Donald Trump has many reasons to celebrate his victory in the United States presidential election, but one in particular stands out.

The president-elect could now be free of the criminal cases that hang over him like a sword of Damocles, at least as long as he remains in the White House.

For much of the past year, Trump has been fighting four simultaneous prosecutions, two related to his efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 election, one for his mishandling of top-secret state documents and another for his payments to maintain his silence to adult film star Stormy Daniels. .

Just hours after his victory was declared Wednesday, federal officials were already looking for ways to close two cases involving election interference and mishandling of classified documents under the assumption that sitting U.S. presidents cannot be prosecuted or imprisoned. while they are in office.

That assumption is based on a long-standing policy of the U.S. Department of Justice, dating back to 1973 and reaffirmed in 2000, that sitting presidents cannot be tried or imprisoned while in office.

Trump could be further emboldened by a July Supreme Court ruling that grants presidents “absolute immunity” from prosecution for official acts and a presumption of immunity for broader crimes when ties to the job can be proven, no matter how Superficially it can be proven.

As Trump prepares to take office in January, here are the top charge sheets that could now be hiding in the back of a dusty Oval Office drawer:

Federal charges

Trump faces two separate federal cases over his alleged interference in the 2020 election and his hoarding of top-secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Both sets of charges were brought by Jack Smith, special prosecutor for the Department of Justice.

In light of Trump’s election as president, Smith is likely to close both cases, avoiding a confrontation with the president-elect, who previously promised to fire him “within two seconds” of taking office.

Attorney James Trusty, who represented Trump in both cases, said the Justice Department may be reluctant to “affirmatively dismiss” the charges.

“Politically, I think they would prefer to have the fingerprints of the new Trump administration on the disappearance of the cases,” he told the Reuters news agency.

The two cases are the following:

Interference in the 2020 elections

In 2022, Smith was tasked by a US House of Representatives committee to investigate Trump’s alleged attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election before the bloody assault on the US Capitol by his supporters on January 6. of 2021.

The following year, Smith charged Trump with four felonies, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.

Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan scheduled a trial in Washington, D.C. for March, which was delayed after Trump said he should be entitled to immunity as a former president.

In July, the Supreme Court sided with Trump’s arguments and granted presidents broad immunity from prosecution, even for crimes of a personal nature where ties to work could be proven.

Smith refiled the case in August, arguing that the alleged crimes were unrelated to the former president’s official duties.

Top secret documents case

In a case filed in Florida in 2022, Smith also accused Trump of hoarding top-secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and obstructing the FBI’s efforts to recover them.

FBI agents recovered more than 100 classified records, and Trump’s lawyers eventually turned over four more documents that had been found in his bedroom.

In July, Florida-based federal judge Aileen Cannon, nominated to the position by Trump in 2020, dismissed the charges and ruled that Smith’s appointment as prosecutor had not been approved by Congress and was therefore unconstitutional. . Smith disputed Cannon’s ruling.

State positions

Trump has also been fighting two cases brought by state prosecutors in New York and Georgia.

The two cases are the following:

Stormy Daniels hush money case

Having been convicted by a Manhattan jury in May of falsifying business records to cover up a money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election, Trump will be the first president to enter the White House with a criminal record.

Trump, who called the trial a “witch hunt,” wanted to prevent Daniels from revealing an alleged sexual encounter from 2006, fearing it would harm him during the 2016 campaign. He was found guilty of all 34 charges against him in that case. .

In theory, he could be sentenced to four years in prison. But even before this week’s election victory, some legal experts believed the first-time offender would likely get away with a fine and probation.

Judge Juan Merchán was due to sentence Trump on November 26, a hearing that now likely will not take place.

Merchan had already twice postponed Trump’s sentencing, which was initially scheduled for July 11, in part because of the Supreme Court’s July ruling on presidential immunity.

In the unlikely event that a sentencing hearing takes place, a deferred sentence would be possible “if it involved any jail time,” University of Pennsylvania law professor Claire Finkelstein told AFP news agency.

Trump has argued that the case should be dismissed entirely based on the presidential immunity ruling, which prosecutors had challenged before the election.

If he fails to get the case dismissed, the convicted felon could face continued headaches once he leaves office.

‘Extortion’ case in Georgia

Trump faces more criminal charges for his efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 election in the battleground state of Georgia.

Joe Biden narrowly won the state and the presidency, but Trump and his allies allegedly continued to spread misinformation about voter fraud, leaning on Georgia officials and lawmakers to overturn the result.

Last year, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis accused Trump and 18 co-defendants of launching a “criminal enterprise” to keep the former president in power, basing the charges on state anti-racketeering laws designed to fight the gangsters.

But the trial took on a soap opera feel following revelations that Willis had a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, a man she had hired. In January, Michael Roman, one of Trump’s co-defendants, filed a motion accusing her of improper conduct.

In March, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled that Willis could stay if Wade left. Wade quickly submitted his resignation, allowing Willis – reprimanded by the judge for her “tremendous” error in judgment – ​​to continue with the case.

Earlier that month, McAfee had dismissed six of the 41 counts in the Georgia indictment. The six focused on whether Trump and his co-defendants solicited elected officials to violate their oaths in their attempt to overturn the election result.

Trump and eight of his co-defendants in the case are now asking a Georgia appeals court to disqualify Willis for his alleged misconduct. Oral arguments were scheduled for December 5.

It is unclear whether the hearing will go forward. But even if Willis remains on the case, legal experts said it is unlikely she will be able to advance the case against Trump while he is in office.

Anthony Michael Kreis, a professor at Georgia State College of Law, said in X that the case would not move forward until Trump leaves office in 2029.

“Will there be any political desire at the end of the second Trump administration to try him in Georgia? “That is a long time since the initial crimes,” he said in a post.

So it looks like Trump might be off the hook, at least for now.