By Ashok Nilakantan Ayer IN New York
Former US President Donald Trump is perhaps the first President to be ever indicted and accused of criminal conspiracy and felony charges as he faces 4 indictments in four months from federal and county juries on charges ranging from defrauding the nation by deceit and suppressing voters rights to overturn the 2020 election verdict that put Joe Biden in the White House as President.
He also faces cases of tax fraud and wilful default over 15 years in his Trump business to which his CFO Weiselberg has confessed to and gone to jail. Trump has also been sued for $250 million in a criminal case by lower Manhattan DA Ms. Letitia James of defrauding the Deutsche Bank by inflating his property values by billions of dollars to secure massive loans fraudulently. There is also a civil case pending against him launched by the DA Cyrus Vance.
From election interference in Georgia to mishandling classified documents taking them home to Florida instead of handing it over to the National Archives, to hush money payments to adult porn star Stormy Daniels, he faces multiple indictments in multiple courts, and yet his indomitable spirit makes walk through his legal cases, charges knowing what to expect going forward in the middle of his campaign trail to secure the GOP nomination for the 2024 presidential race, the US media outlets commented.
THE BIG PICTURE
Trump has been indicted in two federal cases, one NY criminal case and most recently, one Georgia criminal case. He also faces three state civil trials within the next year.
In all, he’s been charged 91 times between the four criminal indictments. He’s the first former president to ever be indicted. And in his case, several times over. If he’s found guilty on all the charges and got the maximum sentence (VERY unlikely) he would be sentenced to more than 700 years behind bars, reports said.
A closer look at the charges against former president Donald Trump.
GEORGIA CRIMINAL CASE: ELECTION INTERFERENCE
Trump and 18 allies, including his former attorney Rudy Giuliani, were indicted in Georgia Monday over their efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.
Prosecutors charged him with 13 counts in a racketeering case— a statute normally associated with mobsters— saying he and other aides orchestrated a “criminal enterprise” to reverse state election results.
The charges include violating the RICO Act, which carries a 5-year minimum in prison, as well as soliciting a public officer to violate an oath and conspiring to impersonate a public officer. There are also charges related to hacking voting machines, reports said.
This started with the infamous January 2021 call then-President Trump made to Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Raffesensperger after votes were recounted and certified, trying to push him to “find 11,780 votes.” He has until next Friday to voluntarily surrender to authorities. The trial date is yet to be decided TBD. The prosecutor is hoping to start it within 6 months.
Trump said he is preparing a major report for release to the PRESS at a press conference Monday that will exonerate him from any crimes.
Several of the other people indicted want to move the case to a federal court, including Giuliani and former WH Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. They argue the constitution’s ‘Supremacy clause’ prevents state interference in federal matters. Legal experts are however divided on this, wondering if it will work.
Rudy Giuliani told a conservative talk show host: “We’re going to beat these fascists into the ground.”
FEDERAL CASE: NATIONAL ELECTION INTERFERENCE
In yet another election-related case, Special Counsel Jack Smith charged Trump with four counts in federal court related to overturning the popular mandate of 2020. That led to the Jan 6 insurrection.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to those charges, including conspiracy to defraud the US government and obstruct official proceedings. The four charges add up to a potential 55 years behind bars. The prosecution has proposed a trial date of January 2, 2024.
FEDERAL CASE: CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS IN FLORIDA
Jack Smith, who is the Special Counsel in this case as well, has charged Trump with 40 federal counts for storing dozens of classified documents (including ones related to war plans and nuclear secrets) at Mar-a-Lago and then repeatedly obstructing and lying to FBI and National Archives officials when they requested that he return them, media reports said.
Trump has pleaded not guilty. The most serious charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison. The expected trial date is May 20, 2024.
NY CRIMINAL CASE: STORMY DANIELS HUSH MONEY
First of the four indictments filed, it’s a criminal case in New York brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. He charged Trump with 34 felonies for falsifying business records related to hush money payments for porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. The purpose was to hide reimbursements to his attorney, Michael Cohen, for cheques to buy Daniels silence on an alleged affair with Trump.
Trump has pleaded not guilty. The expected trial date is March 25, 2024.
AND THEN THERE ARE THE 3 CIVIL CASES
The New York Attorney General Ms. Letitia James ( Democrat – in the US DA’s are elected and not appointed) has charged Trump and his business with fraud for allegedly inflating his net worth and assets by billions of dollars in order to attract better loan and tax agreements. The AG is seeking $250 million in penalties and to permanently bar the Trumps from operating a business in NY.
There’s also the E. Jean Carroll Defamation case. Trump was already found liable for sexual assault and defamation in May, and was ordered to pay her $5 million in damages. Following her victory, Trump said negative things about Carroll on social media and on CNN.
She has subsequently asked the court to expand the scope of the first case, and is seeking an additional $10 million. Finally, there is one more civil case set to go to trial in January. It involves an alleged pyramid scheme the Trump family promoted. Four investors say they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars investing with the American Communications Network after they were allegedly duped by the Trump family’s promotion of the telecom pyramid scheme on “The Apprentice” and at conventions.
Trump has called all of these cases as part of a political witch hunt. He’s currently the Republican frontrunner in the 2024 presidential race. The 77-year old will have four criminal trials and three civil trials to fight in the next year, while he also runs for president. Trump will have the ability to end the federal cases or try pardoning himself if he is re-elected. (That wouldn’t apply to the GA or NY criminal cases.)
Even so, politically, all these indictments have only appeared to energize him and his base voters, political commentators said in op eds in newspapers. .
The big question comes next fall during a general election— what the score card looks like legally and politically if he becomes the Republican nominee, reports said.
Point to be noted, Trump has occupied the front pages of New York media even before he entered politics – his image is larger than life, it’s difficult to dent him with supporters and he rides like a colossus even today within the GOP. His voter base is the high school dropouts, uneducated youth, farmers and Christian conservatives. The North East and West Coast are heavily behind the democrats as it is full of white collar workers and educated elite and the richer class.