Former President Donald Trump may not be out of the woods yet as far as criminal proceedings against him before the 2024 presidential election, let alone civil suits.

There are four main criminal investigations into Trump that are ongoing, looking into the finances of the Trump Organization, the classified documents found at Mar-A-Lago, whether he tried to overturn the 2020 election, and his role in the events of January 6, 2021.

These investigations involve three different federal prosecutors and one at the state level.

Trump also faces a number of civil suits that could be damaging as he tries to convince voters to give him another chance at the presidency. The largest of these is a $250 million civil suit by the city of Manhattan led by DA Letitia James that is concurrent with her investigation into the Trump Organization finances.

Trump will not step down if indicted

Trump has already told those around him that he will not step away from his presidential run if he is indicted on any charges, denying them all and saying that various prosecutors are involved in a "witch hunt" against him.

In truth, some of the investigations may be dragging out in order to cast aspersions on Trump as he campaigns. It is not clear that charges will be brought in ANY of the investigations.

If charges are brought, it will be an easy thing for Trump to say that prosecutors only wanted to make him look bad, but have no way of making the charges stick.

Will anything stick to Trump?

For one thing, if prosecutors charge Trump with mishandling classified documents, they will have to charge President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence, who also found classified documents in their possession.

For another, the grand jury foreperson in Fulton County, Georgia, where Trump is being investigated for alleged election interference, did a media tour that Trump's lawyers are already arguing has tainted the jury poll there.

We already know that Trump was not directly enough involved in the January 6 breach of the Capitol to be criminally charged--he did not tell anyone to go into the Capitol and when he suggested they go there to protest, he specifically said "peacefully and patriotically" is how they should do it.

And if Letitia James had anything of substance on Trump involving financial misconduct with the Trump Organization, what on earth is she waiting for? She's been investigating him for the last five years at least.

More sympathy for Trump

Prosecutors also need to contend with the idea that if they do criminally charge Trump, it may gain him sympathy from many in the public who believe that he is being unfairly targeted in ways that other presidents and politicians have not been.

This dynamic has already been seen in the FBI's raid on Mar-A-Lago, which outraged Republicans and galvanized them for a time, leading to more support for Trump, not less.

Anyone looking to indict Trump knows they had better have an airtight case against him, and even then, most of his base will never believe that he did anything worse than other politicians have long gotten away with doing.