Following the criminal trial in Manhattan, the legal proceedings against President Trump have slowed to nearly a halt.
The next major developments will likely be the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in two Trump-related cases. In one, the justices are weighing the extent of presidential immunity from prosecution; in the other, the court will rule on whether an evidence-tampering statute was misapplied when used to bring “obstruction of an official proceeding” charges against Jan. 6 defendants. Notably, Special Counsel Jack Smith has brought the same kind of charge against the former president.
Here’s the latest information you need to know about each case.
Read our previous installments here.
Manhattan, New York: Prosecution by DA Alvin Bragg for NDA Payment
How we got here: In this New York state criminal case, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — who The New York Times acknowledged had “campaigned as the best candidate to go after the former president” — charged former President Donald Trump with 34 felony charges for alleged falsification of business records. Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen paid pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election as part of a nondisclosure agreement in which she agreed not to publicize her claims that she had an affair with Trump (who denies the allegations). Nondisclosure agreements are not illegal, but Bragg claims Trump concealed the payment to help his 2016 election chances and in doing so was concealing a “crime.”
This criminal trial concluded on May 30, with the jury returning a guilty verdict on all 34
