Donald Trump's criminal trials are set to collide with his reelection campaign. Here's what to know.

GREENVILLE, S.C. – As he closes in on another Republican presidential nomination, former President Donald Trump is also on the cusp of leaving the campaign trail full-time for his first of four sweeping criminal cases.

After a failed attempt to have his charges dismissed, Trump faces a March 25 start date for a trial involving hush money payments designed to influence the 2016 election. That trial could last as long as six weeks, take Trump away from his reelection bid during the day and result in him being a convicted felon seeking the presidency.

"They're trying to damage me so they can win another election," Trump told a Fox News town hall in Greenville on Wednesday, days before the South Carolina Republican primary. The former president has long made claims, without proof, that federal and state prosecutors are targeting his White House bid.

After a pre-trial hearing last week, for example, Trump told reporters: "Instead of being in South Carolina and other states campaigning, I'm stuck here."

Trump is also approaching the prospect of three other criminal trials this campaign year, including a federal and state-level case in accusing him of trying to steal the 2020 race for the White House. Here's what you need to know about the former president's unprecedented criminal charges as he seeks another term in office.

When are Donald Trump's criminal trials? It's complicated

The former president has spent months trying to delay his criminal cases, set for New York, Georgia and Washington. But it looks like Trump will have to balance campaigning and other criminal trials throughout the year.

The former president and his legal team are still working feverishly to delay everything past Election Day on Nov. 5, but a New York judge last week set jury selection for March 25 in his hush money case.

Trump already has some experience attending trials while seeking reelection. After all, he has for months attended parts of civil cases against him, including a real estate fraud lawsuit that resulted in a $435.5 million penalty.

Actual criminal trials, however, require his attendance every day - and these could extend to November and beyond.

In the spring, Special Counsel Jack Smith hopes to try Trump in Washington on federal charges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 election, leading to the attempted insurrection by Trump's supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.

That case was once set for March 4, but it was pushed back by Trump's pre-trial appeal claiming immunity from prosecution because he was president at the time his actions. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide soon whether they'll hear Trump's appeal on immunity, a decision that could further delay his proceedings.

The former president is also trying to hold up a May trial on federal charges of mishandling classified documents and defying a subpoena for their recovery.

Ditto for a case in Georgia that also alleges he attempted election theft in the Peach State. A co-defendant in his Georgia case is seeking the removal of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a move that would delay a potential trial in August, just weeks after Trump is expected to formally receive the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Defense by day, campaign at night

Trump faces a tight campaign-and-court calendar, but he outlined part of his political plan after New York City judge Juan M. Merchan rejected his attorneys' request to completely dismiss the hush money case.

"I'll be here during the day and campaigning during the night," Trump told reporters, adding that "they want to keep me nice and busy so I can't campaign so hard."

Meanwhile, rvals like former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley are calling that a fanciful idea that will inevitably weaken him in the general election.

Haley, who trails Trump by big margins ahead of South Carolina's pivotal GOP primary, said the time constraints and expenses of Trump's trials will hurt all Republicans in races against President Joe Biden and other Democratic lawmakers.

"He himself has said he's going to spend more time this year in a courtroom than he is going to be on the campaign trail - that's a problem," Haley told NewsNation.

Despite the former United Nations ambassador's warnings, Trump may have the Republican presidential nomination locked up before he has to face any of his criminal charges in a courthouse.

In a memo this week, the Trump campaign estimated it will rack up a majority of convention delegates no later than March 19, little less than a week before the start of the hush money trial.

Still, the former president can't claim victory yet. While polling has suggested Trump's indictments have helped him with his conservative base, surveys also reflect disapproval among moderates and independents.

That's a problem for Trump in a general election, and Haley and other Republicans also point out that Trump's position will worsen if he is convicted in any of these trials.

Big expenses

Trump's campaign is also complicated by gigantic legal expenses, from lawyers' fees to massive civil judgments entered against him in the past month.

New York judge Arthur Engoron last week ordered Trump and his companies to pay up to $453.5 million for overvaluing his real estate holdings. And late last month, a New York jury assessed Trump more than $83 million in damages to writer E. Jean Carroll, who sued him for defamation over sexual assault.

In seeking to turn Trump's legal problems into political issues, Haley has noted that Trump is using campaign funds to pay legal bills, money that could otherwise be used to promote Republican prospects in a general election.

On Tuesday, Save America, Trump's main political action committee, reported paid and unpaid legal bills of nearly $5 million last month. Last year, the group reported legal bills of more than $55 million.

In a speech vowing not to drop out of the 2024 race, Haley said: "It’s not normal to spend fifty million dollars in campaign donations on personal court cases."

The former governor during a Fox News town hall on Sunday also said that planning for Trump's pending trials are already cutting into Trump's campaign schedule. He has few events in South Carolina in the days before Saturday's primary.

"He's not campaigning a lot now," she said.

So even as Trump leads Haley in the 2024 Republican primary – and Biden in some hypothetical match-ups – the former president still faces dozens of criminal charges, hundreds of millions of dollars in legal judgments and a court schedule that's set to slice up his reelection campaign.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: When are Donald Trump's criminal trials? Cases, campaign will collide