Top Trump officials privately concede some of the charges against him are damning, dangerous and provable.
Why it matters: If Trump is likely to lose in court in even one of his three — probably soon to be four — criminal prosecutions, he may turn to unprecedented, extraordinary measures for a way out.
What's happening: Trump appears to be working on three escape hatches to keep himself out of prison.
Delay trials until after the 2024 election, hoping he'll be president again and able to pardon himself.
Count on friendly judges to steer things in his favor.
Frame every defeat as political vendetta — and trust the Supreme Court will overturn any guilty verdicts.
Zoom in: Delays are the first order of business for Trump's legal team.
In Fort Pierce, Florida, where Trump's classified documents trial is set for May 2024, the former president's legal team is preparing to unleash a flurry of motions and challenges to slow-walk the court's "rocket docket."
The role of classified information — paired with a Trump-appointed judge, Aileen Cannon — is expected to cause delays as the parties fight over what evidence the jury will be permitted to see.
In Washington, Trump's lawyers have vowed to "re-litigate every single issue in the 2020 election" in a bid to prolong the discovery process and push the trial until after the 2024 election.
But Judge Tanya Chutkan, known for her tough treatment of Jan. 6 defendants, may not have much tolerance for stall tactics.
In New York, where Trump is scheduled to go on trial in March, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is relying on an untested legal theory by charging state felonies related to federal campaign finance violations. There's a chance that a New York judge would toss the charges, though a federal judge was unimpressed with the Trump team's argument on that issue earlier this month.
Threat level: If Trump is reelected, he has signaled he will eviscerate the post-Watergate norm of Justice Department independence — allowing him to demand that the department drop the federal charges against him, if they're still pending.
If all else fails, some Trump allies say, the former president would appeal any convictions to the Supreme Court.
Whether that's actually feasible would ultimately depend on what he's convicted of, in which jurisdictions. It's a staunchly conservative court with three Trump-appointed justices. But appealing a criminal conviction all the way to the Supreme Court is designed to be extremely difficult.
Reality check: Everything will need to go right for Trump to avoid a conviction in three — possibly four — courthouses in the next 15 months.
Special counsel Jack Smith is determined to secure a speedy trial in both of his federal cases. The defenses Trump's lawyers have floated so far have been met with serious skepticism from legal experts.
The Supreme Court is no rubber stamp for Trumpism. Just look at its June ruling dismantling the independent state legislature theory, a once-fringe theory at the heart of Trump's efforts to overturn the election.
Between the lines: Even if Trump wins and pardons himself — which no president has ever tried — that wouldn't protect him from a state conviction in New York or Georgia.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to note the location of Trump's classified documents trial is in Fort Pierce, Florida, not Miami. It has also been updated to include a federal judge's ruling pertaining to the Manhattan DA's case earlier this month.
Federal prosecutors have again asked that a judge place former President Trump under a protective order, limiting what he can publicly say about the ongoing election interference case, following a post to his Truth Social account on Friday.
Driving the news: On Truth Social, Trump wrote, "IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I'M COMING AFTER YOU!" which prosecutors included in the filing to illustrate how the former president uses social media to comment on ongoing legal matters.
About half of the world's population "can expect to develop" at least one type of mental disorder by the time they are 75 years old, according to a new study published in the scientific journal The Lancet Psychiatry.
Why it matters: The number of Americans experiencing mental health challenges has risen in recent years, particularly during the pandemic. The study finds evidence that certain disorders — such as depression and addiction — are also on the rise at the global level.
A 44-year-old agreement that established a framework for the U.S. and China to cooperate on scientific research is set to expire at the end of August — putting a longstanding pillar of relations between the two countries in question.
Why it matters: Whether the agreement — the first signed between the U.S. and China when they normalized relations in the late 1970s — is renewed, reworked or left to expire will send a signal to Beijing. Politicians and practitioners are now debating what exactly that message should be.
President Biden is calling for his Cabinet to "aggressively execute" plans for federal employees to work more in their offices this fall after years of working remotely, according to an email sent Friday to every Cabinet member and obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: It's Biden's most overt push yet to get federal employees to return to their offices — a dynamic many businesses also have struggled with as Americans continue to embrace remote work despite the pandemic waning.
Fearless Fund, an Atlanta-based venture capital firm focused on startups led by women of color, is being sued by a group founded by Edward Blum, the man behind the recent Supreme Court case that struck down affirmative action in higher education.
Why it matters: This is the opening salvo in a new effort to challenge race-based policies in Corporate America, including within a venture capital market where Black founders last year raised just 1% of all funding.
Justice Elena Kagan has voiced her support for a new ethics code for the Supreme Court, a topic that has become a source of heated debate in recent months.
Why it matters: Recent revelations about lavish gifts and the justices' business activities have brought fresh scrutiny to the high court's lack of a formal code of ethics.
Former President Trump's choreography was familiar — angry posts on social media and a much-watched trip to a courthouse. But it was clear Thursday that his felony case in Washington is much different from his legal battles in New York and Florida.
Why it matters: For Trump — who's made a habit of turning arraignments into free campaign programming — his appearance in drizzly D.C. on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election seemed to symbolize why this case is widely viewed as the most serious threat he faces.
A few hours before Donald Trump was arraigned Thursday, Joe Biden's campaign posted a cheeky video of the president drinking coffee from a mug featuring a photo of him with laser eyes — a common illustration for the meme known as “Dark Brandon."
A Michigan pro-Trump attorney was charged in a state investigation into attempts to tamper with voting machines after the 2020 election, prosecutors announced Thursday.
Driving the news: Stefanie Lambert, who's repeatedly questioned President Biden's election win and was sanctioned in federal court in 2021 for filing a lawsuit seeking to overturn Michigan's results, pleaded not guilty to four felony charges in court on Thursday afternoon, per AP.
The big picture: The pair were part of a trio of Democratic lawmakers, known as the "Tennessee Three," who became a target for Republicans after they led protest chants from the House podium in April.
Why it matters: The lawmakers argued that allowing the public to watch the case play out will bolster public understanding of the process and blunt potential claims of iniquity.
A key Biden administration policy imposing harsh asylum restrictions on migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border can remain in effect for now, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
