How 4 criminal cases against Trump are 'going out with a whimper': ex-DOJ prosecutor

13 January

When Donald Trump returns to the White House on Monday, January 20, 2025, he will become the first president in U.S. history to have been sentenced on a criminal conviction. Trump's sentencing in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr.'s hush money/falsified business records case went ahead as scheduled on January 10, with Justice Juan Merchan presiding.

Merchan didn't give Trump prison time, probation or even a fine for the 34 criminal counts he was found guilty of, but he did sentence him to an "unconditional discharge" — which officially makes the president-elect a convicted felon.

In an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on January 13, law professor and former federal prosecutor Kimberly Wehle examines the state of the four criminal indictments Trump has faced. And she laments that Trump is getting off easy in light of the severity of all the charges he faced.

"As Donald Trump's return to the presidency draws near," Wehle explains, "all four criminal cases against him are going out not with a bang, but with a whimper. The federal case relating to Trump's mishandling of classified documents was stuck in an appeals court after the trial judge, Aileen Cannon, tossed it out last summer on specious grounds. The other federal case, arising from the 2020 election aftermath and January 6th, had been slowed to a halt by various procedural motions."

Wehle continues, "But after Trump won November's election, special counsel Jack Smith asked the courts to dismiss both cases. Smith, last week, submitted his required final report on the cases, and while it remains unclear whether the report will be published, Smith's work is done — and he has quietly resigned from the Department of Justice."

The former U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutor laments that Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis' election interference/RICO case against Trump is unlikely to survive.

"Last month, an appeals court removed Willis from the case, and unless her effort to appeal her removal succeeds, the case will probably be over," Wehle observes. "In theory, another prosecutor could be appointed, but given the fact that Trump will be the sitting president, it's more likely to end here."

Wehle notes that Bragg's case was the only one of the four Trump indictments that even went to trial.

"Given his track record of judicial wins," Wehle observes, "it's kind of amazing that Trump did not evade sentencing altogether…. The unconditional discharge also means that, unless the conviction is reversed on appeal, Trump will live out his days with a 34-count felony record. Presidents cannot pardon state or local crimes, so that won’t help him."

Kimberly Wehle's full article for The Bulwark is available at this link.

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