The cases against Donald Trump break down into four criminal prosecutions and two major civil actions. Only one produced a conviction that still stands: the New York hush-money case, where a jury found him guilty on 34 felony counts in May 2024 and Justice Juan Merchan sentenced him to an unconditional discharge in January 2025. The two federal criminal cases and the Georgia state case have all been dismissed. On the civil side, writer E. Jean Carroll’s $5 million sexual abuse and defamation verdict is now final after the Supreme Court declined to hear Trump’s appeal, her separate $83.3 million defamation judgment survived at the Second Circuit, and New York’s civil fraud judgment was gutted on appeal when a divided panel struck down the $450 million penalty as excessive while leaving the underlying fraud finding intact.
New York Hush-Money Case
A Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump on March 30, 2023, on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office alleged that Michael Cohen paid adult-film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 before the 2016 election to suppress her account of a sexual encounter with Trump, that Trump reimbursed Cohen $420,000 through monthly checks disguised as legal fees, and that concealing the true purpose of those payments was intended to conceal state election-law violations. That last element is what elevated the records charges from misdemeanors to felonies.1Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. D.A. Bragg Announces 34-Count Felony Trial Conviction of Donald J. Trump
The jury convicted on every count on May 30, 2024. Sentencing slipped repeatedly and finally happened on January 10, 2025, ten days before Trump’s second inauguration. Justice Merchan imposed an unconditional discharge, meaning no prison, no probation, and no fine. He called it “the only lawful sentence, without encroaching upon the highest office of the land.” The day before, the U.S. Supreme Court had declined 5-4 to block the sentencing, describing the expected penalty as a “relatively insubstantial” burden on presidential responsibilities.2CNBC. Trump Sentencing New York Hush Money Case Trump appeared by video from Florida and said he was “totally innocent.”3BBC. Trump Sentenced to Unconditional Discharge in Hush-Money Case
The conviction remains on his record, and two appeals are live. On October 27, 2025, Trump’s Sullivan and Cromwell team filed a 96-page brief with the First Department of New York’s Appellate Division arguing that the conviction was “fatally marred” by inadmissible evidence, judicial errors, and a “convoluted legal theory” built on “time-barred misdemeanors.”4The New York Times. Trump Hush Money Appeal5Politico. Donald Trump Hush Money Conviction6CNN. Judge Skeptical Trump Trying to Move Hush Money Appeal to Federal Court
Federal Election Interference Case
On August 1, 2023, a federal grand jury in Washington indicted Trump on four felony counts tied to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to violate civil rights, and obstruction of an official proceeding. Special Counsel Jack Smith led the prosecution.7PBS. A Guide to the Criminal Cases Against Donald Trump
The case was reshaped by the Supreme Court’s July 1, 2024 decision in Trump v. United States, which recognized broad immunity for former presidents’ official acts and sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to sort official from unofficial conduct. Smith filed a narrowed superseding indictment on August 27, 2024.7PBS. A Guide to the Criminal Cases Against Donald Trump After Trump won the November 2024 election, Smith moved to dismiss, citing longstanding DOJ policy that a sitting president cannot be criminally prosecuted. Judge Chutkan granted the dismissal without prejudice on November 25, 2024, noting that presidential immunity “is temporary, expiring when they leave office.” The five-year federal statute of limitations on the charged conduct makes any refiling after Trump leaves office in January 2029 unlikely as a practical matter.8Democracy Docket. What Happens to Trumps Indictments Once He Takes Office
Smith submitted his final report on January 7, 2025 and resigned three days later.9ABC News. Jack Smith Resigned Special Counsel Justice Department Volume 1, on the election case, was released publicly. In it, Smith wrote that his office had concluded “the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial” and that only DOJ policy drove the dismissal. The report alleged that Trump knew he had lost, that officials in his own administration told him there was no evidence of fraud, and that he used “knowingly false claims of election fraud” to pressure state officials, arrange fraudulent elector slates, lean on the Justice Department, and direct a mob to the Capitol.10U.S. Department of Justice. Report of Special Counsel Smith, Volume 1
Federal Classified Documents Case
A federal grand jury in Florida indicted Trump on June 8, 2023 for willfully retaining classified national defense information at Mar-a-Lago after he left office. A July 2023 superseding indictment brought the total to 40 counts, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, and added two co-defendants, personal aide Walt Nauta and property manager Carlos De Oliveira.7PBS. A Guide to the Criminal Cases Against Donald Trump
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the entire case on July 15, 2024, ruling that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional because he was not appointed by the president or confirmed by the Senate.11NPR. Judge Dismisses Trump Classified Docs Case The Justice Department initially appealed, then withdrew the appeal on January 29, 2025 after Trump took office, ending the case against all three defendants.12Spectrum Local News. Justice Department Drops Case Against Trump Co-Defendants Classified Documents
Volume 2 of Smith’s final report, covering this investigation, has never been released. On February 23, 2026, Judge Cannon issued a 15-page ruling permanently barring the Justice Department from publishing it, calling the report’s creation a “brazen stratagem” and any release a “manifest injustice.” American Oversight and the Knight First Amendment Institute appealed, and the challenge is pending at the Eleventh Circuit.13Politico. Judge Cannon Jack Smith Classified Docs Report14CNN. Aileen Cannon Jack Smith Special Counsel Volume 2 Trump Documents
Georgia Election Interference Case
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis obtained a sweeping RICO indictment on August 14, 2023, charging Trump and 18 co-defendants with conspiring to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. Trump initially faced 13 counts, some of which Judge Scott McAfee later dismissed.7PBS. A Guide to the Criminal Cases Against Donald Trump
The case then collapsed under a prosecutorial conflict. In December 2024, the Georgia Court of Appeals disqualified Willis, finding that her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a “significant appearance of impropriety.”15Democracy Docket. Georgia Appeals Court Disqualifies Fani Willis From 2020 Election Subversion Case The Georgia Supreme Court declined 4-3 to review the disqualification on September 16, 2025, calling it a “narrow, case-specific dispute.”16Lawfare. Georgia Supreme Court Declines Fulton County DAs Appeal Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, took over and moved to dismiss. Judge McAfee granted that dismissal on November 26, 2025. Skandalakis argued that trying a sitting president was unrealistic given immunity issues and that severing the other defendants would be “futile and unproductive.”17Georgia Recorder. Fulton County Election Interference Case Against Trump and His Allies Is Dismissed
Two weeks earlier, on November 7, 2025, Trump had issued Proclamation 10989 granting “full, complete, and unconditional” pardons to 78 named individuals for conduct related to the 2020 election, including Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Mark Meadows, Jeffrey Clark, and David Shafer. The proclamation reached only federal offenses and did not cover Trump himself.18Federal Register. Granting Pardons for Certain Offenses Related to the 2020 Presidential Election
New York Civil Fraud Judgment
New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump, his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, former CFO Allen Weisselberg, and several Trump entities in September 2022, alleging a decade of inflated asset values on financial statements given to lenders and insurers. After a bench trial, Justice Arthur Engoron ruled on February 16, 2024 that the defendants had committed massive financial fraud and ordered Trump and the corporate defendants to pay more than $450 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest. He also barred Trump, Weisselberg, and former controller Jeffrey McConney from serving as officers or directors of any New York company for three years, imposed two-year bars on the Trump sons, and blocked Trump entities from borrowing from New York banks for three years.19New York Attorney General. Attorney General James Wins Landmark Victory in Case Against Donald Trump
On August 21, 2025, a divided New York Appellate Division panel threw out the monetary penalties as “excessive” under the Eighth Amendment. The panel kept the fraud finding and the corporate leadership bans in place. Trump had earlier posted a $175 million bond to hold off collection while the appeal ran. Either side can still seek review at New York’s Court of Appeals.20NPR. Civil Fraud Penalty President Trump Appeal
E. Jean Carroll Cases
Writer E. Jean Carroll won two federal civil verdicts against Trump. In 2023, a jury found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation and awarded her $5 million. In early 2024, a second jury awarded $83.3 million for defamatory statements Trump made in 2019 denying her allegations; $65 million of that was punitive damages.21PBS. Appeals Court Upholds E. Jean Carrolls 83.3 Million Defamation Judgment Against Trump Trump has denied the underlying allegations throughout.
A Second Circuit panel upheld the $83.3 million judgment on September 8, 2025, calling the award “fair and reasonable” and finding the “degree of reprehensibility” of Trump’s conduct “remarkably high, perhaps unprecedented.”21PBS. Appeals Court Upholds E. Jean Carrolls 83.3 Million Defamation Judgment Against Trump Trump sought rehearing by the full appeals court, arguing presidential immunity and asking to substitute the federal government as defendant. The Second Circuit denied both on April 29, 2026, with the majority holding that presidential immunity is a waivable defense and that Trump had waived it during the litigation.22Courthouse News Service. No En Banc in Trump Appeals of E. Jean Carroll Verdict, 83 Million Judgment On June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court declined to hear Trump’s appeal of the earlier $5 million verdict, letting it stand.23NBC News. Supreme Court Rejects Trump Effort to Overturn E. Jean Carroll Sexual Assault Verdict The $83.3 million case may still reach the Supreme Court following the en banc denial.24CNBC. Supreme Court Trump Carroll Appeal
What Trump’s Pardon Power Can and Cannot Reach
After returning to office on January 20, 2025, Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of nearly 1,600 people charged or convicted in connection with the January 6 Capitol breach and ordered the Justice Department to drop remaining January 6 prosecutions. The November 2025 proclamation extended clemency to those involved in alternate-elector efforts. Presidential pardons reach only federal offenses, so Trump cannot use the pardon power to erase the New York state hush-money conviction, and the civil judgments in the Carroll and New York fraud cases are unaffected by presidential clemency.25BBC. Trump Pardons and Commutations