As his multi-pronged attacks on a group of investigators made clear Tuesday night, the Stormy Daniels charges President Donald Trump faces in New York are only the beginning of his legal concerns.
Trump faces legal exposure on a number of fronts, with attorneys general across districts, state, local and national levels. It is conceivable that by the time the 2024 campaign is in full swing, he will face numerous indictments while still handling civil cases.
Trump spoke out Tuesday about his refusal to settle a single case against him, and amid his combative approach to fundraising by highlighting the potential 136 years in prison he could face solely for alleged false business statements.
Here is a summary of the investigations Trump now faces through various parts of the justice system.
Former President Donald Trump faces legal jeopardy in multiple jurisdictions amid numerous investigations. He attacked several of his interrogators on Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago
January 6 investigation
Special Counsel Jack Smith is overseeing the extended January 6 investigation and efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Smith has said almost nothing about the avenues he pursues, but there has been remarkable evidence in the people his team of prosecutors have brought before a federal grand jury.
Among them are former senior White House advisers to Trump, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who was on the call when Trump called Georgia’s secretary of state and said he needed to “find 11,780 votes.”
Prosecutors are also examining a “fake voters” scheme that ran in several states won by Joe Biden where Trump allies alleged fraud. This was an area also explored by the House committee on January 6, which turned over its report and materials to the Justice Department.
With court subpoenas pending, a group of key witnesses who spoke to a grand jury armed Smith with new information. CNN reported Wednesday that top national security officials testified that they repeatedly warned Trump that the feds did not have the authority to seize voting machines.
The testimony indicates that Smith is weighing Trump’s demands to overturn the election even as many of his claims are advised to be untrue.
If the legal danger is reflected in the speed of Trump’s attacks on Smith. On Tuesday, he called it “crazy.”
Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they storm the US Capitol in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021.
Trump Attacks Special Counsel Jack Smith, Calling Him ‘Crazy’
Documents at Mar-a-Lago
AG Merrick Garland gave Smith control over an investigation into Trump’s possession of material marked “classified” in Mar-a-Lago — an investigation that could implicate both the Presidential Records Act and laws governing potential impediments.
Trump addressed some of the legal issues prosecutors might explore during his blistering 25-minute speech from Mar-a-Lago, when he claimed he had the authority as president to declassify government materials and said he brought “clothes” and other items to his Florida home in broad daylight.
The issue is not as clear as Trump described it. Records laws make presidential records the property of the government when the CEO leaves office, and if Trump declassifies the material, no evidence will emerge of any formal process for doing so.
Other high-profile people have been found in possession of classified materials, and some have been convicted of illegal possession. And as Trump has pointed out, President Joe Biden has also been found to have classified marks in his possession — some from his time as vice president.
In his speech on Tuesday night, it was not immediately known whether Trump’s latest statement on the issue would have value as evidence, when he referred to the negotiations and said he had brought materials “with me” to his home.
“We were negotiating in good faith and in an appropriate manner to return some or all of the documents that I had brought with me publicly and in full view to Mar-a-Lago from our beautiful white house,” he said.
Trump talked about bringing the materials “with me to Mar-a-Lago” when he left the White House
Annulment of elections in Georgia
The Georgia case is progressing, and Fulton County’s Da Fanny Willis has already received a sealed indictment from a private grand jury.
The decision is now up to her whether to file charges before a grand jury trying to accuse Trump of illegally seeing interference in the state’s presidential election.
Some key evidence has already been exposed, including Trump’s call with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in early 2021.
Willis launched her investigation in February 2021 after the infamous call and Trump’s lawyers are trying to remove her from the case.
A separate grand jury chairwoman gave a series of television interviews where she seemed to suggest that a large number of people could face charges.
With the ball in Willis’ court, the next move is expected to be this spring.
FILE – Fulton County District Attorney Fanny Willis, right, must decide whether to convene a grand jury after a special grand jury finishes its work
A civil case in New York could derail Trump’s actions
New York State AG Letitia James sued the Trump Organization after publishing a trove of information about the company’s business practices.
The company has been accused of greatly inflating real estate valuations when seeking financing, and then understating numbers of tax returns.
Trump defended his company on Tuesday night.
He said, “They have a problem with the case.”
He said his company had “a little bit of debt”, and accused James of “investigating me to bail out the banks”. But Trump said the lenders, which include Deutsche Bank and others, “got close to $200 million from Donald Trump, and they liked me a lot.” “We didn’t miss a single payment,” he said.
In this case, Trump is fighting for more than money.
James wants Trump executives, including Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump, barred from running any business in the state.
Trump spoke on Tuesday about his youngest son, Barron’s, role in the future.
And Barron will be great someday. “He’s tall and smart,” Trump said.
Sometimes such matters are dispensed with through negotiations, a fine, and a negotiated guilty plea. But Trump has shown no interest in this path.
“They want to settle the case, but I don’t want any part of that,” he said Tuesday.
New York AG Letitia James has sued the Trump Organization over its accounting practices
Stormy Daniels case
The case that brought Trump’s legal troubles to a head is that of Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg over ‘hush’ payments of $130,000 he made to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Although the indictment and statement of facts unearthed Tuesday only chart the case, it does indicate how prosecutors might weave the case together.
At his press conference, Bragg, who has been repeatedly attacked by Trump, calling him ‘soft on crime’ and has pursued his wife over partisan affiliations, described the bounty to Daniels as a way to influence the 2016 presidential election. The fact sheet for the case also mentions an intent to conceal payments to Trump’s agent. Michael Cohn as a ‘legal fee’ as part of a plan to hide the true purpose from government tax authorities.
Trump allies have attacked the case as less than meets the eye, but it will drag on for months unless Trump’s lawyers can prevail by quickly dismissing it. He sets the next hearing for Judge Juan Merchant, who was also attacked by Trump, in December.
A Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict former President Donald Trump over payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
