Explainer
Donald Trump: What are the investigations the former US president is facing?
There are both criminal and civil investigations ongoing into Donald Trump and his business activities. There are currently probes in New York, Georgia, Florida and into the US Capitol riot in Washington DC.
Friday 15 September 2023 12:32, UK
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Donald Trump has four criminal cases against him in the run-up to the 2024 US presidential election.
The former president surrendered at a court in Georgia, where he is accused of pressuring officials to “find votes” for him in a failed bid to prove he beat Joe Biden.
It saw him become the first former leader of the US in history to have his mugshot taken.
Other cases against Trump in New York and Florida claim he paid “hush” money to a former porn actress in the run-up to the 2016 election and stole and hid classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort when he left the White House.
Georgia electoral fraud (criminal charges)
Trump was formally booked on 13 charges at Georgia’s Fulton County jail on 25 August.
While he was there, he had his mugshot and fingerprints taken before being released on bail.
It comes off the back of a 100-page indictment against him and 18 of his associates, accusing them of trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election result in Georgia.
It charges the former president with 13 offences, including forgery, racketeering, and breaching a Georgia state law against soliciting a public official to violate their oath.
Among those indicted alongside Trump in Georgia are his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Jeffrey Clark, a Trump administration Justice Department official, and various other lawyers including John Eastman, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro.
Rudy Giuliani, who served as former U.S. Donald Trump's personal lawyer, is shown in a police booking mugshot released by the Fulton County Sheriff's Office
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Rudy Giuliani’s mugshot in Georgia
Fani Willis, the Democrat district attorney for Fulton County, has been investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the election result since early 2021.
She is using state RICO (Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organisations) laws originally passed in 1970 to target organised crime groups, namely the Mafia.
Ms Willis said in a statement: “The indictment alleges that rather than abide by Georgia’s legal process for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia’s presidential election result.”
Soon after he left the jail, Trump returned to X, formerly known as Twitter, to post for the first time since 2021. Free to use the platform again after owner Elon Musk lifted his ban, he shared his mugshot with the phrase “Never surrender!”.
A Georgia election worker places a ballot in a counted bin during a hand recount of presidential votes on 15 Nov 2020 Pic: AP
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Election worker counts votes in Georgia in 2020. Pic: AP
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The election result in Georgia was memorably close, triggering two recounts, but ultimately Joe Biden won by 11,779 votes – or 0.23% of the five million cast.
It was certified by both Georgia’s Republican governor Brian Kemp and secretary of state Brad Raffensperger. But instead of accepting it, Trump set about a campaign to prove he was the rightful winner.
On 2 January 2021, he was recorded telling Mr Raffensperger in a phone call: “So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”
He is then alleged to have recruited a group of Republican activists in Georgia to serve as fake electors to stop the vote being certified by the Electoral College in Washington DC on 6 January.
Trump also stands accused of urging Georgia Republicans to convene a special session of the state legislature so his allies, including Mr Giuliani, could present false claims the vote was corrupt.
One of the allegations on the indictment details a plot involving one of Trump’s lawyers to tamper with voting machines in a rural Georgia county and steal data from a voting machine company.
Trump has described Ms Willis as a “racist” and “Marxist lunatic” and continues to insist the Georgia vote was “stolen” from him.
Security steps up outside the court house in Fulton County, Georgia ahead of Trump's possible indictment
January 6 riot (criminal and civil)
Trump has also been charged with conspiracy to defraud the US government and witness tampering in relation to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election result.
The 77-year-old appeared in court in Washington DC on 3 August and pleaded not guilty to the four charges against him.
They are: conspiracy to defraud the US; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of, and attempt to obstruct, an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.
A trial date has been set for 4 March 2024 – a day before so-called Super Tuesday, when many states nominate their Republican or Democratic candidate for president.
Trump has said he will appeal.
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Play Video – ‘I’m an innocent man,’ Trump says
‘I’m an innocent man,’ Trump says
He said in a post on Truth Social: “Deranged Jack Smith & his team of Thugs, who were caught going to the White House just prior to Indicting the 45th President of the United States (an absolute No No!), have been working on this Witch Hunt for almost 3 years, but decided to bring it smack in the middle of Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent’s campaign against him.
“Election Interference! Today a biased, Trump Hating Judge gave me only a two month extension, just what our corrupt government wanted, SUPER TUESDAY. I will APPEAL!”
Mr Smith, the special counsel behind this criminal case, has a reputation for winning against war criminals, mobsters and corrupt police officers.
Mr Smith alleges the former president’s lies “fuelled” the deadly January 6 insurrection.
He previously said in a statement: “The attack on our nation’s capital on January 6 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy.”
Prosecutors also claim he “exploited” the disorder by refusing his advisers’ suggestion to send a message directing the rioters to leave the building, after a rally and fiery speech by him earlier that day.
These charges do not affect Trump from a practical standpoint as nothing prevents criminal defendants from campaigning or taking office if they are convicted.
However, how it will affect the US public’s decision whether or not to vote for him is less clear.
House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack led by Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., swears in the witnesses during during the seventh public hearing by the House Select Committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the US Capitol, in Washington, DC, U.S., July 12, 2022. Doug Mills/Pool via REUTERS
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A congressional committee has recommended Trump is indicted on four criminal charges
Trump Organization fraud (civil)
In New York, the state’s attorney general Letitia James is pursuing a civil lawsuit against the Trump Organization for overvaluing its real estate assets by billions.
Lodged last September, Ms James alleges members of the Trump group lied to lenders about its net worth to get bigger loans.
Documents see her accuse Trump, his sons Donald Jr, Eric, and daughter Ivanka of “astounding” fraud.
She claims to have a “mountain of evidence” that shows how Trump and his associates falsely inflated their assets by as much as $3.6bn (£2.9bn).
Ms James is seeking a $250m (£201.3m) fine and to bar the former president, Donald Trump Jr, and Eric Trump from leading the family business.
The trial was due to start on 2 October – but could now be delayed after Trump turned up the heat and declared he is suing the judge in the case.
He has accused Justice Arthur Engoron of defying a court order and has also rejected his refusal to grant a three-week trial delay.
The matter has been referred to a five-judge panel who should rule by the end of September.
If Ms James wins, the non-jury trial could result in banning the Trumps from owning real estate in New York for five years – or being business directors or officers there.
Classified documents (criminal)
Trump also faces charges over classified documents he allegedly took from the White House, including deleting CCTV footage of his staff moving boxes at his Florida home.
An indictment revealed on 27 July, which supersedes the one filed earlier this year, charges the former US president with 42 offences.
They accuse him of risking some of the country’s most sensitive security secrets, by taking them from the Capitol to his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Details on the US nuclear weapons programmes, potential vulnerabilities of the US and its allies, and plans for retaliatory military attacks were in some of the documents, the federal indictment says.
Two new charges of “altering, destroying, mutilating or concealing an object or record” accuse Trump of instructing his valet Walt Nauta and property manager Carols de Oliveria to delete surveillance footage after FBI and Justice Department officials visited Mar-a-Lago in June 2022.
The CCTV captures Mr Nauta moving boxes in and out of a storage room on several occasions, including a day before an FBI raid.
A general view of former U.S. President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate where he says he will make a “big announcement”, possibly regarding his political future, Tuesday in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. November 14, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
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Trump’s home in Florida was raided in August last year
According to the indictment, Mr De Oliveira told another employee “the boss” wanted a server containing security footage to be deleted.
When the staff member said they did not know how and believed they did not have the right to, Mr De Oliveira is said to have asked: “What are we going to do?”
An additional charge also accuses the former leader of showing off documents to visitors at his golf club in New Jersey during an interview for his memoir with his former chief of staff Mark Meadows in July 2021.
The legal move follows a months-long investigation by special counsel Jack Smith. A trial has been set for 20 May 2024.
Trump has insisted he was entitled to keep the classified documents when he left the White House and has claimed without evidence that he had declassified them.
His spokesperson dismissed the new charges as “nothing more than a continued desperate and flailing attempt” by Joe Biden’s administration “to harass President Trump and those around him” and to influence the 2024 presidential race.
Donald trump pardon1:56
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Stormy Daniels (criminal)
Trump made history back in April when he became the first former US president to face criminal charges.
He personally pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts as he appeared in a New York court on allegations relating to him allegedly falsifying business records in the run-up to the 2016 election.
The Manhattan criminal case centres around alleged “hush” money sent to former porn actress Stormy Daniels after she said they had an affair.
Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claims she had an affair with Trump in 2006, which the former US president denies.
Stormy Daniels in Manhattan in 2018. Pic: AP
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Stormy Daniels claims she had an affair with Donald Trump
In 2016, when he was running for president, she offered to sell her story to the press.
Trump’s then lawyer Michael Cohen was notified of her plans, resulting in a $130,000 (£105,000) payment allegedly being made to keep Ms Daniels quiet.
Once he was elected, Trump reportedly reimbursed Mr Cohen by paying him more than double the original amount. He continued to deny the affair, however.
New York investigators have been looking into the former president’s finances for years – originally led by former District Attorney Cyrus R Vance Jr.
But when he was replaced with Alvin Bragg in 2022, Mr Bragg decided to drop the grand jury investigation into claims the Trump empire fraudulently inflated its real estate value.
Instead, he decided to focus on the silence money case last summer, impanelling a grand jury (one assembled in secret to determine whether there’s enough evidence to prosecute) in January.
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Trump supporters gather in New York
Soon after, Mr Cohen, who was jailed on several counts in 2018, was summoned by prosecutors.
According to court documents, Trump falsely listed his former lawyer’s reimbursement as “legal services”.
Trump has described the investigation as a politically motivated “witch hunt”.
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