Prof. Richard Painter Interviewed on Scripps News About Status of Trump Criminal Cases

Professor Richard Painter was interviewed on Scripps News about how the election of Donald Trump will affect the three outstanding criminal cases hanging over him and sentencing still to come in his hush money case, in which he was convicted of 34 felony counts. Prof. Painter said, “It’s a very challenging situation for the prosecutors for sure. The federal prosecutor almost certainly would be dismissed by President Trump as soon as he assumes office again in January.” He said it would be "very difficult" to prevent Trump from firing the special prosecutor once he regains control of the White House. "The Supreme Court of the United States and the Trump v. United States case made it very clear the president has nearly complete control over the Department of Justice and could cause a special prosecutor to be fired. The judge might try to keep the case alive for a while in the District of Columbia, but I think that would be very difficult with the Justice Department, starting with the president calling for the case to be dismissed,” Painter said. “The same would happen to Florida with the federal case down there.” 

Trump’s hush money case is a little different however, being that it has resulted in a conviction. In this case, Trump will still have to report for sentencing in New York court. “A jail sentence is very unlikely given the nature of the offense, but he could very well be put on probation, and have to report to a probation officer by Zoom, I assume, from the Oval Office, which would be a first — to have the president reporting on a regular basis to a state probation officer under court order,” Painter said. “But that might very well be the likely result of that New York case when sentencing occurs."