Donald Trump.Photo: Seth Wenig-Pool/Getty
So far, four of those investigations have led to indictments — the first one making him the only U.S. president to face criminal charges, and the next two further distinguishing him as the only president to face federal charges.
Trump, his family and supporters have repeatedly and insistently denied wrongdoing in the various criminal, congressional and civil inquiries.
Here’s a summary of the most prominent investigations — and the indictments that stemmed from them.
Hush-Money Payments
According to prosecutors, Trump orchestrated a hush money scheme that lasted from August 2015 — just two months after he formally announced his run for the presidency — to December 2017, after he took office.
The scheme, they allege, saw Trump ask his attorney to pay off those who were trying to sell negative stories about him, such as women with whom he’d had affairs.
Stormy Daniels, Donald Trump, Karen McDougal.Gabe Ginsberg/Getty, James Devaney/GC Images, CNN
In allegedly paying off the women, prosecutors argue, Trump “violated election laws and made and caused false entries in the business records of various entities in New York.”
As the indictment describes, Trump requested that “Lawyer A” (widely assumed to be Trump’s former attorneyMichael Cohen) covertly pay “$130,000 to an adult film actress shortly before the election to prevent her from publicizing a sexual encounter with [Trump].”
Cohen has already admitted to making that payment and, as the indictment notes, spent time in prison for it. But the indictment says the scheme goes further than that, with Trump allegedly paying his lawyer back under the guise of a legal retainer. (According to the indictment, there was no retainer, and Trump was instead falsifying business records “to disguise his and others' criminal conduct.")
The indictment details another, similar, arrangement, in which Trump allegedly worked with higher-ups at theNational Enquirerto silence another woman (rumored to beMcDougal).
The indictment in this investigation made Trump the first sitting or former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges.
Classified Documents at Mar-a-Lago
Trump was initially accused of 37 criminal offenses in the case: 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information (a violation of the Espionage Act); one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice; one count of withholding a document or record; one count of corruptly concealing a document or record; one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation; one count of scheme to conceal; and one count of false statements and representations.
In a superseding indictment released in July,Trump was charged with three additional counts— one more count of willful retention of national defense information, and two more obstruction counts. He has not yet entered a plea to those three.
Under thePresidential Records Act, presidential and vice-presidential records are the property of the federal government, with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) responsible for the “custody, control and preservation” of those materials once an administration ends.
But as prosecutors laid out, Trump isn’t being charged for taking the documents from the White House initially — but for what he did after federal investigatorsissued a subpoenafor access to those documents.
A law enforcement officer stands outside Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty
The initial indictment came after FBI agentsexecuted a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago homein Palm Beach, Fla., in August 2023, searching for classified documents that went missing following his tenure in office.
Trump has claimed on social media that any documents in his possession had been declassified though, according to the indictment, prosecutors have reviewed recordings of Trump bragging about classified documents and admitting that he didn’t declassify them.
As laid out in the indictment, investigators also have access to notes from at least one of Trump’s own attorneys, who claimed the former president worked to hide classified documents from his own legal team, and from the FBI.
JOSE ROMERO/US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE/AFP via Getty Images
From the indictment: “Trump stated, ‘Look what I found, this was [a Senior Military Official’s] plan of attack, read it and just show . . . it’s interesting.” Trump went on to tell the individuals that the plan was, “like, highly confidential” and added: “as president I could have declassified it … Now I can’t, but this is still a secret.”
Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol
Per theindictment, Trump was charged with one count each of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
The indictment alleges that Trump, after losing the 2020 presidential election, “was determined to remain in power.” The indictment also lists several unnamed co-conspirators, including four attorneys, a Justice Department official, and a political consultant who “helped implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification” of votes.
“So for more than two months following election day on November 3, 2020, the Defendant spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won,” it reads.
Attorney GeneralMerrick Garlandhas called the investigation “the most wide-ranging investigation in [the department’s] history.”
Merrick Garland.Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The indictment is separate from a House committee’s investigation of the Capitol attack, which was based on countless hours of testimony from a legion of former Trump officials as well as other evidence. That investigation ended in December 2022, following a series oftelevised public hearingsthroughout the summer.
The House committee’s hearings, which began airing publicly in June 2022,each featured new revelationsabout the events leading up to the attacks and how Trump and his allies responded.
Among themost notable allegationsare that Trump at one point attempted to force his Secret Service agents to drive him to the Capitol building himself as his supporters were descending on the building.
Rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.Samuel Corum/Getty
Trump’s second impeachment was directly related to the horrific attack on a symbol of American democracy. Trump’s own running mate, Vice PresidentMike Pence, narrowly escaped the mob as some marauders chanted for him to be hanged.
Georgia Election Interference
In August, Trump was indicted in a fourth criminal investigation, shortly after Georgia prosecutors presented evidence to a grand jury regarding the former president’s efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results.
If convicted of violating the Georgia RICO Act — classified a step above felony, as a “serious felony” — Trump would face a mandatory minimum sentence of five years.
Donald Trump.NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images
Eighteen allies were also charged, including former White House chief of staffMark Meadows; former Trump attorneysRudy Giuliani,Sidney Powell,John Eastman,Jenna Ellis, Bob Cheeley, Ray Smith III and Kenneth Chesebro; former assistant U.S. attorney generalJeffrey Clark; former Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer; and current Georgia state Sen. Shawn Still.
Additional defendants include a GOP strategist, local elections officials, an Atlanta bail bondsman,a publicist, an Illinois pastor and a onetime congressional candidate.
SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
In February 2021, Willis launched the criminal investigation into the failed efforts to overturn the results that gave now-President Biden her state’s 16 electoral votes.
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Part of the investigation focused on the now-debunked State Farm Video, which some Trump allies, including Giuliani, falsely claimed showed widespread fraud.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty
The Georgia investigation also focused on the so-called “fake electors” plot, with prosecutors arguing that Trump and his allies created and submitted fraudulent certificates asserting that Trump had won the electoral college vote in Georgia — despite that Biden won the state. They further argue that Trump filed a false document when he signed a court filing alleging widespread voter fraud in Georgia — a claim they say he knew was false.
The Trump Organization’s Finances
In September 2022, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced she wassuingformer President Trump, three of his adult children —Donald Trump Jr.,Eric TrumpandIvanka Trump— and senior executives at the Trump Organization for fraud.
James' office said in a press release that “from 2011-2021, Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization knowingly and intentionally created more than 200 false and misleading valuations of assets on his annual Statements of Financial Condition to defraud financial institutions.”
The Trumps have argued that James' investigation is politically motivated, which she has repeatedly denied.
Letitia James.Dee Delgado/Getty
In a press conference, James said she seeks to make Trump pay $250 million in fines, ban the family from operating any New York businesses in the future, and ban the former president and the Trump Organization from buying commercial real estate in New York for five years.
James is also, she said, making a criminal referral to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The family fought earlier attempts to get them to testify in the case,previously asking a judge to quashwhat they called an “unprecedented and unconstitutional” bid for their testimony after being subpoenaed in December.
The court ultimately directed Donald,Donald Jr.andIvankato appear for testimony — a decision it reaffirmed after an appeal.
Trump’s middle sonEric, who serves as an executive vice president at Trump Organization, was subpoenaed early on and testified in 2020. According to reports, both he and former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg asserted their Fifth Amendment right when questioned.
Trump decried the case against his company’s former CFO as part of a strategy to target him.
In exchange for pleading guilty to all 15 felony charges, Weisselberg will be sentenced to 5 months in jail and 5 years probation. According to reports, he would have faced up to 15 years in prison were it not for the plea deal.
E. Jean Carroll appears to court in the sexual abuse and defamation trial against former President Donald Trump.Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg via Getty
In May 2023, Trump wasdeemed liable for sexually abusing and defamingformerElleadvice columnistE. Jean Carroll, based on a jury’s findings in her highly publicized civil trial that sought damages for harm done.
The jury ultimately concluded that Carroll was not raped, but sexually abused: the second-highest offense that they could choose. Because it was a civil trial, their verdict did not determine guilt and will not lead to criminal charges. The jury did, however, have the power to order that Trump pay Carroll $2 million for sexual abuse and $3 million for defamation. (The judge later allowed her amend the suit to seek $10 million from Trump after he continued publicly speaking out about her following the verdict.)
Carroll’s initial suit — filed in the U.S. Southern District of New York — alleged that Trump forced her “up against a dressing room wall, pinned her in place with his shoulder, and raped her” in the luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Avenue some 27 years ago.
The complaint further alleged that Carroll “remained silent for over two decades” for fear of being buried in “threats and lawsuits” and damage to her reputation and livelihood.
Trump has adamantly denied Carroll’s claims, saying in a statement posted to social media following the verdict: “I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS” and calling the case “A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME.” (The two have been photographed together, though Trump has said that was an incidental moment.)
In. June,Trump filed suit against Carroll, arguing in a lawsuit that, despite the verdict, she continued to claim the former president raped her and “made these statements knowing each of them were false or with reckless disregard for their truth or falsity.”
source: people.com
