Two cases that could defy Donald Trump’s capacity to thwart prosecutions and even to overturn eventual convictions against him if he returns to the White House reach critical tests on Thursday with major implications for the 2024 election.
In the latest remarkable twist of his multiple legal sagas, Trump is expected to show up in court in New York for a procedural hearing ahead of his trial over a hush money payment to an adult film star before the 2016 election. Trump wants the case to be dismissed, but a judge could confirm Thursday that it will go ahead at the end of March in what could mark the first time the fate of an ex-president and potential presidential nominee has been put to a jury in a criminal case.
While Trump is in court in New York, he will be at the center of another drama in Georgia where a judge is holding an evidentiary hearing into an attempt to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and to throw out a vast racketeering case against Trump and associates over his attempt to subvert President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win in the swing state. Judge Scott McAfee has already said that Willis could be disqualified if she benefited financially from a romantic relationship with a colleague she appointed to be a prosecutor in the case.
Most of Trump’s legal filings in various cases have one thing in common: an attempt to prevent them from moving to trial and to delay accountability — at least until the next election. Trump has a particular interest in stopping the New York hush money and Georgia election interference cases because even as president with a sympathetic attorney general, he would find it difficult to interfere in ongoing prosecutions, to overturn convictions or even to pardon himself since this executive power does not cover state crimes.
Read more at AOL.com
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