Trump, still facing cases from Capitol riots in 2020, returns in 2024

New Delhi:

Millions of Americans celebrated Donald Trump's remarkable return to the White House on Wednesday – the 78-year-old defied pre-election predictions and became the first Republican in 20 years to win the popular vote en route to the presidency. But not everyone was so lucky.

His critics included Vanity Fair, a monthly popular culture and current events magazine, which featured Mr. Trump on the cover of its latest digital edition, with a series of figures highlighting the legal battles that still surround the president-elect.

At the top of the list is this 34 Criminal charges The new American president was facing criminal proceedings in New York state. The court ruled that Mr. Trump altered business records to conceal over $400,000 in payments to Stormy Daniels, an adult film actor, to conceal details of their sexual encounter. He was convicted – the next number, 1 belief – in all respects in May.

Mr Trump – who called the entire case a “witch hunt” and maintained his innocence – is the first felon to be elected president of the United States. He has announced that he will appeal the verdict.

Sentencing was postponed until after the results of that election; it will take place on November 26th, while a separate hearing on the new president's immunity is expected on November 12th.

If the latter hearing proceeds as Mr. Trump wishes – that is, if the court finds that he enjoys immunity as a former president – the former hearing will be canceled as the guilty verdict will be overturned.

Even if there is no immunity, Mr. Trump can certainly now delay any conviction, although as president he cannot pardon himself because this is a state, not federal, case.

In the extremely unlikely event that the conviction goes ahead, Mr. Trump could face a maximum of four years in prison, but the conviction of a president-elect just days before he takes the oath (on January 20) would be unprecedented. Mr. Trump has also requested that the case be moved to federal court.

The next number – 2 cases pending.

The first pending case involves four indictments in a Washington, D.C. court accusing Donald Trump of spreading false claims of voter fraud to prevent the collection and certification of votes cast in the 2020 election. This is perhaps the most important issue as it concerns the attack on the capital in January 2021.

It was widely believed that the attack – by a mob of Donald Trump's supporters – was sparked by inflammatory speeches by the outgoing president in which he claimed, as he had done weeks before without any evidence, that his election victory was “by one “stolen from the emboldened radical left”. Democrats.”

FROM THE ARCHIVE | Trump called on supporters to protest “wildly”. They came

The U.S. Supreme Court offered Mr. Trump some relief after ruling that some of his actions enjoyed immunity, but prosecutors subsequently reversed the charges, citing him as a private citizen instead.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges and called the charges politically motivated.

FROM THE ARCHIVE | 'Appropriate': Trump defends speech before Capitol violence

The trial date for this has not yet been set and, given Mr Trump's election victory, it is unclear whether and when it will take place. As president, Mr. Trump can forgive himself for these accusations.

The Georgia case

In the second case, the president-elect and 18 others are accused of a criminal conspiracy in an attempt to overturn his defeat in Georgia in 2020; He lost the state's 16 electoral votes to Democrat Joe Biden, but the popular vote loss was less than 0.5 percent — 49.47 to Mr. Biden and 49.24 to Mr. Trump.

The investigation hinges on an alleged phone call from Mr. Trump in which he asked a senior election official from George to “find 11,780 votes” – which would have put him a single vote ahead of his rival.

Mr. Trump pleaded not guilty, but the trial itself was delayed because his team tried to disqualify the prosecutor over a romantic relationship with a man she had hired to work on the case.

Oral arguments on the matter are scheduled for December 5, but Mr. Trump's lawyers are already looking ahead and have said they will ask the court for a stay of proceedings based on the argument that a president while in office should not be subject to criminal prosecution.

As in the New York case, Mr. Trump cannot pardon himself because this is a federal case, nor can he halt that process, as he could with the charges in Washington, DC.

However, this case has also been paused, with no certainty as to when it will resume.

The other numbers on the Vanity Fair cover are from Mr. Trump 2 impeachment proceedings – one in December 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, the other in 2021 after the attack on the Capitol. In both cases, Donald Trump was acquitted by the Senate.

Mr. Trump's is also mentioned on the Vanity Fair cover 6 bankruptcy filingsand conclude with a sharply scathing remark: “4 more years… the 47th American president.”

However, these numbers are surpassed by another number: 280, the number of electoral votes that Mr. Trump has in his pocket, confirming that he will be the next President of the United States, despite a spirited (and hopeful) but ultimately unsuccessful challenge from Democrat Kamala Harris.

With input from agencies

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