Former US president and Republican candidate Donald Trump found himself in legal hot water in the months and years leading up to this year’s US election.
As of election day, he had been personally charged with 88 criminal offences in four different criminal cases, including conspiracy to defraud the US and conspiracy against the rights of citizens.
But if he wins the US election and becomes president for a second term, the question looms whether his pending charges will be dropped.
Or, in a worst-case scenario for Trump, is it possible he will be sent to prison for his felony convictions?
US attorney Benjamin Chew told 9News Trump could easily have the pending charges dropped by his own attorney-general if he wins a second term.
If he is a sitting president, he is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution to some degree.
“He won’t necessarily have to pardon himself. What he can do and what he’s already said he would do, is he will have his attorney-general just stop the prosecutions against him that are pending in Washington before the judge,” Crew said.
“In any event, his new attorney-general can stop both of those criminal prosecutions.
“What he can’t stop is the sentencing that’s happening later this month in New York.”
Celebrities reveal whether they voted for Trump or Harris
He confirmed Trump can’t stop the sentencing in the Georgia trial, which is related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, because states and the federal government are separate sovereigns.
Sentencing in this case has been stalled as Trump awaits an appeals court’s verdict.
Chew said it appears the Supreme Court has granted Trump “immunity in advance” over the pending prosecutions if he wins this election.
The court does not grant presidents immunity for unofficial or “private” matters, however.
Trump is due to be sentenced on the 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 election in the Daniels case on November 26.
The former president successfully delayed sentencing in the criminal trial past election day twice.
It’s possible he could face jail time – the New York Times reports 42 per cent of those convictions do result in incarceration.
If he wins this election, Trump will likely avoid any jail time for at least the length of his term thanks to the federal prohibition of prosecuting a sitting president.
In fact, a Trump victory could make any chance of prison time disappear altogether.
If Trump loses and the sentencing in November goes ahead, the threat of prison will loom large over the 78-year-old.
“He branded himself as the guy who gets away with it,” Trump biographer Gwenda Blair told The Guardian.
“He is facing a lot of moments of reckoning. He could go to jail. He could end up considerably less wealthy than he is.”
