Donald Trump, the former president of the United States has a number of legal issues looming over him as he launches his recently declared campaign to win the presidency again in 2024. The 76-year-old faces the possibility of a federal prosecution over reportedly discovered confidential materials at his Mar-a-Lago club, and his namesake business, the Trump Organization, is now on trial in Manhattan for felony tax fraud.
We explain a few lawsuits in depth.
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Deceit and Fraud cases in New York
The Trump Organization, which bears Donald Trump’s name, is also on trial in New York for deceit and tax fraud. The business, which manages hotels, golf courses, and other properties globally, allegedly ran a 15-year plan to provide high-level executives perks like fancy cars and residences while avoiding paying taxes on such payments.
Nine charges of tax fraud, grand larceny, and fabricating business documents are brought against two Trump Organization corporations in what prosecutors claim was a 15-year plot to cheat tax authorities by neglecting to declare and pay taxes on employee salaries.
Also read | New York AG asks judge to bar Donald Trump from moving assets to new company
This July, Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, entered a guilty plea for his part in the tax fraud. Despite not helping the prosecution, he recently testified in the trial. The business entered a not-guilty plea.
Trump vs. New York attorney general
After a long drawn investigation, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump, three of his adult children, and the Trump Organization in September. She claimed that they were all complicit in a massive fraud that lasted more than ten years and was used by the former president to enrich himself.
James said that the Trump organisation, including its hotels and golf courses, was the target of the deception. The complaint alleges that the Trump Organization inflated the worth of his properties using false evaluations, deceiving lenders, insurers, and tax authorities.
James wants to recover $250 million in allegedly illegally obtained money.
Mar-a-Lago documents: The case of missing government records
Trump is the subject of a criminal investigation by the US Department of Justice for keeping official documents after leaving office in January 2021, including some that were classified.
During a search that was permitted by the court on August 8 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, the FBI took 11,000 papers. There were about 100 documents classified as such, some of which were also tagged as top secret, the most serious classification.
Also read | Donald Trump had more than 700 classified documents at Mar-a-Lago
Republican Donald Trump has claimed that the Justice Department is conducting a biased witch hunt.
The confiscated documents are being examined by a special master, Senior U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie, to see if any of them are covered by executive privilege as claimed by Trump.
A president may keep some papers or information private under the legal theory known as executive privilege.
Asserting that both of these actions are impeding the criminal investigation, the Justice Department has requested a federal appeals court to put a halt to that review and grant it access to the unclassified papers found during the search.
Defamation case: E. Jean Carroll
E. Jean Carroll, a former journalist for Elle magazine, filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump in 2019 after he refuted her claim that he sexually assaulted her in the 1990s in a department shop in New York City. In order to increase book sales, Trump charged her of lying.
Writer E. Jean Carroll sued then-President Donald Trump in 2019 for defamation after alleging he raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. Picture credits: AP
Trump has contended that a federal provision that protects government workers from defamation charges shields him from Carroll’s lawsuit. The Manhattan-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined in September that Trump was a government employee when he labelled Carroll a liar, but left open the issue of whether he was operating in his capacity as president at the time.
Also read | Trump deposed in E. Jean Carroll defamation case linked to rape accusation
On January 10, 2023, an appeals court in Washington, D.C., will hear oral arguments and evaluate the issue.
Even if the defamation case is dropped, Carroll intends to sue Trump for violence and purposeful infliction of mental distress in accordance with New York state law.
Election rigging investigation in Georgia
The investigation into Trump’s alleged attempts to sway the outcome of the 2020 election in Georgia was given extraordinary grand jury empanelled status in May.
A call that Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger had from Trump on January 2, 2021 is one of the main topics of the inquiry. In order to “discover” the necessary number of votes to reverse Trump’s Georgia loss, Raffensperger was tasked by Trump.
Trump could have broken at least three Georgia election-related criminal crimes, according to legal experts: conspiracy to commit election fraud, criminal solicitation to commit election fraud, and deliberate meddling with the conduct of elections.
US Capitol attack
The matter of whether Trump violated the law in his attempts to avenge his loss in the 2020 election is being looked into by a House of Representatives committee looking into the assault on the US Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021. The certification of the election results by Congress was a goal of the protesters.
The committee subpoenaed Trump in October to speak under oath and provide records.
Republican committee vice-chair Liz Cheney has stated the group may recommend potential criminal charges against Trump to the Justice Department.
Trump’s federal crimes may or may not be investigated by the Justice Department. In the upcoming weeks, the panel will probably provide its findings.
The panel’s inquiry has been criticised by Trump as being politically motivated.
(With inputs from agencies)
