Donald Trump speaking in West Palm Beach Florida on July 15.Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich/Zuma
Donald Trump’s daunting court schedule just a little bit lighter. Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime lawyer turned antagonist, settled a lawsuit accusing the Trump Organization of reneging on promises to pay legal bills that Cohen incurred working as a fixer for Trump.
Lawyers for Cohen and Trump disclosed the settlement at a hearing in a New York state court in Manhattan on Friday, averting a trial that was set to start Monday. The terms of the deal are not public. Both sides said in the statements only that the suit “has been resolved in a manner satisfactory to all parties.”
But Trump, of course, still faces a slew of legal issues, including trials where he will have to show up in person. Here is a rundown:
- A lawsuit by New York Attorney General Letitia James accusing Trump of “staggering fraud” by misrepresenting the value of his assets is set to go to trial in Manhattan on October 2.
- A new trial on allegations that Trump defamed writer E. Jean Carroll—including in statements he made after a jury found he had sexually assaulted and defaming Carroll—is set for January 15. (In a July 19 ruling, US District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected Trump lawyers’ request for a new trial based on their contention that the jury did not find that Trump raped Carroll, under New York’s definition. “The jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that,” Kaplan wrote.)
- Also in January, Trump, his company, and three of his children are set to face trial in a lawsuit alleging they fraudulently enticed investments in sham business ventures.
Trump won’t have to attend those civil matters. And he probably won’t, since they will conflict with vital early GOP primaries. So far, Trump is not scheduled to have any legal action on Tuesday, March 5, or Super Tuesday, when 15 presidential primaries may well determine if Trump will be the GOP nominee in 2024.
If Trump wins, he will probably have to leave the campaign trail in late March. His New York trial, scheduled on charges that he falsified business records, is set for March 25 and expected to last several weeks. That case results from Trump’s alleged hush-money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels. Cohen has said he arranged the payments to stop Daniels from going public just before the 2016 election with her claim she had sex with Trump in 2006. The former fixer is expected to testify against Trump.
On Friday, US District Court Judge Aileen Cannon scheduled for May 2024 Trump’s trial on 37 counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents he removed from the White House. Cannon rejected Justice Department efforts to try Trump in December and also Trump’s request to put off the trial until after Election Day. Cannon may yet delay the trial, which is slated to take at least two weeks.
Last week, Trump disclosed that he had received a target letter from Special Counsel Jack Smith suggesting the former president will likely be indicted for actions that were part of his effort to subvert his 2020 election defeat. According to the New York Times, Smith’s letter indicated Trump may be charged with corruptly obstructing an official proceeding, conspiring to defraud the government, and violating a civil rights law enacted to outlaw efforts to conspire to deprive anyone “the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States.” If Trump is charged, prosecutors will surely seek a trial before the 2024 election, but it remains to be seen if they will succeed.
Trump’s lawyers have also said that they expect the former president to be hit with criminal charges, along with former advisers, in a case by prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, which includes Atlanta. Fulton Country District Attorney Fani Willis is reportedly preparing charges under a state racketeering statute that take aim at Trump’s effort to interfere with Georgia’s vote count in the 2020 election. The charges are expected to reference the infamous recorded call in which Trump urged to Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, to “find” 11,780 votes, the precise number Trump needed to overcome Joe Biden’s margin in the state.
Trump denies all the accusations against him. He has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that the criminal charges he faces result from a conspiracy orchestrated by Biden to hinder Trump’s presidential campaign.
