President Trump still faces a quartet of legal battles in New York and Georgia, even though federal prosecutions against him over charges of election interference and mishandling classified documents went away when he entered the White House.
Among the state-level prosecutions against him, Mr. Trump is appealing his conviction on felony business fraud charges in Manhattan over a hush money payment to an adult film actress, while an election interference case in Fulton County, Georgia, is in limbo.
“It is remarkable the extent to which Donald Trump’s legal situation is today compared to a year ago,” said Joseph Moreno, a former federal prosecutor and political analyst. “The lawfare conducted against him is now widely seen as an abuse of the legal system.”
“Trump’s victory in 2024 did not only win him the presidency, but exposed a legal system that had been grossly misused in an attempt to keep him down,” Mr. Moreno said.
He said Mr. Trump likely would have had to face at least one of his federal indictments had he not been elected. He also said that Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the Manhattan hush money trial, could have put Mr. Trump behind bars.
“Trump received a slap on the wrist in New York City, and the Fulton County case has imploded due to the utter incompetence of District Attorney Fani Willis, most likely never to return,” Mr. Morano said. “The bottom line is that not only did Trump win a second term, he also won a complete pass on the charges brought against him, all of which ranged from weak to nonsensical to begin with.”
Hush money conviction appealed
Mr. Trump’s lawyers have sought to move his appeal in the Manhattan hush money trial to federal court. They argue that the New York district attorney probed Mr. Trump’s official acts during his first term, turning a state case into a federal one over federal campaign law. That means the appeal should be in federal court, they say.
Under federal law, a federal officer can take a prosecution to federal court “for or relating to any act under color of [federal] office,” Mr. Trump’s legal team argued in his court filing.
“Supreme Court precedent also requires that the defendant put forward a colorable federal defense. This prosecution of President Trump, which never should have been brought, checks both boxes. By introducing his official acts as President into evidence and permitting those acts to be ‘scrutinized to help secure his conviction,’ … [the District Attorney of New York] made its prosecution ‘relate to’ those acts. And vitally, President Trump has compelling federal defenses of Presidential immunity and preemption under the Federal Election Campaign Act.”
A three-judge appellate court panel of two Obama appointees and a Biden appointee heard arguments on the matter in June but has yet to issue a ruling.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office told the court that Mr. Trump’s claim for removal is moot.
“The end of the state criminal action decisively shows that there is no good cause to allow an untimely removal, since the principal objective for federal-officer removal — the provision of a federal trial — is no longer available as a practical matter,” the district attorney’s filing read.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers have also appealed his conviction in state court.
The president was convicted in May 2024 of 34 felony counts related to falsifying business records. Prosecutors had argued Mr. Trump falsified business records by labeling hush money he paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels as “legal fees” to keep her quiet during the 2016 election.
He was sentenced in January to an unconditional discharge, essentially no punishment.
Fulton County election interference
In January, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court after a lower court booted her from prosecuting Mr. Trump and more than a dozen other co-defendants over her personal relationship with Nathan Wade, whom she hired as a special prosecutor on the case. She paid him with county funds, but the two were dating and took trips together.
The lower court said there was an appearance of impropriety and removed Ms. Willis from the case.
According to legal experts, another district attorney in the state could pick up the prosecution.
If Ms. Willis remains off the case, the nonprofit Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia will oversee the investigation. If a district attorney does not want to take over Ms. Willis’ case, the charges could be dropped.
In August 2023, Fulton County indicted Mr. Trump and 18 others on charges of participating in a conspiracy to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. The state claims the defendants violated Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in trying to overturn Democrat Joseph R. Biden’s narrow official victory in that election.
New York civil fraud appeal
Mr. Trump is also waiting for an appeal — which has been pending since oral arguments in September 2024 — in New York over his civil fraud judgment.
He is looking at a more than $500 million penalty after New York Attorney General Letitia James won a case against him and the Trump Organization for allegedly defrauding banks. However, the banks testified at trial that they were paid in full.
According to the New York Post, it’s been more than 300 days since New York’s Appellate Division, First Department, heard Mr. Trump’s challenge to the judgment. According to the outlet, typically the average wait-time for a judgment from the five-judge panel of the First Department appeals court division is just 30 days.
During oral arguments, some of the judges appeared skeptical of the state’s case. One judge noted how unusual the consumer fraud case was that the attorney general’s office brought against Mr. Trump, noting there were no victims.
E. Jean Carroll appeal
On July 10, a federal appeals court upheld a judgment against Mr. Trump in his legal battle with E. Jean Carroll over alleged defamation. The former magazine columnist and author sued Mr. Trump for denying that he had raped her. She claimed the assault happened in a New York City department store in the 1990s. He’s denied any wrongdoing.
Mr. Trump now has 90 days to take the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. It would take four justices to vote in favor of hearing the case for oral arguments to be scheduled.
While he was president in 2019, Mr. Trump was asked about her allegations and responded, “I’ve never met this person in my life. She is trying to sell a new book; that should indicate her motivation. It should be sold in the fiction section.”
He continued to deny the allegations, including on his social media accounts.
A federal jury awarded Ms. Carroll $5 million in damages in May 2023 after finding the former president liable for sex abuse, but not rape, and defamation for comments he made in 2022.
Separately, another federal jury awarded Ms. Carroll $83.3 million for Mr. Trump’s comments that she called defamatory.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.