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These developments raise questions about how complex Trump’s four criminal cases remain, with verdicts on serious charges potentially delayed until voters make their choices on Nov. 5. It highlights what is there. Trump is accused of conspiring to interfere in the 2020 election and subvert its policies on 88 counts. As a result, he mishandled confidential documents and falsified his business records to hide hush money payments. While President Trump has stoked public doubts about the case, defense teams have sought to slow proceedings, sometimes exploiting unforced errors by prosecutors.
“If you’re Trump, it’s obviously important to postpone these things until the election,” said Scott Jennings, a Republican strategist. He said the New York and Georgia cases have made it difficult for Trump opponents to “squeeze the political juices.”
So far, the charges have not jeopardized Trump’s re-election bid, pushing him into uncharted legal and political territory, but Trump’s insistence that he is being unfairly targeted has led many Republicans to The project resonated with the public and helped secure the nomination. But the trial could limit Trump’s campaign, and polling suggests a conviction could be a blow to him among independents and some skeptical Republicans. The timing of all four lawsuits against Trump remains undetermined.
Political strategists and legal experts believe Mr. Trump’s two federal lawsuits are more dangerous, but it is unclear whether they will be filed before the election. Further delays in the New York trial could miss the start date that federal prosecutors had requested for President Trump’s classified documents trial.
Steve Sadow, President Trump’s chief defense attorney in Georgia, said: Said They believed the court had given sufficient weight to the prosecutor’s failures and would “exercise all available legal means” to bring the case to a close.
“Anytime a criminal defense attorney postpones a trial, it’s a good day for them,” said John Fishwick, a former federal prosecutor who has closely watched Trump’s case.
If Trump is re-elected, he may appoint an attorney general who is more likely to drop the two federal charges. And state-level prosecutors will have to decide whether to take on the unprecedented challenge of prosecuting a sitting president.
Republicans have long dismissed the New York case as complex and susceptible to suspicions of partisanship.President Trump is accused of falsifying his business records to hide hush money payments Adult film star Stormy Daniels during her 2016 presidential campaign.
The trial was scheduled to begin on March 25th. But on Thursday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told Judge Juan Melchan that prosecutors would agree to a 30-day delay to give the defense more time to comb through newly released documents for useful information. He said he was deaf. In their case. Trump’s lawyers asked for a 90-day delay.
New York prosecutors said federal prosecutors have so far declined to share new documents. Trump’s lawyers ultimately subpoenaed the federal government.
On Friday, Marchan said the trial would not begin for at least 30 days and set a pretrial hearing for March 25 to discuss evidentiary disputes and the Trump campaign’s motion to throw out the case or suppress certain testimony. Then he announced.
Fishwick argued that prosecutors should have tried to quickly resolve the previous federal prosecutor’s requests for materials. “I’m surprised they couldn’t manage it as well as they did,” he said of Mr. Bragg’s office.
The trial in New York is expected to last six to eight weeks, including jury selection. The mid-April start marks another high-profile case that Marchan is scheduled to hear in May: President Trump’s former adviser Stephen K. Bannon defrauded donors to a fundraiser for a wall on the southern border. There is a possibility that you may be faced with suspicions.
Further delays can result in more collisions. In mid-July, the Republican Party will formally nominate its presidential candidate at its convention in Milwaukee. In early July, prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Eileen M. Cannon to reschedule the start of President Trump’s classified documents trial in Florida. President Trump is charged with concealing national defense information and obstructing government efforts to retrieve it.
The documents trial was originally scheduled to begin in late May, but Cannon said more time was needed to sort out complex trial issues involving confidential evidence. Trump’s lawyers are asking Cannon to postpone the trial until after the November election, or to begin it as early as August.
Additionally, August is the earliest that President Trump’s federal trial will begin in Washington, D.C., on charges of trying to block President Biden’s 2020 victory.That incident should have started sooner. But the U.S. Supreme Court is on hiatus while it considers President Trump’s claim that presidential immunity protects him from prosecution, an argument that has already been rejected by two lower courts.
The justices are scheduled to hear arguments in the case on April 25, and will issue a decision in late June or early July, between then and the end of their terms.
If the Supreme Court says the D.C. trial can proceed without any changes, the justices will likely give both sides six to 12 weeks to complete their preparations. In that case, Trump could go on trial in Washington’s capital as early as September or October. As the election approaches.
“The longer he can delay actual witness testimony that he did something inappropriate around January 6th, the better it is for him,” said Republican strategist and longtime adviser to Chris Christie. said one Mike Duhaime. Republican primary. “That’s the part that hurts him.”
Whit Ayers, a longtime Republican pollster, stressed that despite polling on the subject, it’s difficult to predict how voters will react to convicting President Trump. He noted that a large percentage of Republican primary voters said in a survey that they believe Mr. Trump would be unfit to be president if he were convicted of a felony, and they also believe that Mr. Biden would be unfit to be president. He noted that it is difficult to predict the final vote.
He also sees the New York incident as a political “gift” to Trump, with a much different meaning than the January 6 incident or the classified documents incident. Ayers predicted that a conviction in either of the latter two cases would “cause a lot of moderate Republicans and independents to reevaluate.”
Trump’s fourth indictment, a Georgia election interference case, has not yet had a trial date, and has been postponed due to a spat between Willis and the lead prosecutor over whether he engaged in romantic misconduct. . A trial judge on Friday found there was no actual conflict of interest, despite the appearance of “fraud,” and suggested that Willis and his firm either withdraw from the case entirely or that lead prosecutor Nathan Wade could file a lawsuit. He said he needed to withdraw from the process.
At his rallies, Trump often criticizes prosecutors in his cases and accuses them of being politically motivated. At a recent rally in Georgia, he mocked Willis’ pronunciation of her first name and called her “corrupt.” President Trump praised Wade on social media Friday for his “shameful resignation.”
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee wrote in a letter Friday that the defense had failed to prove that Willis’ relationship with Wade or their travels rendered Willis unable to oversee the case.
Mr. Trump and his lawyers have told judges in several cases that it is burdensome to have to be in court for trials when he should be campaigning. But Mr. Trump has also attended many court hearings that do not require his personal presence, including this week while Mr. Biden is on the campaign trail. He has typically held rallies on weekends other than the days he appears in court.
As cases moved toward trial, the pace of trials and litigation accelerated dramatically. It looks like the next few weeks will be just as crowded.
A decision could come next week amid Trump’s efforts to delay a major civil judgment against him in a court case that found he and his company had unfairly inflated real estate values. there is a possibility. The nearly $500 million judgment is currently due by March 25.
Devlin Barrett, Perry Stein and Shayna Jacobs contributed to this report.
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