Donald Trump’s Criminal Cases: What to Watch for This Week

Former President Donald Trump has a potentially busy legal week ahead of him as he continues to fight his slew of criminal charges.
The former president is facing dozens of felony counts and a criminal conviction while running for a second chance at the White House, although Trump has maintained that he is innocent of all charges.
One of Trump’s pending indictments—where he is facing four federal counts related to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and remain in office—has a hearing scheduled later this as the proceeding judge decides how to proceed following the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity in July.
The former president is also seeking to push back his sentencing g for his hush money conviction this past May, although it remains unclear if the judge will grant the request. Below is a preview of how those cases could proceed this week.
The Justice Department filed a revised version of Trump’s federal election subversion case last week after the Supreme Court’s ruled that presidents are protected from facing criminal prosecution for officials acts. Prosecutors argued in the cut-down indictment that Trump was acting as a candidate—not as president—when he took steps to interfere with the 2020 election results, including his actions related to the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
A hearing was scheduled by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan for Thursday related to how the presiding judge would like to proceed in the case given the Supreme Court’s ruling. Chutkan’s status hearing was scheduled prior to the DOJ’s fresh indictment, which may now delay the case even more as Trump seeks a whole new slew of appeals against his charges.
A joint status report was filed by both parties in the case late last week, although prosecutors disagreed with how Trump’s defense team wants to proceed. While the former president’s lawyers previewed numerous ways Trump plans to motion to dismiss the charges, prosecutors at Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office asked that Chutkan issue an expedited review of how the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling impacts the accusations included in the indictment.
Legal experts have been split on whether Smith’s fresh indictment was a smart move in the case. While one analyst praised it as a “stroke of genius,” other experts have told Newsweek that the revised charges are a bit of a gamble for the DOJ, given that Trump will now have a chance to re-challenge the case.
Trump has also sought to intervene in his hush money conviction in New York, where he was found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to his efforts to conceal a payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign.
The former president’s team sought to move the case into a federal courthouse late last month, although it was denied within a day by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein. A court clerk wrote that the request was filed under the “wrong event type.” Trump’s campaign has said that it is working to re-file the request under the specific format to make sure it is properly filed next time around.
Trump has also asked to indefinitely halt his sentencing in the case, scheduled for September 18, while he asks for a federal court to intervene. The presiding judge in the case, Judge Juan Merchan, is also scheduled to issue a ruling on Trump’s latest request to overturn the verdict in light of the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling, which is scheduled for September 16.
Trump’s lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in a statement shared with the Associated Press last week, “There is no good reason to sentence President Trump prior to November 5, 2024, if there is to be a sentencing at all, or to drive the post-trial proceedings forward on a needlessly accelerated timeline.”
Merchan did not immediately respond to the requests.
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign Monday evening via email for further comment.