Donald Trump receives a double blow in the US courts: how do they affect him?

The former president of United States Donald Trump This Thursday he received two judicial blows in two courts in different states of the country. The first occurred in Georgiaafter the judge Scott McAfee rejected the request of his lawyers to dismiss the case that is open in that state for electoral interference.

The second occurred shortly after in Floridawhen Judge Aileen Cannon also refused to dismiss the accusation that the Republican faces for mishandling classified documents.

On the one hand, in the state of Georgia, Trump and 18 other 'accomplices' They are accused of forming a criminal association with the aim of trying to distort the results of the 2020 presidential elections, which Democrat Joe Biden ended up winning. According to the prosecutor's office that carries the burden of proof in the case, Trump and his collaborators pressured Georgia government officials to alter the results of the vote counts in the elections that the then president lost by just under 12,000 votes.

In addition, the prosecution also claims that the Republican insisted that he had won the elections and made unfounded accusations of fraud.

Faced with these accusations, defense lawyers argued that Trump's statements are protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which protects the right to freedom of expression. However, Judge McAfee argued that the evidence they provided was not sufficient to prove that thesis.

Although this is seen as a setback for the former president, who once again seeks to be the tenant of the White House in the November presidential elections, in mid-March Judge McAfee dismissed six of the 41 charges that make up the Georgia case. The judge told the prosecution on March 13 that the charges were not sufficiently well argued.

This trial, at the moment, does not have a start date. However, according to analysts at The New York Times, “it seems unlikely that Trump will go on trial in Georgia before the presidential election.”

On the other hand, the second judicial blow that Trump received has to do with the denial of a motion based on the Presidential Records Act filed by Trump's defense to dismiss the case in Florida.

The legal procedure sought to dismiss 32 charges of “intentionally withholding and failing to deliver documents containing national defense information,” as well as the remaining charges related to “obstruction of justice.” “The Presidential Records Act does not provide a pretrial basis for dismissing” the charges, the judge, who was nominated during Trump's term, noted in the document.

According to special prosecutor Jack Smith, who is handling this case, Trump is accused of “withholding national security information” when he left the White House in January 2021. According to the evidence, Trump would have taken several boxes with dossiers with secret data to his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida. In this case, the former president is also accused of false testimony. The trial, which was scheduled for May 20, is still pending a new date from Cannon.

In total, Trump faces four criminal cases against him, an unprecedented legal burden for an American politician who aspires to a new presidential term. According to analysts, of all the judicial problems he has, the most serious is the one in Georgia. The other two he faces are on the benches in New York and Washington.