The cases against Donald Trump

Donald Trump is entangled in a clutch of legal cases over his conduct, his handling of classified documents and events related to the 2020 presidential election.

He became the first former president to face federal criminal charges after being indicted in June for retaining secret government documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after leaving office.

US prosecutors charged Trump in early August with four criminal counts in connection with attempts to prevent certification of Joe Biden’s election victory. Trump pleaded not guilty to these charges during a hearing in Washington.

Two weeks later, Trump and 18 others were indicted by prosecutors in Atlanta over efforts to overturn the results of his 2020 election defeat in Georgia.

These cases are among at least six separate legal battles Trump is facing, all of which he has dismissed as politically motivated and intended to obstruct his bid to win re-election to the White House.

The cases against Donald Trump

January 6 case

US prosecutors charged Trump on August 1 in connection with attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The four criminal counts include conspiracy to defraud the US, to obstruct an official proceeding and to threaten individual rights, according to the indictment. Trump pleaded not guilty during a hearing at a federal court in Washington on August 3.

The case stems from a wide-ranging investigation led by the justice department’s special counsel Jack Smith into the actions of Trump, as well as his allies and supporters, in the lead-up to the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol. The grand jury on the case has subpoenaed former senior White House officials, including Mike Pence and Steve Bannon.

Georgia case

Fani Willis, the district attorney in Georgia’s Fulton county, in August obtained a sweeping 98-page indictment from a grand jury against Trump on criminal counts including violating Georgia’s racketeering laws and perpetuating multiple conspiracies. Willis said her office would ask the judge to set a trial date within the next six months.

Charges were also brought against 18 other defendants, including Rudy Giuliani, who was involved in Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 vote, and John Eastman, a constitutional scholar who persuaded the former president of his theory that then-vice-president Mike Pence could refuse to certify Joe Biden’s win.

Classified documents case

Trump is also facing federal criminal charges in a separate case related to classified documents seized by federal agents at his Mar-a-Lago residence in August 2022.

Prosecutors on June 9 unveiled 37 felony counts, including charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice, concealing documents and making false statements. On July 27, the justice department filed an expanded indictment accusing Trump and his co-defendants — Waltine Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira — of obstruction of justice related to alleged attempts to destroy surveillance video footage at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

The maximum term of imprisonment tied to any one charge is 20 years.

Trump had previously returned more than 15 boxes of classified documents to the government, including some marked “top secret”.

‘Hush money’ case

Manhattan’s district attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump in March with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. These relate to an alleged scheme to prevent the porn star known as Stormy Daniels speaking about an alleged affair with Trump ahead of the 2016 election. The former president pleaded not guilty.

All the counts in the New York case are linked to payments made to Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, reimbursing him for an alleged $130,000 “hush money” payout made to Daniels. Cohen is expected to be the prosecution’s star witness at the trial, which begins in March 2024.

New York civil lawsuit

New York’s attorney-general Letitia James filed a civil lawsuit in September 2022 accusing Trump, his two eldest sons and the Trump Organization of repeatedly lying to lenders and insurers. The case alleges that Trump’s annual financial statements between 2011 and 2021 included more than 200 false or misleading asset valuations designed to reduce borrowing and insurance costs.

James, a Democrat, has said she aims to bar several members of the Trump family from ever running a business in New York again. The trial is set for October 2023.

Abuse case

In May, a jury found Trump liable for battery and defamation of E Jean Carroll in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. He was cleared of a separate claim of rape in the civil lawsuit. The jury awarded Carroll a total of $5mn in damages.

In June, Trump asked a federal court in New York to grant him a retrial or reduce the damages awarded, which his lawyers have called “excessive”. Carroll’s lawyer said in a statement that Trump’s retrial request was “frivolous”.