Trump’s impending return to White House brings criminal cases to a halt

By Andrew Goudsward and Luc Cohen

Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential election victory on Wednesday will essentially end the criminal cases brought against him, at least for the four years he occupies the White House.

The first former U.S. president to face criminal charges, Trump for much of this year faced four simultaneous prosecutions, over allegations ranging from his attempt to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign to his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat. A New York jury in May found him guilty of falsifying business records tied to the Daniels payment, making him the first former U.S. president convicted of a felony.

Trump, a Republican, told an interviewer on Oct. 24 that he would fire U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith — who led the federal prosecutions over his attempts to overturn his election defeat and retention of classified documents