The New Yorker:

The President-elect is on the verge of beating most, if not all, of the criminal charges against him. What will be the consequences of having brought them in the first place?

By Jeannie Suk Gersen

A year before Donald Trump became the first former President to be criminally indicted, I expressed my hope, on The New Yorker Radio Hour, that prosecutors would exercise discretion not to pursue indictments against him. That take wasn’t too popular with listeners; he had to be held accountable for wrongdoing, and no person is above the law. Plus, it was crucial that he not become President again. So he was indicted, and, four separate prosecutions and a total of ninety-one criminal charges later, he is on the cusp of beating most or all of his criminal cases, in large part by having won the Presidential election in November. It is worth taking stock, on the eve of Trump’s second term, of not just the demise of the prosecutions but also their more enduring consequences for the institution of the Presidency, the rule of law, and our system of government.

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