Analysis: In a legal triple-header for Donald Trump, there is some good news and some bad
by James Matthews, US correspondent
Two courts aren’t enough – not for Donald Trump, not on a Thursday.
His hush-money criminal trial and Supreme Court hearing, legal events one and two, were already under way when he scored the hat-trick.
A New York judge announced he was upholding the verdict and $83m (£66m) damages award against Trump for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll.
There’s a lot going, legally, and there’s a lot riding on all of it for Trump.
The hearing at the Supreme Court concerned the 6 January riots, election subversion and Trump’s alleged involvement.
It is a crime against democracy, at the serious end of the legal jeopardy he faces.
His lawyers argued that he should be shielded by immunity from prosecution for actions while acting as president.
The prosecution’s case is that he was acting as a private citizen, not in an official capacity.
‘He’ll like what he’s heard’
Donald Trump wasn’t present at the hearing in Washington DC, but he will have liked what he heard.
The prevailing legal assessment is that discussions with the nine-judge panel indicate that, while they did not necessarily agree with his argument for immunity, they have enough questions to delay the prosecution further.
A majority appears to think that presidents have some immunity from criminal prosecution for their official actions, even if the exact parameters are unclear.
What is clear is that if the trial court is instructed to determine which of Trump’s allegedly illegal acts qualify for immunity as official acts, it will be an extended process that could easily push the trial beyond the November election.
‘Delay, delay, delay’
Such a scenario would suit Donald Trump. The less criminal exposure he has before America votes, the better for him.
If he can push the trial past November, and win back the White House, he can use the power of office to make the charges go away.
The New York hush-money trial is the only one of four criminal prosecutions to have begun. The Supreme Court appears set to shorten the odds on it being the only one before America goes to the polls.
It is the pressing matter of the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the man who would be president, and it’s a race against time.
This stress test of the fundamentals of American democracy and rule of law gets ever more stressful.
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