Former President Donald Trump is embroiled in multiple criminal indictments as he seeks another term in the White House, and as the cases develop, the former president has had some wins and losses as the trials approach.
On Monday, three of the former president’s criminal cases had moves that either helped or hurt him in his bid to resolve the four criminal indictments. Here is what happened in three of his trials after Trump had several legal wins last week.
Classified documents case (Florida)
In the classified documents case in federal district court in Florida, Judge Aileen Cannon issued an order for Trump and special counsel Jack Smith to propose jury instructions by April 2 for “competing scenarios and offer alternative draft text that assumes each scenario to be a correct formulation of the law to be issued to the jury.”
The first scenario assumes that the jury is “permitted to examine a record retained by a former president in his/her personal possession at the end of his/her presidency and make a factual finding as to whether the government has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that it is personal or presidential using the definitions set forth in the Presidential Records Act.”
The second scenario in the order is more favorable to Trump and assumes that “a president has sole authority under the PRA to categorize records as personal or presidential during his/her presidency.” This scenario would make convicting Trump significantly more difficult and would be a boost to the former president’s arguments about classifications of documents he allegedly possessed at his Mar-a-Lago resort after his presidency concluded.
2020 election subversion case (Georgia)
In the 2020 election subversion case in Fulton County, Georgia, Trump’s team had a mixed result with a bid to remove District Attorney Fani Willis from the case over an alleged conflict of interest.
A Friday order by Judge Scott McAfee said special prosecutor Nathan Wade would either have to be removed from the prosecution or Willis’s office would have to be removed from the case.
Wade resigned on Friday, seemingly clearing the way for Willis to stay on the case, but the former president’s lawyers requested an appeal of the decision allowing Willis to stay on the case on Monday. The defendants asked the judge to grant them a “certificate of immediate review,” which would allow them to appeal his ruling.
Hush money case (New York)
In the hush money case in Manhattan, Judge Juan Merchan ruled that the 2005 Access Hollywood tape — in which Trump made crude remarks, including a claim that fame allowed men to grope women — would not be played before jurors.
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The tape was leaked weeks before the 2016 presidential election but did not derail Trump’s bid to win the White House. The video was allowed to be played for jurors during the former president’s defamation trial brought by E. Jean Carroll.
Merchan said prosecutors may still question witnesses about the tape but that it is not necessary for the video to be played or entered as evidence.