What happens to Donald Trump's criminal cases after he wins the presidency?

After his victory in the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump will be the first convicted felon president as he still faces several criminal charges.

With Trump reinstated as commander in chief, the question remains what will happen to his threatened state and federal charges — and whether he has the power to overturn them as president.

His victory comes as he is scheduled to be sentenced in his hush money trial in New York on Tuesday, November 26, after it was postponed for a second time in September.

On May 30, Trump, 78, was found guilty on all 34 counts of conspiring to cover up evidence of an illegal conspiracy to influence the 2016 election. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The Supreme Court's July decision to grant Trump and former presidents immunity from prosecution means Trump is now entitled to some protections as president.

According to CNN, Judge Juan Merchan will decide on Tuesday, November 12th whether or not Trump's conviction will be overturned due to the Supreme Court's protective decision. If his charges are dismissed, Trump would not be convicted.

According to the media, Trump still faces up to four years in prison if the judge upholds his conviction, otherwise he could receive a lesser sentence for community service or a fine. Trump's lawyers are expected to appeal that decision.

Trump also faces several other federal and state charges. In June 2023, he was indicted by a federal grand jury in South Florida for allegedly mishandling confidential documents after leaving the White House. He was indicted twice more in August 2023, relating to the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots and attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.

However, if Trump becomes president, the act of self-pardon could be a possibility.

“The big unanswered question is whether the president might be able to pardon himself,” Jeffrey Crouch, an assistant professor of American politics at American University, told CBS News. “No president has ever tried it, so we don’t know what the outcome would be if it were tried.”

Article 2 of the US Constitution states that presidential pardons extend to federal crimes, not state crimes – and Trump could therefore potentially grant himself clemency on his federal charges. Pardons are administered by the Department of Justice's Pardon Attorney's Office.

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While Trump may be able to excuse himself from his federal charges, he could not rule out his state racketeering case in Georgia.

“If a president were to try to pardon himself, that would obviously be quite legally controversial,” Harvard constitutional scholar Mark Tushnet told CBS News. “On the other hand, it would also be quite difficult to challenge a pardon in court. To challenge it, someone would have to have what lawyers call 'entitlement,' that is, they would have to be harmed by the president's action, and it's really hard to see who in particular would be harmed by it. “

According to the outlet, Trump's efforts to pardon himself could be impeached by Congress, although that is unlikely to happen since Republicans have control of the Senate.

Legal experts say Trump's criminal charges could be excused entirely now that he has been elected president if any form of punishment or incarceration interferes with his governing duties.

“There is a feeling that they would follow the government's norm and therefore delay sentencing in the New York case until he finishes his presidency,” said Stanford law professor Robert Weisberg USA today.

“Say goodbye to all criminal prosecutions,” Karen Friedman Agnifilo, the former head of the Manhattan district attorney's trial division, told ABC News. “The criminal cases are over, whether legally or practically,” she said, adding that Trump’s presidential victory would be a “get out of jail free card.”