From violating the Espionage Act to election fraud and Capitol riot: The many legal troubles of US ex-President Donald Trump
Donald Trump is one of the most memorable US Presidents, but for all the wrong reasons. No other former US President's private residence has ever been raided in America's 243 years of independence.
You must know that the FBI is circling Trump over accusations of stealing national security documents. But it isn't the only case Trump is mired in right now.
The Republicans in the US were shocked when the FBI raided a former President's private residence earlier this month. They called it unprecedented.
To be fair, Donald Trump was no stranger to lawsuits before he became the US President, and he is definitely no stranger to the lawsuits that continue piling up even after he's not the President anymore. All these cases range in these three categories:
- Alleged classified data theft.
- The 2020 election cases.
- Personal business and family matters
Now, let's take a look at all the recent legal woes plaguing Donald Trump:
The classified documents case
The US government and investigating agencies have enough evidence to believe that Donald Trump violated the Espionage Act, mishandled top secret documents and engaged in obstruction of justice. Before the infamous August 8 raids on Trump's Florida private club, authorities had asked Trump to return all the classified documents that he was in possession of. His lawyers told the authorities that they had handed over 'everything'. But there was a gnawing suspicion that it was a lie and it turned out to be true when the FBI walked out with boxes of documents from the raid on August 8.
The Washington Post reported that "classified documents relating to nuclear weapons were among the items FBI agents sought in a search of former president Donald Trump's Florida residence".
The 2020 election cases
The 2020 US Presidential elections were unlike any other elections in the country, so much so, that the world was shocked at the drama. How could this happen in America? But it did. Riots broke out. Donald Trump faces a number of cases in this matter for allegedly trying to 'overturn' the 2020 election results and try to instigate a riot. There are at least 8 cases in this matter ongoing against Trump.
1. The US Department of Justice (DoJ) is investigating whether Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election results. They are interviewing witnesses in a court about what went on in the meetings, Trump helped in December 2020 and January 2021.
2. Separately in Georgia, a county district attorney is investigating whether Donald Trump pressurised and threatened the Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to 'find' him more votes required to beat Joe Biden.
3. DC Attorney General is leading a criminal investigation against Trump in the January 6, 2021 Capitol Hill riots and whether he instigated them.
4. Ten members of the House of Representatives are suing Trump, his associates and two right-wing militia groups for allegedly trying to prevent Congress from 'certifying the Electoral College votes on January 6'.
5. The US's Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is suing Trump and others for trying to overturn the 2020 election, and for allegedly violating the Voting Rights Act and the Ku Klux Klan Act.
6. There is a separate lawsuit against Trump for allegedly violating federal civil rights law on January 6, 2021, with the riots. It is filed by a California representative and politician Eric Swalwell.
7. Then there are three separate suits filed by Capitol police officers against Trump for the mental and physical distress they faced during the January 6 riots.
8. Separately, two members of the Metropolitan police are also suing Trump for the distress they faced on January 6.
The business-related and other lawsuits
On August 18, 2022, Trump Organization's CFO Allen Weisselberg pleaded guilty to tax fraud charges. This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the legal cases against the Trump Organization at large and other cases.
There are at least 4 cases against the Trump Organization, a group of 500 businesses owned by Donald Trump.
1. The Manhattan district attorney is investigating the business practices of the Trump Organization and those linked to it.
2. The New York AG's longtime investigation into the business for fraudulent practices such as inflating the value of the business for requiring loans and then deflating its value while paying taxes.
3. The Westchester investigation into the Trump National Golf Club's value and whether the organization misled officials for evading taxes.
4. There is a 2018 class action lawsuit ongoing against Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump and others for allegedly defrauding people using the Trump brand name.
5. A lawsuit against Trump and others alleges that the organization's then Chief of Security, Keith Schiller, assaulted an individual protesting outside the company's Manhattan headquarters in 2015.
Other than the cases against Trump and his companies for business practices, there are other cases against him like sexual harassment, family issues, etc.
1. Author Jean Carroll sued Donald Trump for defamation in 2019 for calling her a liar when she alleged rape by him in the 90s.
2. Donald Trump's niece and author of 'Too Much and Never Enough', Mary Trump, sued her uncle for allegedly defrauding her out of millions of dollars.
3. Donald Trump's former associate, who acted as his "fixer", Michael Cohen, is suing Trump for allegedly retaliating against him for trying to write a tell-all about the time when he worked for the former President.
Pheww… We don't know whether this list will keep getting bigger. But the question is, which of these cases will actually find Donald Trump guilty?