Donald Trump’s accusation Thursday of buying a porn actress’s silence in 2016 is not his first trouble with the law.
The former Republican president is looking forward to a second presidential term in 2024, although he became the first US president in history to be charged in a case.
The following is a presentation of his other confrontations with the judiciary.
Attack on the Capitol
A parliamentary committee, dissolved by the Republican majority, investigated Donald Trump’s role in the attack carried out by his supporters on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, while lawmakers were approving Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 elections.
During the hearings, the then Democratic-majority committee found that the former president incited his supporters before the attack and “failed to perform his duty as commander in chief” during it.
The media widely covered the work of the committee that summoned him, but he went to the judiciary to refuse to appear before it.
In its final report, the committee said Trump should not take new public office after inciting his supporters to rebel.
It also recommended that the federal judiciary launch prosecutions against him, especially for calling for disobedience.
The special counsel, Jack Smith, will also look into the former president’s role in attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
At the end of his investigation, he can also recommend whether or not he should be charged.
But the last word belongs to Attorney General Merrick Garland, whose office has already charged more than 870 of those involved in the attack.
2020 elections in Georgia
A Georgia prosecutor has been investigating since 2021 “attempts to influence electoral processes” in this southern US state narrowly won by Joe Biden.
In a phone call whose content was later revealed, Donald Trump asked Brad Raffensperger, a senior Georgia official, to “find” about 12,000 ballot papers in his name, enough to reverse the results in this state.
Fannie Willis, the attorney general for Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, has assigned a grand jury to determine if there is enough evidence to prosecute Donald Trump.
She was able to collect testimonies from people from the former real estate mogul’s inner circle, in particular from his former personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who is also facing a criminal investigation.
This grand jury recommended indictments against a number of people without disclosing whether the former president was among them.
White House Archives
Upon leaving the White House, Trump took away boxes full of documents even though a law passed in 1978 requires any US president to send all his emails, letters and other business documents to the National Archives.
In January 2022, he returned 15 boxes, and after verification, the Federal Police estimated that he kept other boxes in his luxury home in Mar-a-Lago.
On August 8, the FBI searched Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago on the grounds that he kept classified documents and obstructed the federal investigation, and seized another thirty boxes of documents.
The raid was conducted on the basis of a warrant for “keeping secret documents” and “obstructing a federal investigation.”
After that, a legal battle began to determine the nature of the confiscated documents: Are they confidential, personal, or declassified? This slowed down the process, and a federal indictment could still be issued in this regard.
Jack Smith will also have to investigate this file.
his financial issues in New York
In January, the Trump Organization in New York was fined up to $1.6 million for financial and tax fraud, the first criminal offense for the group awaiting a larger civil trial in the fall.
New York State Attorney General, Democratic Representative Letitia James, filed a civil lawsuit against Trump, his children and his business group for allegedly manipulating the valuation of the group’s assets to obtain soft loans from banks or reduce their taxes.
The collection includes golf clubs, luxury hotels and other properties.
The plaintiff is asking for $250 million in damages on behalf of the state, in addition to preventing the former president and his relatives from taking over the management of companies.