What We Know About Trump's Legal Cases Now That He's Won The 2024 Election

Donald Trump made history twice in 2024. In May, he became the first U.S. President to be convicted of a crime after a New York jury found him guilty on all 34 counts in his hush money trial (and his family had a salty response to the conviction). Then, in November, he won the presidential election and became the second U.S. President to serve two non-consecutive terms. And his win may have made it easier for him to weasel his way out of the four ongoing criminal cases. Initially, the former president was scheduled to receive his sentence on the hush money trial on November 26.

However, Danny Cevallos, a legal analyst for NBC, posited that the sentencing hearing would get "adjourned." Cevallos believed that even if the sentencing went on as scheduled, Trump most likely wouldn't face jail time for it. The criminal defense lawyer stated that it was "barely a felony in New York" while asserting that the divisive politician had checked all the boxes he needed to avoid prison time in the eyes of a New York court.

"In the spectrum of criminals who might be able to get a probation only or house arrest, Donald Trump is in a high likelihood, that's even if the case goes forward this month for sentencing," Cevallos stated. Meanwhile, HuffPost suggested that the sentencing hearing may not happen until Trump's 4-year tenure ends in 2029. Likewise, Politico stated that he would likely only be required to serve jail time after his term ended. Still, his felony convictions may have had unintended consequences for his businesses.

Special counsel Jack Smith is in charge of two criminal cases against Donald Trump. The first deals with how Trump allegedly interfered with the outcome of the 2020 election. In the second, the former president has been accused of allegedly taking classified documents from The White House and storing them at Mar-a-Lago. Needless to say, the former president has no love for Smith and has stated he "would fire him within two seconds," per CNN.

However, former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek that the controversial politician may not have to fire Smith after all. "It's well established that a sitting president can't be prosecuted, so the election fraud case in D.C. District Court will be dismissed," Rahmani asserted. Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the classified documents case in July 2024 because she believed Smith had been unconstitutionally appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Rahmani believed that Trump could easily weasel his way out of the case, saying, "If for some reason Smith refuses to dismiss the cases, Trump can direct his attorney general to fire Smith." Likewise, HuffPost reported that the future president would only have to convince prosecutors at his Justice Department to dismiss the case altogether. And finally, there's the Fulton County election racketeering case from 2020. According to NBC's Danny Cevallos, the case had become a colossal mess because of the prosecutor and would likely stay that way considering Fulton County's legal track record in similar cases.