How a Reelected Trump Could Make His Criminal Cases Go Away

Like no one before him, Donald Trump is at once a former president, his party’s presumptive nominee to be president again, and a criminal defendant. He faces felony charges in four separate cases for conduct before, during and after his presidency, including conspiring to defraud the US in his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, mishandling classified documents, and falsifying business records to cover up hush money to an adult film actress. This unprecedented situation raises a host of previously implausible hypotheticals. They present multiple ways in which Trump might evade the prosecutors pursuing him, especially if he regains the White House in the Nov. 5 election.

Fighting a case filed in federal court in Washington in which he’s charged with trying to overturn the 2020 election, Trump contends the Constitution gives presidents “absolute immunity” from prosecution over official actions taken while in office. Two lower courts ruled against him, saying he was seeking something that couldn’t be found in the Constitution, the words of the nation’s founders or any Supreme Court precedent. In April, the Supreme Court heard his appeal — the first of its kind given that Trump is the first former US president to be indicted.