Donald Trump continued to make the dubious story last week when the former president was indicted for the second time – just weeks after he was found liable in a civil trial for rape and libel.
The federal indictment released Friday in Florida against the former CEO and current Republican presidential candidate accuses him of endangering national security by recklessly hiding classified documents at his Mar-a compound. -Lago, then blocking efforts to return them to the government. .
The felony charges add to those Trump is already facing in Manhattan for paying porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged sexual encounter.
And they come as Trump prepares for a mammoth fraud trial in a lawsuit against his family business brought by the New York Attorney General.
Despite facing more than 70 total felonies and the possibility of decades behind bars, Trump’s staggering legal woes could get even worse.
Here’s an update on the state of affairs with the most significant legal threats facing Trump, who turns 77 this week as he seeks the White House for the third time.
Georgia probe into alleged Trump efforts to overturn 2020 election
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to announce the charges by September related to the Trump campaign’s alleged efforts to nullify Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results. The DA would consider racketeering accounts.
A special grand jury recommended that Willis proceed with the indictments earlier this year.
Partially released court filings show panelists dismissed claims that Georgia’s election procedures were plagued with fraud. And they believed that some witnesses should face charges for lying under oath.
Georgian Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who Trump notoriously told in a taped directive to “find” enough votes to give him victory over Joe Biden, was among those who testified.
Justice Department investigating Trump’s role in Jan. 6 Capitol attack
The DOJ is still investigating Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol uprising in an investigation overseen by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who also led the investigation into the Mar-a-Lago documents.
Trump Vice President Mike Pence spoke in April and Smith reportedly presented evidence from former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows.
More than 1,000 people have been charged in connection with the deadly riot, and nearly 500 have been convicted.
Department of Justice Classified Documents Folder
Trump is due to appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday, charged with endangering the nation and its allies. He faces 37 counts alleging he willfully withheld defense secrets in violation of the Espionage Act, conspiracy to obstruct justice and related offences.
It’s interesting to know if the designated judge, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, will remain on the case. The Trump-appointed lawyer has held up the investigation with widely ridiculed rulings in his favor that were overturned on appeal by other Trump-appointed judges.
The case handed over by a grand jury on Thursday cites audio recordings of Trump acknowledging that he was not supposed to have the treasure trove of records he took from the White House.
He cites information gleaned from several Trump employees and advisers alleging he went to great lengths to evade law enforcement and cling to government records related to nuclear programs, military vulnerabilities and plans. response to foreign attacks.
Trump’s former attorney, Evan Corcoran, told investigators that Trump suggested he lie to the federal government or destroy the records. When that didn’t work, authorities said Trump had his White House valet and co-defendant Waltine Nauta hide the boxes from his legal team and a grand jury.
Stormy Daniels Silent Money Affair
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in a case that will go to trial next March.
The former president is accused of hiding the payback from his fixer-turned-enemy Michael Cohen to conceal that he broke election laws by paying Daniels to be silent about an alleged extramarital date in 2006, just before he did win the presidency in 2016.
Cohen went to federal prison for the $130,000 payment and is expected to be the star witness in the trial.
The sexual abuse case of E. John Carroll
In May, a Manhattan jury found Trump responsible for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll in a Midtown dressing room in the 1990s. They agreed he defamed her after she allegedly expressed, awarding him $5 million.
But the litigation is far from over.
A day after the verdict, Trump repeated his defamatory statements before an audience of about 3 million at a CNN town hall.
In response, Carroll added the outrageous remarks to his original 2019 lawsuit against Trump, which was bogged down in appeals.
Trump is appealing the verdict in the second trial, demanding a new trial or a reduction in damages.
Trump Organization Fraud Case
Bragg’s office secured the convictions of the Trump Organization and its longtime financier Allen Weisselberg for criminal tax evasion last year.
Weisselberg, 75, served 99 days behind bars for Rikers and the company was ordered to pay $1.6 million in fines.
But the penalty will pale in comparison to what Trump’s real estate empire will owe if state AG Letitia James prevails in a civil trial scheduled for October.
The case against Trump, his adult children and other company executives accuses them of staggering fraud. James says they have a habit of misrepresenting the value of assets like skyscrapers and golf courses – by hundreds of millions of dollars – to reap better loans and tax breaks. She says Trump lied about his net worth to the tune of billions.
In Trump’s first deposition, he adopted the same strategy as his son, Eric, refusing to answer hundreds of questions while pleading the Fifth.
With Dave Goldiner