminal cases and has been convicted in a fourth.

What are the state charges against Trump, and can he pardon himself?

The conviction came in a New York state court, where a jury found him guilty on 34 felony counts of falsification of business records relating to a $US130,000 ($197,000) payment to porn star Stormy Daniels made a month before the 2016 election. Trump was able to delay sentencing in this case to November 26, 2024.

Donald Trump: The mug shot

While Trump does not have the power as president to pardon himself in this case – the Democratic governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, does – that Supreme Court ruling and his being in power could make it more complicated for those trying to prosecute him.

His other state case is in Georgia, where a grand jury convened by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has indicted Trump on 10 felony charges relating to attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state, which President Joe Biden narrowly won. A key piece of evidence in this case is a recording of a phone call to Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which Trump said, “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have”.

This case also covers an alleged plot to have Republican electors from Georgia return fake ballots for Trump in Washington, DC. The case is set to return one month after the election, on December 5.

Fulton County has become the target of significant vitriol since the case was brought forth, including from Trump-faithful Rudy Giuliani, who, during a June rally, called Willis a “ho”. On election night, 32 polling sites in Fulton County received bomb threats, including five which had to temporarily close.

Willis is facing disqualification from the case on allegations that she benefited financially from the trial due to a prior relationship with a prosecutor hired on the case. A decision on her disqualification is due in 2025. Should Willis be removed, it is expected that another prosecutor would not be willing to take on the case against a sitting president.

Should it continue, Trump cannot directly pardon himself. Only a five-person board, appointed by Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, can. However, Kemp and Trump are reportedly not friendly, having clashed publicly over the allegations since the 2020 election.

What are the federal charges against Trump?

The third and fourth active cases are federal ones led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, but they are under a cloud as the US Justice Department, which is under the authority of the president, has a longstanding guideline against prosecuting a sitting leader. Trump has vowed to fire Smith.

The trial was thrown into disarray by the Supreme Court’s July 1 decision to grant immunity to official acts performed by the president. Trump’s lawyers sought to have the case dismissed on the basis that some of the evidence used in the trial included official presidential acts.

The federal cases relate to allegations that Trump conspired to overthrow the results of the 2020 election, culminating in the January 6 riot on the Capitol, as well as allegations that Trump took classified documents from the White House to his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago.

What are the civil cases Trump has faced?

A number of civil cases have also been brought against Trump, including at least five cases seeking to hold him liable for the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol, a fraud case in which he was found liable of overstating his wealth for financial gain, and one where he was found to have sexually abused and defamed writer E. Jean Carroll.

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