Former US president Donald Trump is facing four criminal indictments and a series of potential trials as he seeks to recapture the White House.
Jury selection is to begin in New York on Monday in the only one of the criminal cases against the Republican presidential candidate that may come to trial before the November election.
Here are the cases facing Trump, 77, the first former president to face criminal charges:
– ‘Hush money’: Trump is expected to be in a Manhattan courtroom for the start of jury selection in his trial for allegedly paying “hush money” to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, to cover up an alleged 2006 sexual encounter at a Lake Tahoe celebrity golf tournament. Daniels was 27 at the time and Trump 60. His third wife, Melania, had given birth to their son Barron about four months earlier.
Prosecutors say Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 just days ahead of the 2016 presidential election to silence her and hide “damaging information from the voting public.” Trump’s reimbursements to Cohen for the payment form the basis of the 34 counts of falsifying business records he faces. Trump denies any wrongdoing and claims he is the victim of a political “witch hunt” by the Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, intended to derail his White House campaign. Cohen, who has served time in prison for tax evasion and campaign finance violations, and Daniels are both expected to testify at the trial. Each of the charges facing Trump carries up to four years in prison but legal experts say that as a first-time offender he would be unlikely to be jailed.
– 2020 election interference: Special Counsel Jack Smith has slapped Trump with four federal felony charges in Washington related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election he lost to Joe Biden. Trump is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States as well as conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction of an official proceeding — the January 6, 2021 joint session of Congress held to certify Biden’s victory. He is also charged with conspiracy to deny Americans the right to vote and to have their votes counted. Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol after he delivered a fiery speech urging the crowd to “fight like hell.” The case was scheduled to begin on March 4 but has been frozen until the Supreme Court rules on Trump’s claim that as a former president he is immune from criminal prosecution. The court is to hear arguments on April 25 and issue a ruling by early July. Trump’s lawyers have sought repeatedly to delay his various court cases until after the November election, when he could potentially have the federal charges against him dropped if he wins.
– Georgia racketeering: Trump is also accused in Georgia of involvement in a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election result in the southern state, where Biden won by some 12,000 votes. Evidence includes a taped phone call in which he asked Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” enough votes to reverse the result. Eighteen co-defendants were indicted along with Trump on racketeering and other charges, including his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Four of Trump’s original co-defendants have pleaded guilty already to lesser charges in deals that spared them prison time. Trump and several other co-defendants asked the courts to disqualify district attorney Fani Willis, and throw out the case, following revelations she had a romantic relationship with the man she hired as a special prosecutor. A judge rejected the bid, but has yet to set a date for the start of a trial.
– Classified documents: Trump, in another indictment brought by Smith, is accused of endangering national security by holding onto secret nuclear and defense documents after leaving the White House. Trump allegedly kept the files — which included records from the Pentagon and CIA — unsecured at his home in Florida and thwarted efforts to retrieve them. The charges include 31 counts of “willful retention of national defense information,” each punishable by up to 10 years in prison. He also faces charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements. Prosecutors have proposed a July 8 start for the trial, but District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, has not yet set a date.
– Other probes: Trump was found liable in a civil case for sexually abusing in 1996 and defaming a former magazine columnist, E. Jean Carroll, and ordered to pay her $88 million. Trump was also fined $355 million by a New York judge after he was found to have manipulated the value of properties to obtain favorable loans.
© 2024 AFP
