WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump has been found guilty of all charges in his Manhattan hush-money trial but still faces criminal charges in three other cases, including two that he allegedly tried to illegally steal the 2020 election that he lost to President Joe Biden.
Trump faces 88 criminal charges in total, including 34 in Manhattan for which a jury found him guilty on Thursday, and three other counts bring his total to 54, including two brought in federal court by Special Counsel Jack Smith on behalf of the Department of Justice.
Another lawsuit, filed in Fulton County, Georgia, accuses Trump and 14 co-defendants, including former lawyers and administration aides, of trying to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss in Georgia.
No trial dates have been set for any of those other cases, and legal experts largely agree that trials are unlikely to begin before Election Day, Nov. 5, when Biden and Trump are likely to face off again as the presumptive Republican nominee.
That’s because prosecutors in each case are battling Trump’s lawyers over legal claims, and in one case Trump and his co-defendants are seeking to disbar Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over alleged misconduct.
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Further delaying the matter is the fact that the Supreme Court is considering whether Trump, as a former president, is immune from criminal prosecution.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges, but as with the Manhattan case, any of the three trials could threaten to undermine his presidential campaign if prosecutors begin to seriously prepare for trial.
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Here’s what we know about the ongoing criminal trial.
Jack Smith’s Mar-a-Lago documents lawsuit
Trump was indicted on 40 counts of storing hundreds of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, after he left the White House in January 2021. In his defense, he claims he declassified the records as president and that they were his personal property.
Special Counsel Smith of the Department of Justice charged Trump with knowingly withholding defense records, violating the Espionage Act and conspiring to obstruct justice.
U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon, who is presiding over the case, is continuing arguments over the evidence, but two weeks before the trial was scheduled to begin on May 20, she postponed the trial indefinitely, saying it would be “reckless and inconsistent” to proceed with trial without resolving the dispute over classified documents.
Jack Smith’s Federal Election Interference Case
In perhaps the most serious case, Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., on four counts of conspiring to steal the 2020 election from Biden.
Smith charged Trump with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct official business, obstruction and attempted obstruction of official business, and conspiracy against the rights of others.
But the trial has been thwarted by Trump’s argument that he is immune from prosecution because he was president when the actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol took place.
The U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which are handling the case, have both ruled that Trump does not have immunity. And despite Judge Smith’s request that the Supreme Court rule quickly on immunity so the trial can move forward, the case was the last to be heard by the Supreme Court before the end of its term, meaning a decision may not be made for at least several weeks. Judge Chutkan has assured Trump that there will be two months of pretrial preparation following her ruling.
Fani Willis’ Georgia election interference case
Trump is charged with 10 counts of conspiring to steal the 2020 election in Georgia by recruiting additional presidential electors, pressuring state officials to recognize them as legitimate electors and then garnering enough votes in the “Peach State” to give Biden a win.
The Anti-Organized Crime Act punishes the activities of people involved in organized crime.
Fulton County District Attorney Willis had proposed the trial begin on August 5, but it was delayed for several months after Trump co-defendant Michael Roman sought to disqualify her, arguing that her ties to special prosecutor Nathan Wade made her and the entire DA’s office unfit to preside over the trial.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled against Roman, Trump and others involved in the movement, but they are now appealing the decision to the Georgia Court of Appeals. No date has been set for the appeal, and while McAfee has said he will allow some trial preparations, he likely won’t set a trial date until the disbarment issue is resolved.
Trump is also an unindicted co-conspirator in Arizona
Former Trump campaign lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Christina Bobb were among 18 people indicted by a Maricopa County grand jury in Arizona in April for allegedly trying to falsely certify Trump’s 2020 victory in the state and keep him in the White House.
Trump himself has not been charged in the Arizona case, but the indictment lists him as “unindicted co-conspirator 1,” a “former President of the United States who spread false claims of election fraud following the 2020 election.”
