Which courts are handling Donald Trump's felony indictments and what are the trial timelines?
Executive summary
Four separate criminal prosecutions of Donald Trump originated in New York (Manhattan criminal court), Fulton County, Georgia, the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; the New York trial produced a conviction on 34 counts April–May 2024 and an unconditional discharge at sentencing on January 10, 2025 [1] [2]. The Georgia case was paused and saw its prosecutor disqualified in December 2024; federal prosecutions were dismissed after his 2024 election victory and related litigation over special‑counsel authority [3] [1] [4].
1. New York: Manhattan criminal court — the hush‑money trial that ran April–May 2024
The Manhattan District Attorney’s indictment charging 34 counts of falsifying business records led to a six‑week jury trial that began April 15, 2024 and ended with a conviction on all 34 counts on May 30, 2024; Judge Juan Merchan later sentenced Trump to an unconditional discharge on January 10, 2025 [1] [2] [5]. Reporting and legal trackers note that prosecutors alleged the falsified records were linked to concealment of other alleged crimes, a key theory that elevated the counts to felonies under New York law [4]. Post‑trial appeals and procedural moves — including a bid by Trump’s lawyers to remove the case to federal court — were active into 2025 [2] [5].
2. Fulton County, Georgia: election‑interference indictment — paused, prosecutor removed
Fulton County charged Trump in August 2023 alongside co‑defendants over alleged efforts to alter the 2020 Georgia result; the case was paused while state appeals courts considered whether District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified, and in December 2024 the Georgia Court of Appeals did disqualify her [3] [6]. CNN reporting summarized the indictment’s central allegation that Trump and co‑defendants “joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome” in Georgia; pleas and plea deals by four of 19 defendants occurred during the case’s pendency [6]. Available sources do not provide a final trial date in the current reporting because the prosecutorial posture and appeals remained in flux through late 2024 and into 2025 [3] [6].
3. Federal case in Washington, D.C.: election‑subversion charges and immunity litigation
A federal indictment in the District of Columbia alleging efforts to overturn the 2020 election produced protracted litigation over presidential immunity and related issues; after the 2024 election outcome and subsequent developments, that federal prosecution was dismissed by the Justice Department without convicting Trump [3] [1] [4]. Lawfare and other trackers catalog the D.C. federal case as one of the two federal prosecutions that were ultimately abandoned or dismissed following the political and legal shifts described in early 2025 [1] [4]. Details about specific trial scheduling are limited in the available sources because the case moved through pretrial motions and appeals rather than reaching a multi‑week trial in the public record provided here [3] [1].
4. Federal case in Florida: the classified‑documents indictment and procedural fate
A separate federal case in the Southern District of Florida was brought and later shadowed by rulings about the special counsel’s appointment and funding; Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed that indictment in July 2024 on statutory and procedural grounds, and the Justice Department later declined to pursue an appeal, effectively ending that prosecution as described in contemporaneous legal coverage [1]. The Florida matter did not reach a jury trial according to the sources provided; instead, the litigation turned on dismissal and appellate choices by prosecutors [1].
5. What the timelines tell us — convictions, dismissals, pauses, and political context
The prosecution timelines diverged: New York produced a jury conviction and later unconditional discharge (trial April–May 2024; sentencing Jan. 10, 2025) while the two federal cases in Florida and D.C. were dismissed or abandoned after intense pretrial litigation and the 2024 election; the Georgia case lingered with prosecutorial disqualification and pauses that prevented a definitive trial date in the record reviewed [1] [2] [3] [6]. Different courts applied different procedural tools — disqualification, dismissal, appellate litigation over immunity, and removal requests — showing how venue and prosecutorial choices shaped whether a case reached a jury [1] [2] [3].
6. Competing perspectives and limitations in the record
Prosecutors framed the New York and Georgia indictments as criminal schemes to conceal or change election‑related facts; defense teams and some judges emphasized procedural defects, immunity claims, or conflicts that complicated prosecutions [4] [2] [6]. The sources here document outcomes through early 2025 (conviction, dismissals, disqualification) but do not present final appellate dispositions beyond those actions, nor do they report any later retrials, re‑filings, or the full docket activity through late 2025 and 2026 — available sources do not mention those subsequent developments in this packet [5] [3].
Sources cited: Lawfare [1]; Wikipedia summaries of indictments and outcomes [3] [2]; Ballotpedia timeline [5]; FRONTLINE/PBS guide [4]; CNN coverage of Georgia developments [6].