What will happen to Donald Trump's legal cases now he's won the election?
Legal experts have weighed in on the likelihood of Donald Trump going to prison and the outcome of his outstanding legal cases.
Donald Trump's election victory over Kamala Harris will be one for the history books for more than one reason.
He is only the second US president to win two non-consecutive terms, the only president in history to be impeached twice, and on taking office will become the oldest person to do so.
Moreover, in a complete first for the United States, Trump, 78, is the first convicted felon to win the keys to the White House, and has four criminal indictments hanging over him.
This uncharted territory has raised questions over what happens to his impending cases, the likelihood of the president-elect going to jail, and whether or not he would be able to run the most powerful country in the world from within a prison cell.
Here, Yahoo News explains the legal challenges Trump is currently faces, and hears from legal experts on what is most likely to play out now he has secured a second term in the Oval Office.
What has Trump been convicted of?
In May, Trump became the first former US president to be convicted of a felony crime after a jury in New York found him guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.
These charges relate to the payment of $130,000 (around £100,115) in so-called "hush money" to adult film star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election to prevent her discussing an alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006.
Paying hush money isn't illegal on its own. Instead, the Manhattan District Attorney's office alleged that Trump broke the law by improperly recording the reimbursements he made to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, as "legal expenses".
Trump's sentencing was pushed back to 26 November – after the election – and he could face up to four years in prison, at least in theory.
What other cases is Trump still facing?
Trump faces four charges in federal court in Washington accusing him of spreading false claims of election fraud to try to overturn to results of the 2020 election, which was won by Joe Biden.
Jack Smith, the special counsel behind the case, alleged Trump "fuelled" an insurrection on 6 January 2021, which saw a mob of rioters storming the Capitol building.
Smith had also charged Trump with unlawfully holding onto classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida after his first term ended in 2021, and obstructing efforts by the US government to retrieve the records.
Florida-based US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, dismissed all charges in July after finding that Smith was improperly appointed to the role and did not have the authority to bring the case. The Justice Department filed an appeal, and the case is currently pending.
In Georgia, Trump faces eight counts related to alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state, with 18 other defendants also charged.
"The indictment alleges that rather than abide by Georgia's legal process for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a criminal, racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia's presidential election results," said Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. The case has been stalled pending legal arguments.
Will Trump go to prison?
Trump's existing convictions "can absolutely stand", and there is "nothing about being an elected president that would undermine a felony conviction", American professor of law Jessica A. Levinson tells Yahoo News.
"Having said that... I think it’s extremely unlikely that the judge is going sentence a president elect to time in prison," she said, in relation to the New York hush money case.
"Based on the crimes that Trump was convicted of, it wasn’t all that likely he was going to face prison time anyway, these are the lowest level felonies. Even if he wasn’t elected I think it’s entirely possible that he was never going to be behind bars for that set of convictions."
Given that Trump's sentencing for this case is due for the end of November, before he is sworn in as president at the end of January, Levinson says it is "possible" Judge Juan Merchan could jail him for a short amount of time, say for 24 hours, to "send him a message", but thinks this is "unlikely", although he "absolutely" could face monetary damages.
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani agrees, claiming Merchan "doesn't have the stomach to imprison a former president or president-elect", adding that it would not "be appropriate for a defendant with no criminal history convicted of Class E felonies (the least serious under New York law)".
Wayne Unger, professor of law at Quinnipiac University, said an alternative outcome is that Trump's sentencing will be postponed until after his term, which will end in January 2029.
"If he is sentenced and New York attempts to imprison him, the United States Supreme Court will almost certainly postpone any term of imprisonment until after his term because the duties of the presidency supersede.
"It is also possible that Donald Trump uses the power of the presidency to force the New York’s Governor, Kathy Hochul, to pardon his convictions in New York by withholding federal funds."
Moreover, Professor Emily Berman, a constitutional scholar at the University of Houston Law Centre, points out that the judge is currently reviewing whether and how the Supreme Court’s decision in June that presidents have criminal immunity for their official acts applies to this case.
"The Supreme Court immunity decision also bars official acts from being used as evidence to prosecute presidents for unofficial acts. So, it’s possible that case will be dismissed or that the judge will require a new trial... I expect to see Trump’s lawyers ask to postpone that indefinitely, given his new status as president-elect."
What will happen to Trump's other cases?
On the Washington D.C federal interference case, Levinson believes Trump will "order his attorney general to seek to dismiss the case".
“That’s a long way of saying Trump will be head of the federal executive branch and he will use his powers to make that case go away," she says.
In theory, the Georgia case should be tricker for Trump, says Levinson, because (like the hush money case in New York) it is a state prosecution, rather than a federal one.
“A president does not have power over state process," she says.
"Having said that, I think he will make a likely successful argument to the state prosecutor. The argument will be that it would be the state government interfering with the President’s constitutional duties. It would undermine the president’s ability to do his job if the state was able to move forward with a criminal prosecution."
Rahmani adds: "Trump, like any criminal defendant, has a right to a speedy trial, so staying or putting the cases on hold for four years until he is out of office would not be an option either."
"It’s well established that a sitting president can’t be prosecuted, so the election fraud case in D.C. District Court will be dismissed," he says, arguing the same would apply to the classified documents case. "If for some reason Jack Smith refuses to dismiss the cases, Trump can direct his attorney general to fire Smith," Rahmani says.
On Trump's two outstanding federal cases, Unger says it is "very unlikely they will progress". He adds: "First, he could pardon himself. The president holds conclusive authority to issue pardons, and while no president has attempted to pardon himself, in theory, he could.
"Second, even if he doesn’t pardon himself, he can order the Justice Department to drop the charges. In the January 6 case, the trial judge may not permit the Justice Department to drop the charges, but almost certainly, any appeal to the United States Supreme Court on this would result in the dropping of the January 6th charges.
"At bottom, it is a near certainty that Donald Trump will never face any criminal consequences for the alleged wrongdoing."
