Former President Donald Trump's return to the White House upends the many criminal investigations

and convictions he's faced over the last four years.

William Brangham is here now with me to explain what could happen next.

William, good to say you.

Hi, I'm not.

So Mr. Trump is now president-elect.

He's no longer a candidate, no longer a private citizen.

He will assume

office in just two months. How does all of that change the legal landscape for him?

It changes absolutely everything. I mean, there are four major cases facing the former president,

and in one way or another, each of those cases is going to be fundamentally different. Some of them

are going to go away. Some of them will be severely constrained.

But it is safe to say that the legal jeopardy facing Donald Trump today is completely different

than it was two days ago.

How is that possible?

I mean, there is this idea that no one is above the law.

So how does becoming president-elect so dramatically change the legal landscape?

Let's talk about just the first two federal cases to explain this point.

Those are the cases that are under the Department of Justice, specifically under special counsel Jack Smith.

That is the January 6th election interference case that accuses the former president of lying about the election,

orchestrating this vast scheme to subvert Biden's win back then.

The secondary case is the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.

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