The former president enters the race stuck in legal baggage that may derail his campaign
Donald Trump has announced his third bid for president, a resolution that is likely to be as devastating as his successful 2016 campaign.
But a new twist is the length and scale of the legal danger now surrounding it. The federal and state governments are investigating Trump’s personal, political and monetary conduct and that of his business empire.
It’s not yet clear what an indictment against Trump’s candidacy would look like: He has experience fighting dilatory moves in the courts and employing opposing political or investigative measures as fuel to ignite his base.
This is where to stand.
The House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol, which Trump instigated, has not released its final report. But his seven Democrats and two Republicans described in detail Trump’s conduct after Election Day and around the attack on Congress. The committee served Trump with a subpoena. Trump had a Nov. 14 deadline to respond, then filed an action for having to. Committee members said they did not expect to refer offenders to the Justice Department.
If Republicans return to the House, as planned, the committee is expected to close. But the Justice Department’s Jan. 6 investigation continues. It produced charges, convictions and sentences for those who participated in the attack. Figures from the right have provided evidence of ties to the White House. But for now, the investigation has shown no public sign that Trump has caught up with Trump himself. until 2024 to impeach Trump.
The Justice Department is also investigating Trump’s political and legal intrigues to nullify effects in key states or block certification, which the House committee was very friendly about.
As in the investigation of the attack on the Capitol, federal investigators are climbing the rankings. In September, after subpoenas were announced to Trump’s allies and advisers, former U. S. Attorney David Laufman echoed a famous word from the Watergate scandal that brought down Richard Nixon when he told CNN, “They come with Americans who are close to the president, to be increasingly informed about what the president knew and when he knew it.
In early November, when it was widely reported that Trump would announce his candidacy after the midterm elections, it was also reported that federal officials were analyzing whether there would be a need for a special advocate.
Such an official would be independent of the direction of the Justice Department, a mandatory step if investigations result in the removal of a former president, a move that would be unprecedented even if Trump did not try to return to power.
Trump’s attempt to cancel the 2020 election isn’t being investigated only in Washington. Fani Willis, prosecutor of Fulton County, Georgia, is investigating Trump’s attempt to oppose his defeat in that state. A grand jury was formed and warrants were sought. Senior officials testified. A key friend of Trump’s in the Senate, Lindsey Graham, has tried to prevent it. Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s private lawyer, testified and said he was a target. Once again, investigators are turning to Trump.
When he left office, Trump took with him a slew of articles and documents, many of them classified, some related to top-secret matters. He claimed to have done nothing and was the victim of a witch hunt, especially after the FBI raided his home in Florida.
In early November, The Guardian reported that a close adviser, Kash Patel, had been granted limited immunity to testify about Trump’s claim that the documents had been declassified. investigation with such accusations.
This week, The Guardian reported that Trump “withheld documents with classification marks, such as post-presidency communications,” according to court documents describing documents seized through the FBI, a location that “could constitute evidence that Trump intentionally withheld documents marked as classified. “””.
In York, Trump faces civil and felony charges for his activities.
On the last day of October, opening the thief’s case, Susan Hoffinger of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said, “This case is about greed and deception: tax evasion. “Organization, who pleaded guilty to 15 counts of tax fraud.
The civil case was brought through Letitia James, the state’s Democratic attorney general. In announcing the deal, James said Trump “falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unfairly enrich himself and cheat the system, thereby deceiving us all. “assistance of the other defendants, Trump’s first 3 adult children: Donald Jr. , Ivanka and Eric.
James is calling for sanctions, adding a ban on the four assets holding leadership positions in New York and barring the Trump organization from obtaining advertising real estate or receiving loans from state entities for five years.
Trump filed a counterclaim, alleging a “relentless, pernicious, public and shameless crusade” against him. James is also a racist. The New York Times reported that Trump’s own lawyers tried to dissuade him from suing.
Writer E Jean Carroll said Trump raped her in a New York City branch locker room in the 1990s. Trump denied this, saying Carroll was “not my type. “That and other comments prompted a defamation lawsuit in which Trump filed. in October. If Trump is because he made his comments while the president, a claim initiated through his own Justice Department, advances the appeals system.
This may end the defamation lawsuit. But Carroll said he also intends to use a New York law that allows alleged victims of sexual assault to sue even if the statute of limitations has expired.