What will happen to Trump’s legal issues after the election?

It’s not just the presidency that’s at stake for Donald Trump on November 5th—the outcome of his various legal troubles also depends on the election.

Victory in what he called the “most important” election in the nation’s history would likely result in the dismissal of federal criminal cases against him, the possibility of state criminal cases being frozen until he leaves office, and additional delays in various pending civil cases. cases against him.

However, a loss to Vice President Kamala Harris could leave Trump facing prison time later this month for his criminal conviction in New York and the possibility of additional criminal trials in 2025. It could also open him up to additional civil trials in New York. in the near future, while he is already appealing the $500 million civil judgment against him.

“When you’re president, you have a lot more arrows in your quiver,” said NBC News legal analyst Chuck Rosenberg.

Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Cheung predicted Trump would win at the ballot box and said all cases should be thrown out. “The witch hunt against President Trump has failed” and “must end in light of the Supreme Court’s landmark immunity decision and other landmark court decisions,” Chung said in a statement.

Here’s a look at how the legal cases against the Republican presidential candidate currently stand, and how they may (or may not) be affected by a Trump win or loss.

The case of secret money

Win or lose, Trump’s biggest immediate problem after the election is his potential conviction on 34 felonies related to falsifying business records in New York. He is tentatively scheduled to be sentenced on November 26, three weeks after Election Day.

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan twice delayed the trial to give Trump and his lawyers more time to argue that the Supreme Court’s July decision on the scope of presidential immunity should result in the conviction being overturned. They also want the charges against Trump to either be dropped or for him to get a new trial that would exclude evidence they believe should not have been allowed in light of the High Court’s decision.

Merchan is expected to make a decision on the request by November 12. Trump’s lawyers are expected to immediately appeal if he rules against their client.

If convicted, Merchan could potentially sentence Trump to prison, which would also be immediately appealed. Rosenberg told NBC News in May, after Trump’s conviction, that prison time was unlikely but possible given that the former president spent much of the trial insulting the judge and defying his gag order.

An election victory would give Trump more fodder for his call to prevent incarceration; In another case, his lawyers argued that the Constitution prohibits limiting the president in the performance of his official duties.

Federal election interference case

If Trump loses, special counsel Jack Smith’s election interference case will also be on the horizon.

The case, which accuses Trump of conspiring to defraud the United States of illegally trying to overturn the 2020 election, was originally scheduled to go to trial earlier this year but was put on hold for several months while the Supreme Court weighed Trump’s arguments that he was largely protected from charges of wrongdoing by presidential immunity.

Prosecutors are expected to continue pushing the case even if Trump is elected in November, but it is likely that whoever Trump appoints to head the Justice Department will fire Smith and derail the case.

In an interview last week with radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump suggested he might not be waiting for a new CEO. “I would fire him in two seconds,” Trump said, referring to Smith.

Even if Smith is out of the picture, the Justice Department would still have to seek a judge’s dismissal of the case, a request that judges have not always granted.

Georgia Election Interference Case

The expanding case accusing Trump and more than a dozen others of illegally conspiring to overturn the 2020 election is on hold until December, when an appeals court will consider whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her office should be allowed to continue prosecuting the case.

If so, this may allow the continuation of a matter that has long been stalled. Trump’s loss could clear the way for Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to set a trial date in the case. However, if Trump loses, he will likely still appeal the lawsuit Willis brought against him in 2023, which could lead to further delays.

If Willis and her office are removed from the case, that will also lead to additional delays. The process of finding another prosecutor can be lengthy; it took nearly two years to name a name in another case involving Willis.

If Trump wins the election, these delays could be even longer. At a court hearing last December, McAfee asked Trump lawyer Steve Sadow when his client would be able to go to trial if he were elected.

“The answer to that question is that I believe that, consistent with the Supremacy Clause and his responsibilities as President of the United States, this trial will not occur at all until he leaves office,” Sadow responded.

Barbara McQuade, a legal analyst for NBC News and a former federal prosecutor, said she believes it is possible that both state criminal cases could be suspended while Trump is in office and “resumed at the end of his term.”

The case of secret documents

In July, U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon dismissed a criminal case accusing Trump of lying and conspiring to mislead federal investigators to preserve sensitive classified material after he left the White House, finding Smith’s appointment as special counsel unlawful.

Smith is appealing the decision, arguing that there is plenty of precedent for his appointment and that the case should continue.

As with the federal election, Smith’s office is expected to continue to handle business as usual in the appeal even if Trump is elected, although the special counsel’s office would likely be quickly closed and the appeal dismissed.

E. Jean Carroll appeals

The cases that likely won’t be affected by a Trump win or loss are his pending appeals of civil judgments against him totaling more than $500 million.

The former president is appealing the largest settlement ever – more than $478 million, rising by more than $111,000 a day – in a civil fraud case in New York state court. During arguments before the state Appellate Division, three members of the five-judge panel said they believed the award was too high.

A lawyer for the state attorney general’s office said the award was appropriate because the scope of the fraud Trump and his company were found guilty of was significant and continued over a long period of time.

It is unclear when the commission will make a decision.

Trump is also appealing a pair of jury awards totaling about $88 million that he must pay to writer E. Jean Carroll.

Carroll has filed two lawsuits against Trump: one for allegedly sexually assaulting her in the 1990s and defamation, and another for defaming her while he was president.

The appeals court is expected to rule on the sexual assault case first, and that decision could come at any time.

January 6 costumes

Trump faces eight civil lawsuits related to his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, including by injured police officers. As in the criminal cases, Trump argued that his actions were protected by presidential immunity.

A federal appeals court allowed the case to proceed last year after plaintiffs argued Trump’s actions were not official presidential acts because he was acting as a candidate for office.

They noted that Trump will have the opportunity to contradict this position along the way.

No trial date has been set for these cases, and given the likelihood of appeals, immunity issues could take months or longer to resolve.

If Trump wins, the process could become even more protracted as he may try to bring in the Justice Department to defend him. He could also try to delay the trials in those cases, arguing that they should take place after his criminal trial in Georgia because they raise similar issues and could affect his right against self-incrimination.

“Civil cases are often stayed for this reason,” McQuade said.

Costume “Justified 5”

Trump faces another defamation lawsuit brought against him this month by members of the so-called Central Park Five, who now call themselves the “vindicated Five.”

During last month’s presidential debate, Trump incorrectly said that black and Latino men had pleaded guilty in a criminal case in which they were charged with assaulting and raping a white woman jogging in New York’s Central Park in 1989 . They also said they “ended up killing the person” although the woman was still alive.

The five, who were teenagers when they were convicted, said police coerced them into confessing and have pleaded not guilty to the charges. They were convicted in court and served long prison sentences while maintaining their innocence.

They were exonerated in 2002 after a review by prosecutors that included DNA evidence that showed the jogger had been attacked by a serial rapist who confessed to the crime after the statute of limitations had expired.

The lawsuit is not expected to be affected by Trump’s election, given a Clinton-era Supreme Court ruling that presidents are not immune from civil suits unrelated to their time in office.

McQuaid said she believes the case “could continue, much like Paula Jones v. Bill Clinton did.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com.