Luck runs out for Teflon Don: Trump’s good fortune with criminal cases ends in dramatic fashion

The judicial system in New York has a history of catching up with politically powerful figures who believe they might be insulated from the law, writes Hugo Lowell

The former president for months had extraordinary luck with his legal problems. Photo: Mark Peterson via AP

Donald Trump’s good fortune with his criminal cases has ended in dramatic fashion, when a New York jury convicted him of concealing a criminal hush-money scheme to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.

The former president for months had extraordinary luck with his legal problems: one by one, the other three criminal cases became bogged down with intermediate appeals, and none is currently set for trial before the election in November. In the federal criminal case over his retention of classified documents, Trump drew a judge who has been so slow to make rulings on straightforward issues that it is running four months behind schedule.