History of litigation against Trump

July 19, 2023 Donald Trump was indicted in the case of storming the Capitol.

The case of storming the Capitol

During the presidential election on November 3, 2020, Donald Trump lost to the Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden (46.9% against 51.3%), but tried to challenge the results of the vote, claiming widespread violations both during the election and during the counting of ballots. At his request, a recount of ballots was organized in several states, but no significant irregularities that could have changed the outcome of the vote were found.

On December 4, 2020, members of the Electoral College approved Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential race, with 306 electors voting for him and 232 for Trump. Trump urged his supporters to “fight hard” and march to the Capitol – the seat of the U.S. Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. – on January 6, 2021, when the vote was to be officially certified there. The demonstration turned into riots, with protesters storming the congressional building and disrupting the session. During the riots five people were killed – a demonstrator was shot by the police, the deaths of three people were qualified as medical emergencies, also a police officer died from injuries received during the clashes.

In early 2021, the US Department of Justice began an investigation into the attempts of Donald Trump’s campaign team to seek a review of the results of the 2020 presidential election. In particular, members of the Trump team are accused of organizing groups of fake voters around the country, and personally the former President – putting pressure on the Secretary of State of Georgia Brad Raffensperger in order to change the results of the vote in his favor. The agency also holds Trump personally responsible for the events of January 6, 2021. In October 2022, the House Select Committee to investigate the events at the Capitol called Trump to testify, and after his refusal to appear at the hearing sent the DOJ a recommendation to begin criminal prosecution of the former president. On November 18, 2022, a special prosecutor was appointed to investigate Trump’s role in the storming of the Capitol, a post occupied by prominent lawyer Jack Smith.

The former president is charged with three counts, including criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States. It will be up to a grand jury to decide whether to approve the DOJ’s proposed indictments.

Friction over the release of tax returns

Back in October 2016, in the midst of the election campaign that put Donald Trump in the presidency, The New York Times published a story alleging that he had not paid taxes, citing losses from his businesses, and that his 2002-2008 returns had not been audited. In 2018, the same publication accused Trump of evading inheritance tax while receiving $400 million from his father. The newspaper then made the allegation that Trump paid no income tax for 10 of the 15 years leading up to his election as president, and understated his income in the remaining years to reduce his tax burden.

After the Democratic Party won control of the House of Representatives in 2018, its representatives in Congress demanded that Trump release his tax returns. After his refusal, several investigations began, initiated by such structures of the lower house as the Committee on Revenue and Expenditures, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Financial Services. As a result of numerous lawsuits, the president was required to provide financial statements of his family’s businesses, but he refused, citing immunity as head of state. After his departure from the White House, the Supreme Court, in decisions dated February 22, 2021 and November 22, 2022, upheld the lawsuits filed against him, requiring him to disclose his tax returns.

The result of the litigation was the release of his tax documents for 2015-2020. According to them, at the end of 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2020, the former president and his wife Melania paid almost no taxes due to the losses of their companies (tax cuts due to various business expenses and losses are provided by law), whose total financial losses in these years amounted to $82 million. In 2018 and 2019, they paid $1.1 million in federal taxes.

Trump Organization case

In 2019, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance opened an investigation into the Donald Trump-owned Trump Organization, alleging that the value of its assets was understated to achieve tax minimization. In July 2021, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office charged the Trump Organization and its CFO Allen Weisselberg with tax evasion. In August 2022, Weisselberg pleaded guilty and agreed to testify. In December of that year, a jury found the Trump Organization guilty of carrying out a 15-year criminal scheme to defraud tax authorities. In January 2023, the New York Supreme Court ordered the company to pay a $1.6 million fine for tax fraud violations; that same month, Weisselberg was sentenced to five months in prison and to pay $2 million in underpayments, interest and penalties. Trump himself refuses to answer questions about his family’s business practices.

The case over the retention of classified documents

After Trump left the presidency, the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration requested documents removed from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida (more than 100 documents with various security clearances). The documents were returned by Trump’s lawyers in May and June 2022. However, on August 8, FBI agents searched Mar-a-Lago. The warrant was issued based on a count of unlawful trafficking in defense information, theft and destruction of documents. The Washington Post, citing sources, wrote that the former president took some secrets related to nuclear weapons to Mar-a-Lago. To this, Trump responded, “The nuclear weapons story is a lie, just like the Russia story. The two impeachments were built on lies, the Mueller investigation (TASS-DOSIER note – concerned Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and alleged ties between Trump’s entourage and Russia) was a lie.” In November 2022, the document case became part of Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s investigation. The former president denies guilt, he said, the documents were automatically declassified when he took them into his personal archive, in accordance with the Presidential Records Act of 1978. As the same The Washington Post wrote, citing sources from Trump’s inner circle, he took away the office papers because of his desire to keep them as trophies or souvenirs (particularly letters from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un).

On June 13, 2023, a court in the Southern District of Florida indicted Trump and his aide Walt Nauta in the case. They relate to violations of the Espionage Act of 1917.

The Stormy Daniels case

The case related to porn actress Stormy Daniels (real name Stephanie Clifford) was prompted by The Wall Street Journal in January 2018. According to the newspaper, a month before Trump’s victory in the 2016 election, his lawyer Michael Cohen paid the actress $130 thousand so that she would not spread information about her alleged relationship with Trump in 2006-2007. In 2018, Michael Cohen went to trial on several charges, one of which concerned violations of Trump’s campaign finance rules, in particular payments to Stormy Daniels. At the time, prosecutors did not pursue charges against Trump, citing immunity for the head of state. However, in November 2022, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office launched a new investigation. According to the investigation, Trump reimbursed his lawyer for the money spent, formalizing it through the Trump Organization as a payment for legal fees, citing a non-existent legal advance. Forgery of business records is not considered a serious crime in the American legal system, but prosecutors say the act could be considered falsification of financial documents to cover up another crime, which would already result in criminal prosecution. On April 4, 2023, a court in Manhattan filed criminal charges against Trump over the Stormy Daniels payments. Thus, he became the first ex-president in US history to be charged with a criminal offense. In particular, Trump was charged with forgery of documents on 34 counts. He is charged with “falsifying business documents in the first degree” with the intent to commit another offense. The case is scheduled to begin trial on the merits on March 25, 2024.

The Gene Carroll case

The investigation was prompted by rape allegations against journalist Elizabeth Jean Carroll. Carroll, who was previously a columnist for publications, published a book in 2019 in which she alleged that in late 1995 or early 1996, Trump raped her in the fitting room of a downtown New York City store. The journalist filed a lawsuit against Trump in November 2019, but the case did not proceed at that time. Trump has repeatedly denied the allegations, saying he never met her.

In November 2022, Carroll filed a new lawsuit accusing Trump of harassment, defamation, and rape denial. On May 9, 2023, a jury found him not guilty of rape, but ordered him to pay $2 million for harassment and $3 million for defamation. On June 27, 2023, Trump filed a countersuit accusing Carroll of harming his reputation.

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