Donald Trump has had an eventful legal week, with major developments in three of the four criminal cases the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is facing.
In Georgia, Nathan Wade resigned as special prosecutor in Trump's election-interference case after a judge concluded he had engaged in an inappropriate relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Separately in Florida, Judge Aileen Cannon rejected a bid by Trump's legal team to have his classified documents case dismissed. Then, in New York, his trial over allegedly facilitating the payment of hush money to a pornographic actress was delayed.
Attorney Bernard Alexander, a partner at the Los Angeles-based firm Alexander Morrison + Fehr, LLP, told Newsweek that Trump's legal team are likely pleased with the past week and believe they have achieved a series of "small victories."
Trump has pled not guilty to all the charges he is facing in the hush money, classified documents and Georgia election-interference cases, along with separate federal charges related to allegations he broke the law attempting to overturn the 2020 election on a nationwide basis. Newsweek contacted representatives of Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign by email at 5:20 a.m. ET. This article will be updated if they wish to comment.
In statements to the media and posts on his Truth Social website, Trump has repeatedly said the allegations against him are politically motivated. He secured a string of Republican primary victories on Tuesday, turning him into the party's presumptive presidential candidate for November's election.
On Friday, Judge Scott McAfee ruled that Willis can continue prosecuting Trump and his co-defendants over claims they broke the law while attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election result in the state of Georgia. However, McAfee ordered Willis to remove either herself or Wade from the case, and hours later, the special prosecutor announced his resignation. McAfee also criticized Willis's testimony given during the hearing, which he said was unprofessional.
The previous day, Cannon in Florida rejected a bid by Trump's legal team to dismiss the charges he is facing under the Espionage Act as "unconstitutionally vague," though she did say this view could be raised again in "connection with jury-instruction briefing."
Also on Thursday, the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg agreed to a 30-day delay to Trump's hush-money case so his team can read over newly disclosed documents from the U.S. Attorney's Office, though they described this as "a function of defendant's own delay."
Reacting to the Georgia ruling, Alexander said: "Dragging Willis through the mud based on her selection of a paramour to serve as special counsel served to distract from the important accusations at the heart of the state RICO [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act] criminal prosecution. The judge's order gave Trump a Pyrrhic but public victory."
On the Florida case, Alexander said that, while Cannon denied Trump's bid to dismiss the case against him, she did conclude they "warranted serious discussions" and so "an ultimate determination on Trump's unconstitutionality arguments will be delayed to another day."
Alexander added that the delay to Trump's New York Stormy Daniels hush-money case gives him "the gift of a reprieve in the start of trial." He said this pushed the trial closer to the presidential campaign but added that this will provide "more fuel for Trump's claim of unfair persecution by liberal prosecutors or sympathizers."
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James Bickerton is a Newsweek U.S. News reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is covering U.S. politics and world ... Read more
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