No ex-president has ever been jailed, but former President Donald Trump could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted on the dozens of charges he faces in three criminal cases.
The maximum sentences for all 78 charges in Florida, New York and the District of Columbia add up to nearly 600 years in prison if Mr. Trump is forced to serve them consecutively. Going in the other direction, Christopher Columbus’ landing in America would be closer than Mr. Trump’s scheduled release date.
If convicted, Mr. Trump would be far more likely to get concurrent sentences and recommendations for far less time than the maximum on each charge, legal experts say.
The former president, however, could face additional prison time in Georgia, where Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating whether Mr. Trump unlawfully attempted to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential results.
Mr. Trump has vigorously denied wrongdoing in any of the cases and said they are politically motivated and aimed at blocking him from winning the White House in 2024.
The Jan. 6 case
SEE ALSO: Trump indicted by grand jury in Jan. 6 case
In a 45-page indictment handed up Tuesday, special counsel Jack Smith charged Mr. Trump in connection with his actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Mr. Smith charged Mr. Trump with four counts, including one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, one count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, one count of obstruction of and an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and one count of conspiracy against rights.
The conspiracy to defraud charge generally comes with a sentence of up to five years in prison, plus a fine, but criminal lawyers say the sentence can be longer depending on the severity of the crime.
The obstruction of a proceeding charge carries a sentence of up to five years in prison. If Mr. Trump is convicted of attempting to obstruct an official proceeding, he could be sentenced to up to eight years in prison.
The conspiracy against rights charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.
Classified documents case
Mr. Smith indicted Mr. Trump in June over the handling of classified documents that he took from the White House when he left office and stored at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida.
Mr. Smith indicted Mr. Trump on 37 charges and added three more last week.
Mr. Trump now faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each of 32 federal charges of willful retention of national defense information.
He could be sentenced to an additional 20 years if convicted on each of three counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice in the case, another 20 years for withholding a document or record, plus 20 years for corruptly concealing a document or record.
Another charge in the case, concealing a document in a federal investigation, also carries a maximum 20-year sentence and a charge of “scheme to conceal,” carries a five-year sentence.
Mr. Trump is also charged with providing false statements and representations. The charges carry a maximum five-year sentence.
If convicted, each charge comes with a maximum fine of $250,000, which means Mr. Trump could have to pay out $10 million, plus 450 years in prison, if convicted on all charges and given the maximum penalty.
Judges have handed down stiff sentences for those convicted of similar charges.
In 2019, U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced 54-year-old Harold Thomas Martin III of Glen Burnie, Maryland, to nine years in federal prison for willful retention of national defense information.
Justice Department officials said it was “one of the longest sentences ever imposed in this type of case.” Martin, a federal contractor, admitted to stealing and retaining highly classified documents in his car and home for decades.
Hush-money case
In April, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted the former president on charges of giving hush-money payments to two adult performers and a doorman before the 2016 election.
That trial is scheduled for March 25, three weeks after the Super Tuesday primary contest.
Mr. Bragg charged Mr. Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree by mischaracterizing the hush money as legal expenses. Each charge carries a maximum prison sentence of up to four years.
Legal experts said judges would unlikely sentence Mr. Trump, who has no previous convictions, to consecutive prison terms if he is convicted of any of the charges.
In the classified documents case, Mr. Trump would more realistically face roughly four years in prison if he goes to trial and is convicted on the obstruction charges and three to four years in the unlikely event he pleads guilty.
“Those ranges are advisory, of course,” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told The Washington Times. “The judge can go higher, up to the statutory maximum, or down as low as probation. And if Trump testifies and perjures himself, he’ll be looking at a higher range.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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