Could Trump be pardoned? Here are the chances in all four to his cases - USA Trending Blog

Could Trump be pardoned? Here are the chances in all four to his cases - USA Trending Blog

Could Trump be pardoned? Here are the chances in all four to his cases - USA Trending Blog

The unprecedented prospect of a criminal sentence for an ex-president who could be re-elected while cases against him proceed is already raising questions about whether Donald Trump could end his own legal battles with a pardon or similar move.  

In two federal criminal cases now pending, legal experts say, Trump could look to pardon himself if he retakes the presidency next year. 

But Monday’s Georgia indictments are a different story. Convictions on state charges can’t be erased by a pardon, even from a  re-elected Trump – or by any other Trump ally who might win the White House.

“In Georgia, the issue is much more complicated,”  said Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University.

For one reason, Kreis said, Georgia’s governor doesn’t hold the power to grant a pardon, unlike some other states. Instead, it rests with a state board not known for leniency, he said.

On Monday night, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis charged Trump and 18 others after a more than two-year investigation into an alleged criminal conspiracy to overturn its 2020 election results. 

Trump faces 5 to 20 years in prison if convicted on Georgia racketeering charges. The other state-level charges Trump is facing in charges of a hush-money payout in New York, by contrast, are less likely to result in any jail time, legal experts said.

Trump and his legal team are expected to try to move the state case to federal court. That's already been requested by Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, who was also charged in the Fulton County indictment. According to documents filed in court Tuesday, Meadows’ attorneys argue that such a move is required in cases of state charges against a federal official while acting “under color" of their office.

Trump may also seek to delay all the cases until after the election just 15 months away.