Donald Trump's mounting legal woes: Fraud, secret documents, and 'hush money' cases

Former United States president Donald Trump's list of legal troubles has grown. These are the allegations he faces.

Donald Trump talks into a microphone. He is wearing a red tie and dark blue jacket.

The latest indictment against Donald Trump lists 19 defendants and 41 felony counts in all. Source: AAP, AP / Alex Brandon

Donald Trump has been hit with a fourth set of criminal charges, with a Georgia grand jury issuing an indictment accusing the former United States president of seeking to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

The charges, brought on Monday in the US, add to the legal woes facing Trump, the frontrunner in the race for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election.

As of today, here are the legal battles Trump is facing.

Georgia election tampering criminal probe

The sprawling indictment lists 19 defendants and 41 felony counts in all. All have been accused of racketeering, a charge used to target organised crime groups that carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

Counts against Trump include a violation of the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations (RICO) Act, solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer, conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree, conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer, and conspiracy to commit filing false documents.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and accuses Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, the elected Democrat who brought forward the case, of being politically motivated.

January 6 and the US Capital attack

Trump has pleaded not guilty that he conspired to deprive voters of their right to a fair election and to defraud the US by preventing Congress from certifying Biden's victory over Trump.

On 6 January 2021, in a failed bid to prevent certification of Biden's victory. Prosecutors said Trump exploited the attack, refusing to heed advice that he send a message directing rioters to leave.
Two year anniversary of The Insurrection at The Capitol - 1/6/23
Trump supporters attack the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. Credit: AP
Trump and his allies advanced claims of fraud they knew to be untrue, prosecutors said. The indictment says Trump's close advisers, including senior intelligence officials, told him repeatedly that the election results were legitimate.

Trump and others organised fraudulent slates of electors in seven US states, all of which he lost, to submit their votes to be counted and certified as official by Congress on 6 January, the indictment said.

Illegal retention of secret documents

Trump has also to federal charges he unlawfully kept classified national security documents when he left office in 2021 and lied to officials who sought to recover them.

The trial is scheduled for 20 May 2024.

Special Counsel Jack Smith accuses Trump of risking national secrets by taking thousands of sensitive papers with him when he left the White House in January 2021 and storing them in a haphazard manner at and his New Jersey golf club, according to the indictment.

Photos included in the indictment show boxes of documents at Mar-a-Lago stored on a ballroom stage, in a bathroom, .
Boxes of documents on a stage.
Documents containing classified material were at one point stored in the ballroom of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, according to an indictment against him. Credit: US District Court Southern District of Florida Handout / EPA
Those records included information about the secretive US nuclear program and potential vulnerabilities in the event of an attack, the indictment said.

Trump faces charges that include violations of the Espionage Act, which criminalises unauthorised possession of defence information, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Also charged are Trump's aide Walt Nauta and another Trump employee, Carlos De Oliveira, the latter with attempting to delete security camera footage at Mar-a-Lago after a grand jury subpoenaed the videos in June 2022.

Prosecutors allege De Oliveira told another employee that "the boss" wanted a server containing security footage to be deleted. He has yet to enter a plea. Nauta pleaded not guilty.

New York 'hush money' criminal case

Trump is also accused of falsifying business records in connection with a hush-money payment to a porn star before the 2016 presidential election.

Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, allegedly paid Stormy Daniels US$130,000 ($200,200) for her silence . Prosecutors in Manhattan accuse Trump of trying to conceal a violation of election laws.
Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records. He has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels but admitted to reimbursing Cohen for his payment to her.

Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and other crimes and was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 during Trump's presidency.

The trial is scheduled for 25 March 2024.

Sexual abuse and defamation civil lawsuits

Trump is appealing a US$5 million ($7.7 million) verdict by a Manhattan federal jury in the mid-1990s and then defaming her by lying about it in 2022.

Carroll is seeking at least US$10 million ($15 million) more in a separate defamation lawsuit she amended after Trump blasted the verdict on CNN and on his social media platform. He has denied ever meeting Carroll and accused her of making up her allegations.

A trial in that case is scheduled for 15 January 2024.

New York attorney-general civil lawsuit

New York Attorney-General Letitia James , in September 2022 for alleged fraud by him and his family.

James, a Democrat, accuses Trump of lying from 2011 to 2021 about asset values, including for his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and Trump Tower penthouse in Manhattan, as well as his own net worth, to obtain better terms from lenders and insurers.

The lawsuit seeks at least US$250 million ($385 million) in damages from Trump, his adult sons Donald Jr and Eric, the Trump Organisation and others, and to stop the Trumps from running businesses in New York.

A trial is scheduled for 2 October, a date the judge has said is "set in stone." James' office said on 31 July it had finished gathering evidence and is ready for trial.

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6 min read
Published 15 August 2023 5:31pm
Source: AAP


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