Trump's tenacious resistance on the legal front

91 criminal charges have not yet made Trump falter, on the contrary, they have made him stronger in the race for the White House.

Donald Trump's political opponents had hoped that his legal troubles would hamper the former US president's bid for the White House. But observers say the chances of him being defeated before the election are increasingly remote.

Trump, who appeared to be on course to win the Republican presidential nomination after his victory on January 23 in the New Hampshire primary, is showing that he remains resilient and less vulnerable on the legal front than his opponents had anticipated.

Former US President Donald Trump in New York on January 22. Photo: AFP — Former US President Donald Trump in New York on January 22. Photo: *AFP*

Trump’s legal team has successfully delayed any legal decision. All the while, Trump has raised large sums of money from donors and seen his approval ratings rise as the former president portrays himself as the victim of partisan prosecutors who want to thwart his reelection.

“Everything is playing into the former president’s political narrative of being a victim,” said Ty Cobb, a former Trump lawyer who has now become a critic of the president. “He got lucky.”

Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump, said the former president's campaign successes were a sign that some voters truly believed the prosecutions were politically motivated and that he would win the election "overwhelmingly."

Still, a conviction would pose a significant risk to Trump on the campaign trail. A CNN poll found that 42% of Republican voters in the New Hampshire primary said the former president was unfit to lead the country if convicted. A Wall Street Journal poll last December showed Trump leading President Joe Biden by 4 percentage points, but losing by 1 percentage point if convicted of a federal crime.

Trump has been indicted four times in 2023 and faces 91 criminal charges. Two cases are related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, one by Georgia prosecutors and the other by federal special counsel Jack Smith.

In the third indictment, Smith accused Trump of improperly retaining classified documents after leaving office, and the fourth came from New York prosecutors over Trump's payment of hush money to porn actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election.

His opponents have long hoped that the legal hurdles would put an end to his 2024 campaign. “The problem with Donald Trump is the way he conducts himself. Trump is his own worst enemy,” former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said after the first federal indictment of the former president was filed last year.

At least for primary voters, that argument has failed. Christie dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination earlier this month.

Trump supporters believe he is the target of an organized “witch hunt,” while most of his political opponents, despite fierce competition, are reluctant to alienate his loyal base.

Even his remaining rival in the nomination race, former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, has only indirectly referred to the legal danger Trump faces, calling him the agent of "Republican chaos".

Trump has not yet faced any charges. He is scheduled to appear in federal court in Washington on election interference charges on March 4. But that date could be delayed as he has filed an appeal arguing that a former president generally cannot be criminally prosecuted for actions taken while in office.

The justices have been skeptical of Trump's argument, but his attempt to block the prosecution, which he will try to take to the US Supreme Court, could set back any trial by months.

An unrelated case that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear could also help Trump in the upcoming trials. Like hundreds of other defendants, Joseph Fischer, a police officer in a small Pennsylvania town, was charged with obstruction of official proceedings for his role in the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. Congress was meeting to certify Biden’s election victory.

The charges relate to two of the four counts Trump faces. They stem from a provision of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, enacted in the wake of the Enron financial scandal, that makes it illegal to destroy records to interfere with official proceedings or impede their performance.

Fischer has opposed the law’s application in his prosecution, saying that congressional certification of votes is not the type of procedure the law covers. If Fischer wins, Trump could win, too. The Supreme Court is likely to decide Fischer’s case in June, which could indirectly impact Trump’s case.

Trump could also benefit in Georgia. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis faces allegations that she had an affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade when she gave him the case and that Willis herself benefited financially from the decision. Willis has not commented directly on the allegations but has suggested that the criticism is rooted in racial bias.

Some legal ethics experts say the allegations are unlikely to force Willis or Wade to drop the case. But they could indirectly influence jurors’ judgments and decisions as the trial proceeds, according to Chris Timmons, an attorney in Atlanta.

“I have lost cases where the jury believed the evidence was compelling but thought the investigation was unfair,” Timmons said. “If they look at what happened and think there was something wrong with the investigation, even if they believe the evidence, they will show their dissatisfaction by acquitting.”

Mr. Donald Trump (right) and his lawyer at a court hearing in New York on January 11. Photo: Reuters — Mr. Trump (right) and his lawyer at a court hearing in New York on January 11. Photo: *Reuters*

In addition, a lawsuit over Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida is also showing signs of being delayed. The trial is set for May, but Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated by the former president in 2020, has suggested it could be postponed.

The case was assigned to Judge Cannon under a random assignment system, and Trump’s lawyers were happy about the development. Cannon allowed the lawyers to extend the case for months due to issues with evidence and prosecutors, and said she would reconsider Trump’s request to postpone the trial in March.

"Mr. Trump is truly fortunate to have Judge Cannon presiding over his trial," said attorney Cobb.

So far, the criminal cases have only strengthened Trump’s base. A Wall Street Journal poll in December 2022 showed the former president’s standing among Republicans weakened, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis leading him for the 2024 nomination. But more than a year later and with four indictments against Trump, DeSantis ended his White House bid last week and endorsed him after losing the Iowa caucuses.

Prosecutors have repeatedly said that obstructing Trump's victory was never a factor in their charges against him, but that's what the former president's supporters want to believe.

“If the prosecution was really intended to hurt him politically, it clearly failed,” commented James Trusty, another former Trump lawyer.