Donald Trump will be the first president to take office with several criminal cases still pending against him.

His rise to the highest office in the United States while facing dozens of criminal charges has plunged the country into uncharted waters.

Here's what could happen to each of the four legal challenges he faces if he enters the White House.

Donald Trump has already been convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business documents in New York state.

In May, a jury of New Yorkers found him guilty in connection with a hush money payment to an adult film star.

New York Judge Juan Merchan postponed Trump's sentencing to November 26 after the September election.

Judge Merchan could proceed with sentencing as planned despite Trump's victory, said former Brooklyn prosecutor Julie Rendelman.

Legal experts believe it is unlikely that Trump, as an older first-time offender, will be sentenced to prison.

But if he does, his lawyers would immediately appeal the verdict, arguing that a prison sentence would prevent him from carrying out his official duties and that he should remain free pending an appeal, Ms. Rendelman said.

“The appeal process could drag on for years in this scenario,” she said.

Special counsel Jack Smith filed criminal charges against Trump last year over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.

Trump has pleaded not guilty.

The case has been in legal limbo since the Supreme Court ruled this summer that Trump was partially immune from prosecution for official acts he committed while in office.

Smith has since refiled his case, arguing that Trump's attempts to overturn the election had nothing to do with his official duties.

Since Trump won, his criminal problems from the case are now “gone,” according to former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani.

“It is well known that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted, so the election fraud case is dismissed in D.C. District Court,” he said.

Mr. Rahmani said that if Smith refused to dismiss the case, Trump could simply get rid of him, as he had already promised.

“I would fire him in two seconds,” Trump said during a radio interview in October.

Smith is also pursuing a case against Trump over his alleged misuse of classified documents after he left the White House, which Trump denies.

He is accused of storing confidential documents at his Mar-a-Lago home and obstructing the Justice Department's efforts to recover the files.

The judge assigned to the case, Trump appointee Aileen Cannon, dismissed the charges in July, saying Smith had been improperly appointed by the Justice Department to lead the case.

Smith has appealed the verdict.

But with Trump about to take office, the secret documents case now faces the same fate as the election case, Mr. Rahmani said.

“The DOJ will abandon its appeal in the Eleventh Circuit of the dismissal of the classified documents case,” he said.

Trump is also facing criminal charges in Georgia over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the state.

That case faced a number of hurdles, including an attempt to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis because of her relationship with an attorney she hired to handle the case.

An appeals court is currently considering whether Willis should be allowed to remain in the case.

But now that Trump is the next president, there could be even further delays or possibly a dismissal of the case.

According to legal experts, the process is likely to remain dormant during Trump's term in office.

That's what Trump's lawyer Steve Sadow said when asked by the judge whether Trump could still stand trial if elected.

“The answer to that, in my opinion, is that because of the Supremacy Clause and his duties as president of the United States, that process would not occur until after his term expires,” he said.