Federal proceedings against him will likely wither, and his state felony sentencing now faces a doubtful future

Summary

Donald Trump’s re-election raises questions about the fate of his ongoing legal battles.

Facing 34 felony convictions and several federal and state charges, Trump could attempt to leverage presidential immunity to delay or dismiss cases.

Judge Juan Merchan will soon rule on whether immunity applies to Trump’s New York case involving hush-money payments, potentially canceling his sentencing.

While Trump can self-pardon federal charges, he has no such power in state cases like Georgia’s election interference trial, which may remain on hold until his term ends.

Civil lawsuits, including those for sexual abuse and fraud, are still viable under a Supreme Court precedent allowing presidents to be sued.

  • Flying Squid
    16•10 hours ago

    He doesn’t need to pardon himself. He’ll just fire Jack Smith and make this all go away.

    • @halcyoncmdrEnglish
      12•9 hours ago

      He doesn’t need to pardon himself.

      But he will. No reason to leave that to chance in the future. He already didn’t do that once, requiring him to get back into office. A pardon doesn’t need to be explicit about the crimes it’s pardoning. Just look at Nixon’s pardon as a template:

      Now, Therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974.

      Just change it to Trump’s name and the period to “prior to January 20th, 2025”, and you’ve got a complete federal pardon for anything Trump has *ever *done in his life.