Trump became the first US President in history to be charged with paying hush money to a porn actress. It's not the only case where he faces legal trouble. An overview.
Donald Trump on March 25, 2023 at a presidential campaign rally in Texas It's about Donald Trump's hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels and the violation of campaign finance laws. If convicted, Trump could face up to four years in prison.
But for University of Birmingham political scientist David Dunn, the other looming lawsuits are even more serious. Dunn told DW: “Although this is the first case to come to court, it is in some ways the least serious and marginal,” Dunn said. Trump is more likely to face jail time if it is proven that he tried to overturn the Georgia election and that he may have supported the January 6th uprising. Dunn reckons, “So we're going to be more See Trump and more indictments.”
An overview of the proceedings against former US President Donald Trump:
Election interference in Georgia
“Find me 11,780 votes” – there is even an audio recording of the infamous phone call that Trump had with Georgia's election chief, Brad Raffensperger, after the 2020 presidential election. Joe Biden won the race there by a hair's breadth, and the Secretary of State should now look for a few thousand votes to turn the result for the Republicans.
The recount in Georgia also confirmed the victory of the Democrats in the southern state
The judiciary is now investigating conspiracy in connection with electoral fraud and electoral interference, whether Trump was guilty of subsequent manipulation. The so-called grand jury, a lay panel, recommends indictment in several cases. The responsible public prosecutor, Fanni Willis, will now decide how the proceedings will continue.
The storming of the Capitol
January 6, 2021 was one of the blackest days in US history: Hundreds of radical Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, five people died. At the end of 2022, the House of Representatives committee of inquiry presented its final report. He unanimously recommended that the Justice Department investigate the former president on four counts: obstructing an official process, conspiracy to defraud the US government, conspiracy to make false statements, and aiding and abetting a revolt.
Shortly before the storming of the Capitol, Donald Trump spoke to his supporters in Washington
Jack Smith is the special counsel who has been investigating, on behalf of the Justice Department, Trump's responsibility for the bloody attack on the US Congress. In the run-up to the storm, he had called on his supporters to march to the Capitol and fight “whatever the hell”.
The secret documents from the White House
For many political observers, the government documents hoarded in Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate are among the greater threats to Trump's future freedom, including political scientist Dunn from the University of Birmingham confiscated numerous documents that Trump had taken with him to his estate when he left the White House, including documents with the highest classification level. Actually, Trump should have given the documents to the National Archives at the end of his term.
Secret Documents Seized From FBI Search Of Donald Trump's Florida Home
Special Counsel Smith must once again determine whether Trump may have violated three laws: improper theft and preservation of the documents, unlawful hiding of the papers, and obstruction of justice. The ex-president could be doomed by an espionage law that imposes strict regulations on the retention of government documents.
The New York real estate empire
In Trump's hometown of New York, the entire Trump family is in the dock – the ex-president, his three oldest children Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric and the family holding company Trump-Organization are accused of multiple commercial financial fraud If a civil suit is filed, Trump and his children face no criminal convictions. However, there could be a hefty $250 million fine.
Eric, Ivanka, Donald and Donald Jr. Trump at a press event in Trump Tower in May 2021 – they face a hefty fine
The Attorney General of the State of New York, Letitia James, is investigating because of years of deception of tax authorities, banks and insurance companies: In order to get cheaper bank loans and insurance premiums, properties of the family company are said to have been overvalued for years – sometimes by hundreds of millions of dollars. In January, the Trump Organization had already been fined $1.6 million in a separate criminal case for tax evasion.
The allegations of sexual violence
Several women have in the Donald Trump was accused of sexual assault and violence in the past, columnist E. Jean Carroll has now taken it to court. She accuses Trump of raping her in a luxury department store in New York in the 1990s. Since the former US President vehemently denies this, the now 79-year-old Carroll is also suing him for defamation of the alleged rape.
E. Jean Carroll is suing Donald Trump – the columnist on December 22, 2022 in New York
Donald Trump was questioned about this in October 2022. Carroll demands a DNA sample from Trump to be compared with the genetic material on her dress. A federal appeals class must now decide whether Trump may have a claim to immunity.