Trump has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges. Now what?

Donald Trump was arrested and arraigned inside a New York City courtroom Tuesday on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records, becoming the first former U.S. president ever to face criminal charges. He pleaded not guilty, was released and flew back to Florida for an evening event at Mar-a-Lago, where he lashed out at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Judge Juan Merchan and Merchan’s family, as well as other state and federal prosecutors weighing possible charges against him.

So, now what?

The next court hearing was set for Dec. 4, but there’s a lot that could happen in the next eight months. Yahoo News spoke to legal experts Andrew Bernstein and Duncan Levin following Trump’s arraignment for answers to some of our most frequently asked questions surrounding the case.

What’s next for Trump’s defense team?

Trump’s legal team has until Aug. 8 to file any motions in an effort to get the case dismissed, according to the transcript of the April 4 arraignment.

Bernstein, a New York criminal defense lawyer, thinks Trump’s legal team will file a variety of motions, including moving to dismiss the case by arguing that the statute of limitations has expired and the felonies are more than five years old from the commission of the offense; and inspecting the grand jury minutes in order to either dismiss the felony charges or reduce them to misdemeanors.

What about other motions?

The defense could also file a catch-all motion — known as a Clayton motion — to toss out the case in the interests of justice, not because of the merits of the case.

Bernstein says if he were the defense attorney, his Clayton motion argument would be to ask the judge whether the case is worth the toll on the taxpayers, the court system and the NYPD’s resources.

Trump says he wants the case moved out of Manhattan, a predominantly Democratic borough, to get a fair trial. Could that happen?

A motion to move the venue likely wouldn’t be granted, Bernstein says, mostly because Trump is a former president.

“Arguably he can’t get a fair trial anywhere,” Bernstein said. “If you’re going to say he can’t get a fair trial in Manhattan, then he can’t get a fair trial anywhere.

“The point is not to have a biased jury,” he added. “The entire point is to have a fair cross section of your peers, and the venue can’t be so uniquely biased against you. And here, I just don’t see it.”

What’s the difference between a felony and a misdemeanor?

The most important difference is that felony convictions carry much higher penalties and sentences than misdemeanors, Bernstein says.

In New York state, the maximum penalty for any misdemeanor crime is one year in jail. Probation can be up to three years.

For felonies, there are varying classes that range from “A” to “E,” with “A” crimes being more serious. A prison sentence for an “A” felony could be 20 to 25 years to life. Probation can be up to five years, according to Bernstein. Trump is charged with Class E felonies, the lowest level of felony in New York. The crimes he is charged with carry a maximum prison sentence of four years per count.

So if Trump is convicted of a felony, what could happen?

Levin, a criminal defense attorney and former state prosecutor, says that while these felony charges are punishable by jail time, he doubts Trump would be sent to prison.

Bernstein also thinks it’s doubtful, especially considering Trump would be a first-time offender.

“I don’t know how likely jail is for the first arrest of a 76-year-old, nonviolent white-collar criminal,” Bernstein said.

As far as Trump’s 2024 White House bid goes, a felony conviction would not bar the former president from continuing to run his campaign, nor would it ban him from becoming president again. But Trump would lose the right to vote, even for himself in a presidential election. And if Trump became president in 2024, he would not have the power to pardon himself of state charges.

Does the prosecution have a strong case against Trump?

Based on the indictment information to date, the felony charges will be hard to prove, Bernstein said.

“I think there’s a lot of chess pieces that are set up because of the variety of accusations in these 34 charges,” he said. If they’re knocked down to misdemeanors, he said, the prosecution could have a stronger case.

“If the prosecutors can actually prove those facts and they have communications to back up what Michael Cohen says, and if they have Weisselberg as a witness, or Pecker as a witness, and they think they’re all credible and can corroborate, I think they have a potentially strong case as to the misdemeanor,” Bernstein explained, referring to Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg and Trump’s friend David Pecker, who was publisher of the National Enquirer.

Cohen and Pecker are considered key witnesses in the case. Cohen said he was directed by Trump to pay $130,000 to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in a hush money payment before the 2016 presidential election, and that he was reimbursed by the president after Trump took office.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported last week that testimony from Pecker “tied Mr. Trump directly” to an August 2016 payment made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal. The Journal previously reported that Trump had asked Pecker to buy McDougal’s story in order to kill it.

“But the felonies sitting here today, I think they’re going to be tough to prove some of them,” Bernstein added. “You have to prove that Trump intended to falsify these records to hide this other crime. I think all intent crimes are tough.”

Are there any glaring holes in the case?

While the facts are strong for Bragg’s indictment against Trump, Levin said, the public is still left not knowing the basis for why the charges are felonies rather than misdemeanors.

“The case is extremely strong as to the underlying falsification of business records,” Levin said. “There’s no doubt about that. But I don’t think we’re left any better off now than we were earlier as to what the DA’s rationale is for charging these crimes as felonies, as it requires not only the falsification of business records as a misdemeanor, but also if it’s done with the intent to conceal or commit another crime — that bumps up to a felony.

“The indictment has no information whatsoever about what those other crimes are,” Levin added. “And we really are left piecing different things together to try to understand what these other crimes are.”

How long could all of this take?

After the defense files any motions, the prosecution will have until Sept. 19 to respond.

As for a trial date, Manhattan prosecutors requested January 2024, which could be just weeks away from the highly anticipated Iowa caucuses in the race for the White House.

Meanwhile, Trump’s defense team requested a spring 2024 trial.

“I’ve had cases that have lasted years,” Levin told Yahoo News. “The court is going to afford [Trump] every right to make his motions and litigate it. The judge is not going to tolerate needless delay, but Trump’s entitled to get his evidence and make his motions, and that takes a while.”

Will the indictment have any impact on the other investigations?

The former president also faces federal criminal investigations that stem from allegations that he mishandled classified documents and his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. He also faces an investigation in Georgia looking into his efforts to challenge the 2020 election results in the state.

Bernstein notes that the federal and state investigations are very different, having their own cases and evidence. “I would think the Department of Justice down in Florida with the Mar-a-Lago material — I would assume this is not concerning to them at all,” he said. “Heads are down, they’re continuing to investigate, you know, the weakness. Any perceived weaknesses in this case don’t affect those cases on the strength of their evidence.”

Levin said that when it comes to the other investigations concerning the former president, the hush money case in New York is “irrelevant.”