Legal analyst Neal Katyal on Sunday said that "it's quite clear that former President Donald Trump is going to double his current number of" criminal indictments soon.
Trump has so far been hit with two criminal indictments, the first of any kind for a former U.S. president. The first came at the state level, with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office charging him with orchestrating a plan to conceal hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, made to keep her quiet about an alleged affair the two had in 2006. The second was a federal indictment, brought by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and special counsel Jack Smith for Trump's mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House.
The former president has strenuously maintained his innocence in all of the cases against him, accusing them of being plots to hurt him politically. Additionally, some reports indicated that Trump declared his 2024 campaign much earlier than is typical in a bid to use his status as a major presidential candidate as a shield from legal scrutiny.
Trump's legal team requested earlier this month that the classified documents trial be delayed until after the November 2024 election, citing concerns about seating "an impartial jury" prior to the election and the former president needing to spend a "tremendous amount of time and energy" in his attempt to return to the White House.
Two more major criminal investigations into Trump are still ongoing and appear to be reaching their endgame: Smith and the DOJ's investigation into his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, which led to the January 6, 2021, Capital riot; and, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis's state-level investigation into his alleged attempts to interfere with Georgia's electoral process to overturn his 2020 loss to Joe Biden in the state. Trump recently confirmed the receipt of a target letter in the federal case, a move that typically comes shortly before criminal charges are issued. Willis has also made several moves to suggest that she will be bringing charges in her investigation by the end of summer.
Speaking to MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart on Saturday, Katyal, a lawyer and former acting solicitor general during the Obama administration, said that all signs appear to suggest that Trump will be doubling his number of criminal indictments soon.
"You could see Trump facing, for the same basic conduct, trials going on in Georgia at the state level and with Jack Smith at the federal level, conceivably in Washington, D.C.," Katyal said. "I think the bottom line here is I think it's quite clear that Donald Trump is going to double his current number of indictments in the near future."
When reached for comment by Newsweek on Sunday, a spokesperson for Trump said only: "Neal Katyal is an idiot."
"I think it's quite clear that Donald Trump is going to double his current number of indictments in the near future." @neal_katyal explains how Trump could face both federal and state charges for the same conduct related to the 2020 election. pic.twitter.com/TZqzOjyGco
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 22, 2023
The former president remains the leading candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination by a wide margin. A conviction for any of the charges Trump faces from any of these criminal cases would not automatically bar him from seeking elected office. Trump has declared his intention to continue his campaign under any circumstances, even from jail.
Updated 07/23/2023, 1:05 p.m. ET: This article was updated with a comment from Trump's press team.
