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Donald Trump is at risk of being faced with multiple criminal trials at the same time, all while campaigning to become president in 2024.
On Tuesday, Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 federal offenses in connection to Special Counsel Jack Smith's classified documents case. The former president and his aide, Mar-a-Lago valet driver Walt Nauta, are expected to appear next in a Florida court in June.
It is currently unknown when a trial could be set for the classified documents case, with the decision to be made by Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump and is facing calls to recuse herself from the case over concerns about her impartiality.
Trump, who remains the overwhelming favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination, is already set to begin a trial in New York in late March 2024, accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's hush money probe.
The New York trial will take place while the GOP primary is well under way and after the so-called Super Tuesday where several states will vote on the same day.
Elsewhere, there have been indications that the criminal investigation in Georgia, where Trump and his allies are accused of illegally trying to overturn the 2020 election results, is drawing to a close, and that the former president could face further indictments.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is leading the probe, previously said she plans to have most of her staff working remotely between July 31 and August 18 and requested that judges not schedule trials or in-person hearings during these weeks in what is considered a strong indication that charges could be announced around then.
In a statement on Wednesday, Willis' office said the "federal indictments will not have any impact on the Fulton County election investigation."
Discussing the coming together of the cases against the former president, NBC News Senior Legal Correspondent Laura Jarrett suggested that there is going to be "a lot of overlapping, a lot of paper flying, and a lot of arguments all happening at the same time," over the next few months.
"The Fulton County DA's office are saying essentially, 'whatever is going on with the feds, that's their business. It will not impact our investigation,'" Jarrett told Meet the Press NOW.
"That just shows you there's a federal system in the state system, everyone's getting sort of a civil procedure lesson and how this country works. Those two can stand alone and they could be overlapping."
One potential benefit for Trump is that Cannon will ultimately be the one who decides when the classified documents trial will take place, and has the authority to push it back if she chooses.
Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, suggested that the judge who has already made a number of decisions which have benefited Trump in the classified documents case—and has been rebuked by Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit for doing so—could even push the trial back beyond the election in November 2024, "especially" as the former president is already on trial next March.
"Judges can manage their courtroom calendars as they see fit, so Judge Cannon will have almost unfettered discretion in setting her trial schedule and no appellate court would even consider overruling her on that," Rahmani told Newsweek.
Elsewhere, New York Attorney Letitia James, who is suing the former president and The Trump Organization for $250 million over allegations the real estate company inflated or undervalued the value of a number of assets for financial benefit, said that her civil case and the others involving the Republican may be delayed due to the classified documents investigation.
"So in all likelihood, I believe that my case, as well as DA Bragg and the Georgia case, will unfortunately have to be adjourned pending the outcome of the federal case," James said during a live taping of the Pod Save America podcast.
"So it all depends on the scheduling of this particular case. I know there's going to be a flood, a flurry of motions, motions to dismiss, discovery issues, all of that. So it all really depends."
Trump's office has been contacted for comment via email.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more