A US judge postponed sentencing Trump over 34 counts in the New York hush-money case until after the election. The former president also faces charges in the Georgia election-meddling and federal election interference cases. A fourth legal case involving alleged mishandling of classified documents was dismissed.
"I don't think it's going to have that much impact on the election," Tacopina said about how Trump's legal cases might affect the vote. "Maybe some people will have trouble voting for a candidate that has a felony conviction and pending indictments, but it seems like that has taken a backseat to a lot of the important issues."
Tacopina, however, said the postponement of the hush money case sentencing until after the election could be a good or bad thing for Trump.
"If he was going to be sentenced to no jail time, which I believe he will be, that really is the end of the case. Now the sentence is sort of looming over him, and it leaves voters with something to question as to whether their candidate of choice might wind up getting sentenced to jail," Tacopina said.
The other cases against his former client will not be resolved before the election and some are literally "falling apart," Tacopina said. The January 6 case, Tacopina noted, will be affected by the Supreme Court ruling that Trump can claim immunity from prosecution for official acts as president.
According to the lawyer, the issue of legal prosecution of Trump is currently "secondary" and will not change the opinions of his supporters and opponents.
The decisive factor that will determine the victory of one or another candidate will be how convincingly each of them perform during the public television debates.
Trump and Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, sparred in their first - and likely only - presidential debate on September 10 in Philadelphia. Trump has ruled out a rematch after claiming victory in the debate, and saying it was stacked against him by pro-Harris moderators. Post-debate polling of viewers indicated that Harris outperformed Trump.
"I think that debate was much more important than any of these pending cases," Tacopina said.