One year after Trump’s last indictment, his legal woes are stalled
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Former President Trump on Aug. 8, in Palm Beach, Florida. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Former President Trump one year ago faced the most recent and potentially most damaging of four indictments against him in Georgia. He's now hitting the campaign trail in the vital months before Election Day.
The big picture: Trump became the first president to be convicted of a crime in his New York hush money case earlier this year, but the other three cases against him have either been dismissed, put on ice or undercut.
- There are two significant remaining cases against Trump over the 2020 election, in Georgia and at the federal level in a case overseen by special counsel Jack Smith.
- If he's re-elected, those cases will likely be halted. If he loses, he will likely be spending time in courtrooms once again as the two cases play out.
- His next major court scheduled appearance is sentencing in the New York case on Sept. 18.
State of play: Trump and his legal team have employed several delay tactics, often successfully, in the four criminal cases he faced in an effort to punt them past the November election.
- In Georgia, his efforts to force prosecutor Fani Willis off the case have booted any potential verdict past the 2025 presidential inauguration. A Georgia appeals court on Wednesday denied his legal team's request to postpone Dec. 5 oral arguments over Willis' disqualification from the case.
- Related to his federal Jan. 6 case, the Supreme Court ruled in July that presidents have immunity for "official acts" and punted to trial court the question of whether his alleged conduct was protected.
- Judge Aileen Cannon, who he appointed to the bench, later in July dismissed the classified documents case after months of being accused of slow-walking it.
Catch up quick: Judge Scott McAfee, who's overseeing the Georgia election interference case, ruled in March that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis could stay on the case provided special prosecutor Nathan Wade stepped aside.
- Trump appealed that decision in a bid to get Willis removed too — extending proceedings.
- Willis and Wade had been in a romantic relationship, and Trump and multiple co-defendants accused them of a conflict of interest.
Between the lines: The Republican presidential candidate is hoping to win favor in Georgia — one of seven swing states expected to decide November's election and a state that Trump lost narrowly to President Biden in 2020.
- But he has also reignited feuds with top Georgia Republicans.
Flashback: An Atlanta grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others in August 2023 in a probe into his alleged efforts to flip Georgia's 2020 election results.
- The 98-page indictment includes racketeering charges, conspiracy to commit forgery and perjury.
- Trump, who has pled not guilty, was charged with 13 counts, including soliciting the then-Georgia House Speaker David Ralston and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to break their oaths of office with regard to overturning the election.
- Axios has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
Zoom out: While some co-defendants' cases remain ongoing, others have since taken plea deals.
- Former Trump attorney Sidney Powell, former Trump legal adviser Jenna Ellis and former Trump campaign attorney Kenneth Chesebro have all accepted deals.
- Co-defendant Rudy Giuliani, Trump's former lawyer, pleaded not guilty in the Georgia case. He faces a number of other legal charges and financial penalties related to 2020 election interference, and was disbarred in New York for lying about the election, which his team said he'd appeal.
- Mark Meadows, Trump's former White House chief of staff, asked the Supreme Court in July to move his case to federal court, citing the high court's ruling on presidential immunity. A federal appeals court last year rejected his bid to move the case to federal court. He has also pleaded not guilty.
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