Donald Trump will become president on 20 January - but what happens to his criminal cases now?
Donald Trump became the first president-elect to be criminally sentenced just days before his inauguration, for attempting to cover up a hush money payment in 2016. But with other cases against him ongoing, what can the courts do against the man in the White House?
Friday 17 January 2025 15:11, UK
Donald Trump's election win was historic in a race that would have always delivered a first for the United States.
A Kamala Harris victory would have made her the first female president. Instead, Mr Trump will become the first person to be convicted of a felony to assume the US presidency.
The president-elect was criminally sentenced last week, for attempting to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign.
He was in May last year. He continues to deny the charges, calling the case a "witch-hunt".
Mr Trump, who will be inaugurated as president on 20 January, was also embroiled in other state and federal criminal cases, as well as some civil cases.
He pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him and alleged the prosecutions were politically motivated.
With his election win, most cases were either dismissed or put on hold, but what will happen to Mr Trump's legal battles once he returns to the White House?
'Hush money' - state case
This is the case relating to Stormy Daniels, for which Trump was found guilty of covering up his then-lawyer's $130,000 (£99,000) payment for her silence before the 2016 election, about a sexual encounter she alleges they had a decade earlier.
While he could have faced up to four years in prison, Manhattan Judge Juan M Merchan handed the president-elect a no-penalty sentence, also called an unconditional discharge.
Under New York state law, an unconditional discharge is a sentence imposed "without imprisonment, fine or probation supervision".
The sentence is handed down when a judge is "of the opinion that no proper purpose would be served by imposing any condition upon the defendant's release", according to the law.
Read more:
Trump spared jail or fine - as it happened
It means Trump's hush money case has been resolved without any punishment that could interfere with his return to the White House, but still means he will be the first president to be sworn in as a convicted criminal.
Appearing in court via video link, the president-elect again claimed the case against him was a "political witch-hunt," and said: "I was treated very unfairly and I thank you very much."
Election subversion - federal case
Donald Trump was also charged with attempting to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
He had pleaded not guilty to criminal charges accusing him of a conspiracy to obstruct the process to collect and certify the results.
He was also accused of using "dishonesty, fraud, and deceit" and spreading "pervasive and destabilising lies about election fraud".
But in July last year, the Supreme Court, with its conservative majority, granted former presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution after arguments from the president-elect that he could not be prosecuted for official actions taken during his time in the White House.
The ruling all but ended Special Counsel Jack Smith's election subversion case against Mr Trump, and after the Republican's election win in November, prosecutors filed to drop the charges.
In January - despite Mr Trump's attempt to block it - a report from Mr Smith about the charges was released by the Department of Justice, which said the president-elect engaged in an unprecedented criminal effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
The prosecutor said Mr Trump "inspired his supporters to commit acts of physical violence" in the January 6 riots and knowingly spread a false narrative about fraud in the 2020 election.
In response, Mr Trump called Mr Smith "deranged" and criticised the report's "fake findings".
Election interference - state case
Mr Trump was formally booked at Georgia's Fulton County jail in August 2023, charged over an alleged conspiracy to reverse his defeat specifically in the battleground state in the 2020 election.
The election result in Georgia that year was memorably close, triggering two recounts, but ultimately Mr Biden won by 11,779 votes - or 0.23% of the five million cast.
It was certified by both Georgia's Republican governor Brian Kemp and secretary of state Brad Raffensperger. But Mr Trump did not accept the result.
Prosecutors used state racketeering laws, developed to fight organised crime, to charge him and others, including his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Mr Trump pleaded not guilty - along with eight of his 14 co-defendants, including former New York mayor and lawyer Rudy Giuliani - and has appealed against the case.
While this case is still technically ongoing, it is largely on hold.
The case faced several issues after the president-elect's lawyers sought to disqualify the lead prosecutor, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, claiming alleged misconduct over her previous relationship with lawyer Nathan Wade.
Ms Willis was removed from the prosecution by an appeals court in December. She filed an appeal this month.
Under state law, if a district attorney is disqualified, their office is as well.
The case is then referred to the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia, who must find another prosecutor - a process that can take years.
The court will also have to determine whether a state-level prosecutor can prosecute a sitting president once proceedings resume.
As of writing, Judge Scott McAffe has also dismissed five of the 13 charges against the president-elect.
Misuse of classified documents - federal case
Special Counsel Jack Smith's second case against the president-elect, Mr Trump had also faced charges over classified documents he allegedly took from the White House, including deleting CCTV footage of his staff moving boxes at his Florida home.
However, a judge threw out this case against him on 15 July.
Details on the US nuclear weapons programmes, potential vulnerabilities of the nation and its allies, and plans for retaliatory military attacks were in some of the documents, the federal indictment said.
Prosecutors had appealed the decision, but an appeals court agreed to uphold the dismissal in November.
Mr Smith then resigned from the Department of Justice on 11 January after submitting his report in the election interference case.
Civil cases
Mr Trump is also appealing several civil lawsuits totalling more than $500m (about £388m), which won't be affected by his win.
These include a civil fraud case in New York state, and cases brought by writer E Jean Carroll, who sued him for allegedly sexually assaulting her in the 1990s, and defaming her while he was president the first time.
On 30 December, a federal appeals court upheld the $5m award that the Manhattan jury granted to the writer for defamation and sexual abuse.
A second jury - that awarded Ms Carroll an additional $83.3m in damages for comments Trump had made about her while he was president - had been instructed by the judge to accept the first jury's finding that Trump had sexually abused the writer. Mr Trump is still appealing that verdict
Mr Trump is also facing eight pending civil suits related to the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, following his complaints of voter fraud in the 2020 election.
No trial date has been set, but with appeals these could take months or even longer to be determined, Sky's US partner network NBC reports.
Can Trump pardon himself?
As both federal cases have been dismissed, there is no need for the president-elect to pardon himself.
Sky News US correspondent James Matthews said after Mr Trump's win in November that such a move falls within the power of the president, although a self-pardon has never been tested legally.
The issue of a pardon doesn't apply in state cases, meaning the president-elect can only be pardoned over the hush money conviction by New York Governor Kathy Hocul - a Democrat.
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Matthews noted in November however that Trump's conviction and prosecution in other cases - such as Georgia - were weakened by the Supreme Court ruling in favour of immunity.
"Nor can evidence of official acts be used in evidence to support the prosecution of a crime committed out of office," the correspondent said.
He then said to "expect Trump's lawyers to point to evidence used to convict him - phone calls and behaviour while in the role of president - and claim it relates to official acts and, under the Supreme Court ruling, should be ruled inadmissible".
Should the now-paused Georgia case be resumed, prosecutors would face difficulty bringing charges against him.