Randy Zelin: Cornell University law professor on what will happen to Donald Trump's criminal charges

Donald Trump is set to return to the White House - but the question remains over what will happen to his dozens of criminal charges.

The former President will be the first person to take up the role while several criminal cases against him are pending.

Cornell University law professor Randy Zelin says all criminal charges against Trump are likely to disappear.

"The practical end of things wins out - and that is, you don't prosecute a sitting president, you don't prosecute an incoming president."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
He A duples, so all the ongoing criminal cases against
Donald Trump are expected to wind down now that he
won the election. Last night, the Department of Justice officials
of trying to figure out exactly how to go about
doing this.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Randy Zellen is a law professor at Cornell University.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hey, Randy, Hi, great to be on with you. Yeah,
thanks for being on with us again. Now listen, why
is this happening. Is this because of some sort of
a convention that you don't prosecute a sitting president.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
There's a few things. There is the legal end of things,
and then there's the practical end of things. And the
practical end of things wins out, and that is, you
don't prosecute a sitting president. You don't prosecute an incoming president.
And the reality is that we have a separation of
powers in this country, and one of those branches is

(00:47):
the executive branch, and the president runs the executive branch,
and the Department of Justice, which is the chief prosecuting
agency for federal crimes, is actually under the President of
the United States, who in their right mind running the
Department of Justice is going to continue a prosecution against
the sitting president. Consequently, Consequently, all of the federal prosecutions

(01:11):
will disappear the remaining state prosecutions where technically the federal
government doesn't have oversight. As a practical matter, Justice Machan
is not going to sentence President Trump to jail, and
as far as depending case in Georgia, that's probably just
going to die under its own weight.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Right when you were talking about Justice Preshatta, are you
talking about this is the Stormy Daniels Hushmany case where
we were literally about to have them sentenced in a
few weeks.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yes, that's correct. So at this point, Justice Marshan, I think,
will do the right thing, the just thing, and the
thing that the country really wants, because the country spoke
and the country said we want Trump, and far be
it for Justice Marchon to say something differently. So I'm
sure he will sentence him to a slap on the
wrist if that, and move on.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
What about when he finishes up his term in four
years time? Can they simply resume the cases.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
They're not going to There would be technically an issue
in terms of the failure to prosecute, though the argument
could be made that the time should be told or
stayed or held in abeyance while he's the sitting president.
He's going to be at that point, eighty two, eighty
three years old, probably walking out of his second term

(02:30):
as somewhat of a folk hero. No one's going to
be interested in prosecuting him at that point. Hopefully the
country will have moved on and we will all be
far more interested in enjoying prosperity and a good life
than simply trying to correct old wrongs.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Hey, Randy, out of interest, do you know what the
rules are in terms of how many more terms he
can serve? Because I know that you can't serve two terms,
you can't serve more than two gyms consecutively. But what
if it's broke up.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
I believe that it is eight years your capped total
two terms. Whether it's consec or broken up, It's only
happened one other time in history. I think Grover Cleveland
Alexander is the only other president to have served two
terms non consecutively. But my sense of it is this
will be President Trump's second and final term.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
Randy, it's good to talk to you. Thank you so much, mate,
appreciate it. It's Randy Zellen, Cornell University Law professor.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
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