Federal Prosecutions Of Donald Trump Are Fading Fast—Legal Analysts

Donald Trump’s federal prosecutions are fading after the Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity, legal analysts have told Newsweek.

The Supreme Court’s broad interpretation of presidential immunity now has to be sent back to two lower courts, one in Washington and the other in Florida, to decide what charges can remain on his indictments.

Former federal prosecutor, Neama Rahmani, told Newsweek that the Supreme Court ruling will greatly assist Trump’s attempts to avoid his federal trials.

“The Supreme Court’s decision was a huge win for Trump, both procedurally and substantively,” he said.

“Procedurally, the Supreme Court didn’t decide the question of whether Trump’s actions were official or personal, and they sent the cases back to the lower courts to decide.”

Not only will the Supreme Court immunity ruling likely narrow the scope of the indictments Trump faces, it will almost certainly delay both cases beyond Election Day in November.

If elected president, Trump can then kill the federal trials through a number of means, such as appointing a favorable attorney general to drop the charges.

The Department of Justice already had a written policy in place not to run cases against sitting presidents.

“Trump is the favorite to win, and a sitting president can’t be prosecuted regardless, so Trump has many paths to legal victory,” Rahmani said.

Trump was indicted on four counts of allegedly working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol in 2021. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has pleaded not guilty and has repeatedly said the case forms part of a political witch hunt.

The case was frozen for months while the Supreme Court considered the presidential immunity issue.

It will now likely return to trial judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, D.C. to consider the Supreme Court immunity formula.

This will likely cause months of delay as both prosecutors and Trump lawyers argue their case. As the Supreme Court has offered almost total immunity for official acts of the president, parts of the evidence that deal with Trump’s communications with the vice president and the attorney general might be ruled inadmissible.

President Joe Biden has already conceded that Trump will likely not face trial in the Washington, D.C. case.

Separately, Trump is facing 40 federal charges before Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida for his alleged handling of sensitive materials seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving the White House in January 2021. He is also accused of obstructing efforts by federal authorities to retrieve them. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Newsweek sought email comment on Wednesday from Donald Trump’s attorney.

Rahmani, now president of the West Coast Trial Lawyers law firm in California, said that Trump now has a very good chance of beating the Florida indictment.

“Substantively, if Trump can convince Judge Cannon that his handling of classified documents were official acts, then he is immune from prosecution and the case has to be dismissed,” he said.

“Cannon has been favorable to Trump, and also very slow. Even if Cannon rules Trump’s conduct was personal and Trump is not immune, this pushes his trial well past the November election.”

New York attorney Colleen Kerwick agreed that the Supreme Court decision will likely add substantial delays to the Florida case.

Kerwick told Newsweek that she didn’t see anything wrong with Cannon’s decision to delay the case while applying the Supreme Court immunity formula.

“The court granted a temporary stay in response to Trump’s motion for further briefing on immunity,” she said.

“He asked the judge to undertake the ‘necessarily factbound analysis’ regarding whether alleged conduct ‘is official or unofficial.'”

Kerwick said it’s better to do that now than leave it up to a jury to make that decision.

“This resolution is necessary as if the prosecution could invite a jury to examine acts to determine if they were official or unofficial it may eviscerate the recognized immunity the President enjoys,” she said.