‘He is facing serious trials’: Legal expert maps out status of Trump’s prosecutions

Donald Trump’s legal standing has shifted dramatically in the nearly two months since the U.S. Supreme Court granted him broad immunity from prosecution.

One of the cases against him was dismissed weeks later by federal judge Aileen Cannon, but his re-election chances took a major hit after Kamala Harris replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party nominee and his legal jeopardy tightened Tuesday after special counsel Jack Smith filed a new indictment in his election subversion case that carves out some conduct that could be described as official actions.

“I think the tenor of the entire discussion in the last few months about all the cases about Donald Trump has been, ‘Oh, if he wins the election-slash-when he wins the election, all these cases go away,” said CNN’s John Berman. “Well, the election looks a lot different now potentially that it might have a couple of months ago, when Joe Biden was still running. Trump could lose. What happens, if he loses, to these cases?”

CNN legal analyst Elie Hoenig said the question served as a reminder of the stakes for Trump in his second bid for re-election.

“If he wins here he’s president and these cases all go away or get put on indefinite long-term hold,” Hoenig said. “But if he loses, he’s going to have to contend with all four of these cases. Now, the case we’ve been talking about, the Jan. 6 case, that’ll take a while to go through the process we just discussed, but I think it will ultimately make it to trial, but you’re not going to be standing here in 2026, possibly talking about that the other federal case, the classified documents case, currently dismissed.”

“Jack Smith filed a brief a couple of days ago asking to revive it, and I think he’ll win on that,” Hoenig added. “I think he’ll get that case reinstated but, again, we’re looking at trial late 2025, 2026. I think both state cases are in serious trouble. Obviously, the Manhattan case is over. We have potentially sentencing in a few weeks, but I think there’s going to be a major appeal issue. I think there’s a good chance that case gets reversed, and the Georgia case, I think we’ve seen the last of, I think that case is going to go. But these federal cases, if Donald Trump loses, he is facing serious trials, and you’ll have a lot of time on his hands if he’s not president. If he loses, I think it’s very likely he’s going to have two federal trials late 2025, early 2026.”