Former US president Donald Trump is having another tilt at re-election.
But in the background of his political campaigning, four criminal cases still loom over him.
Here's what could happen if he wins or loses in November.
Where are the criminal cases at against Trump?
Over the span of five months in 2023, the former president was charged in four criminal cases.
Here's where each of the cases currently stand.
Hush money
New York State Court
Guilty verdict reached, awaiting sentencing
On May 30 this year, Trump became the first US president to be convicted of a crime.
He was found guilty of falsifying business records in connection with a pay-off of Stormy Daniels during the final weeks of the 2016 election.
The court found Michael Cohen, Trump's personal attorney at the time, sent a $130,000 payment to Ms Daniels in October 2016 in exchange for her silence on a sexual encounter she claimed to have had with Trump.
While president, Trump reimbursed Cohen in a series of payments.
A 12-person jury unanimously found Trump guilty of fraudulently disguising those instalments as corporate legal expenses.
The sentencing was initially scheduled for July but was pushed back to September 18 because Trump has moved to have the jury's verdict set aside based on a recent presidential immunity ruling by the Supreme Court.
34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.
Federal election interference
US District Court for the District of Columbia
Indicted
Federal prosecutors, led by special counsel Jack Smith have charged Trump with four federal crimes over his alleged attempts to subvert Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election.
These charges particularly relate to his actions in the two months between election day on November 3, 2020, and January 6, 2021.
The indictment was first approved by the grand jury on August 1, 2023.
But on August 27, 2024, Mr Smith filed a superseding indictment that slimmed down the allegations against Trump in light of the recent immunity ruling.
The revised indictment now relate to Trump's status as a presidential candidate, rather than a sitting president.
None of the four charges have been dropped.
The date of the trial is to be determined but Trump has previously pled not guilty to all charges.
One count each of:
- Conspiracy to defraud the US
- Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding
- Obstruction of, and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding
- Conspiracy against rights
Georgia election interference
Georgia State Court
Indicted
On August 14, 2023, an Atlanta-based grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others on state charges over their alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
This case was sparked partly by a leaked phone call in which Trump asked Georgia's top election official to "find 11,780 votes".
Trump was originally charged with 13 criminal counts but three have since been dropped.
He has pleaded not guilty.
The case has been indefinitely paused until a panel of judges rules on whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who led the investigation against Trump, should be disqualified due to a secret office romance with fellow prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Two counts each of:
- False statements and writings
- Conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree
- Conspiracy to commit filing false documents
One count each of:
- Filing false documents
- Violating the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act
- Conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer
- Conspiracy to commit false statements and writings
Classified documents
US District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Dismissed, appeal launched
Trump was indicted in June 2023 by a federal grand jury in Miami for taking classified documents from the White House when he left office and for resisting attempts to retrieve the materials.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case on July 15, 2024.
She said in a ruling that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith, who also led the investigation in the federal election interference case, violated the US Constitution because he did not have the authority to bring the case.
Mr Smith has appealed the decision, arguing Judge Cannon's view "deviated" from legal precedent.
Trump had pleaded not guilty to all charges.
32 counts of wilful retention of national defence information
One count each of:
- False statements and representations
- Conspiracy to obstruct justice
- Withholding a document or record
- Corruptly concealing a document or record
- Concealing a document in a federal investigation
- Scheme to conceal
- Altering, destroying, mutilating or concealing an object
- Corruptly altering, destroying, mutilating or concealing a document, record, or other object
At this stage, it appears unlikely that any of the criminal cases Trump still faces will reach court before election day on November 5.
That means whether he is elected president could change their course significantly.
What happens if Trump loses the election?
The former president's legal cases would keep moving forward as they have been.
That means after election day on November 5, we can expect:
- The federal election interference case to go to trial
- The Georgia election interference trial to keep inching toward a trial date
- A verdict on sentencing for the hush money case
- An appeals court to consider whether to revive the classified documents case
What happens if Trump wins the election?
This is where things get a little sticky.
If Trump is re-elected, we can expect to hear the last of both his federal cases.
Reports have indicated the former president plans to appoint loyal officials to the Department of Justice if he is re-elected.
If that happens, they could have both the federal election interference case and the appeal in the federal documents case dropped.
Aside from that, there's also the potential that Trump simply pardons himself.
The US Constitution also authorises the sitting president to grant pardons for federal crimes.
And while this power has never been legally tested for self-pardons, The New York Times has reported Trump toyed with the idea of pardoning himself in his closing days in office.
Presidents can't grant pardons for state crimes, though, so the Georgia election interference trial and Manhattan hush money sentencing would still be on the table.
Trump's attorneys have said they would try and postpone the Georgia trial until after he leaves office if he's re-elected because of the difficulty of having him appear in court every day while commander in chief.
But even if Trump can't have the state charges thrown out, the recent Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity could make them dead in the water too.
What about the Supreme Court's immunity ruling?
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled Trump couldn't be prosecuted for actions that were within his constitutional powers as president.
It was the first time any form of presidential immunity from prosecution was recognised in the US.
Chief Justice John Roberts cited the need for a president to be able to "execute the duties of his office fearlessly and fairly" without the threat of prosecution.
"As for the president's unofficial acts, there is no immunity," Mr Roberts said.
That means prosecutors in the criminal cases against Trump will need to argue he was acting outside his status as president.
That's the route special counsel Jack Smith is taking in the federal election interference case.
In response to the ruling, he's lodged an updated indictment, which keeps the same four charges but argues Trump was acting as a political candidate, not a sitting president.
Another snag for prosecutors, though, is they aren't able to use evidence of official acts to show motive for a crime.
For the New York hush money case, this could mean several pieces of evidence were inadmissible.
That includes witness testimony regarding events in the Oval Office and records of calls that involved Trump while he was president.
But under New York case law, the conviction only needs to be reversed if the jury would not have reached the same verdict without the inadmissible evidence.
That's what an appeals court will consider.
As for the Georgia election interference case, the immunity ruling likely wouldn't protect Trump.
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett has concluded the acts alleged in the Georgia case were not official because a "president has no authority over state legislatures or their leadership".
