What will happen to Trump’s legal problems after the election?

Donald Trump has more than just the presidency on the line from Nov. 5 — the outcome of his various legal troubles also hinges on the election.

An election victory he called “the most important“In the history of the country it would likely result in the federal criminal cases against him being dismissed, state criminal cases possibly being frozen until he leaves office, and further delays in the various civil cases pending against him.

A loss to the vice president Kamala Harrishowever, it could see Trump facing a possible prison sentence later this month for his criminal conviction in New York and the possibility of additional criminal trials in 2025. It could also leave him open to additional civil trials in the near future while he is already appealing. $500 million in civil judgments against him.

“There’s a lot more arrows in the quiver when you’re president,” said NBC News legal analyst Chuck Rosenberg.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung predicted Trump would prevail at the polls and said all cases should be thrown out. “The witch hunt against President Trump has exploded” and “all should be dismissed in light of the Supreme Court’s landmark immunity decision and other vital case law,” Cheung said in a statement.

Here’s a look at where the legal cases against the Republican presidential nominee currently stand and how they might — or might not — be affected by a Trump win or loss.

Hush money case

Win or lose, Trump’s biggest immediate challenge after the election is his conviction 34 offences of falsifying business records in New York. He is scheduled to be sentenced on November 26, three weeks after Election Day.

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan twice delayed the proceedings to give Trump and his lawyers more time to argue that the Supreme Court’s July ruling on the scope of presidential immunity should result in the conviction being expunged. They also want the charges against Trump to either be dropped or for him to get a new trial that omits evidence they say should not have been allowed in light of the high court’s decision.

Merchan should decide on this request by November 12. Trump’s lawyers should immediately appeal if he rules against their client.

If the conviction continues, Merchan could sentence Trump to prison, which would also be immediately challenged. Rosenberg told NBC News in May after Trump’s sentencing that prison time was unlikely but possible, given that the former president spent much of the trial insulting the judge and defying his gag order.

An election victory would give Trump additional fodder for an appeal to avoid prison; his lawyers argued in another case that the Constitution prohibits the president from being restricted in the performance of his official duties.

Federal Election Interference Case

If Trump loses, special counsel Jack Smith electoral interference the case is also on the horizon.

The case, which accuses Trump of conspiracy to defraud the United States for illegally trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, was originally scheduled to go to trial earlier this year, but was put on hold for several months while The Supreme Court weighed in on Trump’s arguments that he was largely shielded from allegations of wrongdoing because of presidential immunity.

Prosecutors are expected to continue to move forward with the case even if Trump is elected in November, but whoever Trump names to lead the Justice Department is likely to fire Smith and kill the case.

In an interview last week with radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump suggested he might not wait for his new AG. “I would fire him in two secondsTrump said, referring to Smith.

Even with Smith out of the picture, the Justice Department would still have to move for the judge to dismiss the case — a request for judges not to. always necessarily grants.

Georgia election interference case

The stretched case the indictment of Trump and more than a dozen others in an illegal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election is on hold until December, when a the court of appeal will weigh whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her office should be allowed to stay on the case.

If she is, that could allow the long-running case to continue. Trump’s loss could clear the way for Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to set a trial date for the case. However, if Trump loses, he is likely to appeal further, which Willis brought against him in 2023, which could cause more delays.

If Willis and her office are removed from the case, that would also cause further delays. The the process of finding another prosecutor can be long; it took nearly two years to name one in another case involving Willis.

If Trump wins the election, those delays could be even longer. At a the court session last December, McAfee asked Trump’s lawyer, Steve Sadow, when his client might be tried if elected.

“The answer to that is that, consistent with the Supremacy Clause and his duties as President of the United States, this trial will not take place at all until after he leaves office,” Sadow replied.

Barbara McQuade, an NBC News legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, said both state criminal cases are likely to be suspended during Trump’s term and “would resume when his term expires.”

Classified documents file

In July, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the criminal case accusing Trump of lying and trespassing misleading federal investigators to keep sensitive classified material after he left the White House, believing that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was illegal.

Smith is appealing the decision, arguing that there is ample precedent for his appointment and that the case should be allowed to proceed.

As with the federal election, Smith’s office is expected to continue business as usual on the appeal even if Trump is elected, though the special counsel’s office will likely be quickly shut down and the appeal dropped.

E. Jean Carroll appeals

The cases that likely won’t be affected by a Trump win or loss are his pending appeals of civil judgments against him, totaling more than $500 million.

The former president is appealing the largest award — more than $478 million and growing by more than $111,000 a day — in a civil fraud case in New York state court. During argument before the state Appellate Division, three members of the five-judge panel indicated they thought the award was too high.

A lawyer for the state attorney general argued that the award was appropriate because the amount of fraud for which Trump and his company were held responsible was considerable and lasted for a long time.

It is not clear when the commission will rule.

Trump is too appealing a pair of jury awards totaling approximately $88 million to pay writer E. Jean Carroll.

Carroll filed two lawsuits against Trump, one for alleged sexual assault in the 1990s and defamation, and another for defamation while he was president.

The appeals court is expected to rule on the sexual assault case first, and that ruling could come at any time.

January 6 suits

Trump faces eight pending civil processes related to his role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, including by wounded police officers. Similar to criminal cases, Trump argued that his actions were protected by presidential immunity.

A federal appeals court allowed the cases to continue last year after plaintiffs argued that Trump’s actions were not official presidential acts because he was acting as a candidate for the office.

Trump, they noted, would have an opportunity to rebut that position as the case unfolds.

No trial date has been set in the cases, and with an appeal likely, the immunity issues could take months or longer to be determined.

The trial could become even longer if Trump wins, as he may seek to involve the Justice Department in his defense. He could also try to delay trials in those cases, arguing they should come after his criminal trial in Georgia because they cover similar ground and could affect his right against self-incrimination.

“Civil cases are often stayed for this reason,” McQuade said.

“Exonerated 5” costume.

Trump faces another defamation process brought against him this month by members of the so-called Central Park Five, now calling themselves the Exonerated Five.

During the past month presidential debateTrump incorrectly said the men, who are black and Latino, had pleaded guilty in a criminal case in which they were accused of assaulting and raping a white woman jogging in New York’s Central Park in 1989. He also said they “killed a person”. person after all” even though the woman is still alive.

The five, who were teenagers when they were convicted, said they were coerced into confessing by police and pleaded not guilty to the charges. They were convicted at trial and served long prison terms, maintaining their innocence.

They were exonerated in 2002 after a review by prosecutors which included DNA evidence that found the jogger was attacked by a serial rapist who confessed to the crime after the statute of limitations had expired.

That process is not expected to be affected by Trump’s election, given a Supreme Court ruling during the Clinton years that presidents are not immune from civil lawsuits unrelated to their time in office.

McQuade said she believes the case “could go on, as it has The Paula Jones case done against Bill Clinton”.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com