The Trump Trials: The Gravity of Laws (2024)

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It was a seven-week trial, so … maybe a nap? But before that, let’s recap a wild week that wrote a new chapter in the history of American politics and law.

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The details: 34 charges connected to a 2016 hush money payment.

Trial dates: Began April 15, ended May 30

Last week: “Guilty,” the jury foreman said 34 times in a row. For weeks, Trump has gritted his teeth through the rules and rituals of the Manhattan criminal courthouse. The most painful ritual came Thursday, when a jury of seven men and five women found him guilty on all counts.

In an angry speech the following day, Trump declared “we’re living in a fascist state,” and vowed to appeal. The most important thing to remember about appeals is that they are long shots, and take a long time.

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A. No, it shouldn’t. Once he is sentenced by the trial judge, his lawyers will have 30 days to file a notice of appeal. In New York state, the trial courts are called the Supreme Court (don’t get us started), and the first step of an appeal for Trump would be the Appellate Division. A further appeal would go to the Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state. If he does not succeed there, he could then appeal to the Supreme Court in Washington, but the main thing to remember about this sequence of steps is that they typically take years.

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We were online on The Post’s website Friday afternoon to answer some of the 1,000-plus questions readers submitted to us about the New York verdict. Among the most-asked: Can Trump pardon himself in this case? Can he still vote? Does his conviction impact the access to classified information he would get as president? You can find the answers to those and more here.

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ROR: Minutes after the guilty verdict was read against Trump, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan ordered him “ROR’d.” Short for “release on recognizance,” the phrase is commonly used in court to describe when a defendant does not have to post bail to remain free while awaiting trial.

In cases that carry long prison sentences, like violent crimes, a defendant can be ordered to start serving their sentence the moment they are convicted. In many white collar cases involving less potential jail time, defendants will be allowed to remain free while they await their sentence. That is what happened to Trump on Thursday.

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Subscribe to The Trump Trials: Sidebar to hear our team break down the most important — and historic — twists and turns in the former president’s ongoing legal troubles.

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The details: Trump faces 40 federal charges over accusations that he kept top-secret government documents at Mar-a-Lago — his home and private club — and thwarted government demands to return them.

Planned trial date: Indefinitely postponed

Last week: Judge Aileen M. Cannon denied a request from special counsel Jack Smith to add conditions to Trump’s release that he not be allowed to make incendiary allegations against the FBI agents who handled his case.

The request came in response to Trump falsely suggesting on May 21 that a document describing the FBI’s deadly force policy somehow showed agents were hoping or planning to shoot him.

Cannon rejected Smith’s request, saying he had not properly first consulted with Trump’s lawyers.

Smith made the request again to Cannon on Friday. This time, he said he conferred in “good faith” with Trump’s attorneys via phone and email, but they were unable to come to a resolution. The second request is pending.

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Last week: Still quiet, but we are at least entering the month in which the Supreme Court is likely to rule on Trump’s claim that presidential immunity prevents his prosecution in this case. A decision on that question is expected in late June, and if the highest court in the land agrees that he can be prosecuted, the D.C. case would resume its pretrial preparation.

The key questions would then become what, if any, legal tests the court sets for deciding which acts in the indictment, if any, are official acts that should be exempted from the trial. If those questions are left to the trial judge, we can expect more time-consuming rounds of litigation and possible appeals. If the Supreme Court decides the matter itself, the trial could happen more quickly.

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The details: Trump faces 10 state charges for allegedly trying to undo the election results in that state. Four of his 18 co-defendants have pleaded guilty.

Planned trial date: None yet

Last week: All quiet.

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