Currently, former president Donald J. Trump is under multiple investigations spanning across states, leaving many to wonder if this will affect the outcomes of the Republican nomination and presidential election. He is under fire in New York and Georgia for a variety of different reasons.
Starting in New York, Trump is involved in a civil lawsuit regarding lying to investors and lenders by overvaluing his assets by billions of dollars. Trump is seen to have done this in order to gain these investments in a favorable matter. This case is being brought upon by Attorney General Letitia James, who shared that Trump has inflated his new worth by upwards of $2 billion in years past.
This case came to trial on Oct. 2, 2023, and Judge Arthur F. Engoron ruled that Trump had committed fraud, thus revoking Trump’s licenses to operate his properties in New York, which means that Trump’s empires in the state might fall.
In Georgia, Trump is being prosecuted for criminal charges, stating that he attempted to interfere with the 2020 election results. This case contains 41 counts and others which are brought upon Trump’s team, such as Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows. The investigation outlines that Trump and his team obstructed the election in multiple different ways, including lying to Georgian legislatures about allegations of voter fraud and instating fake Pro-Trump electors. Evidence against Trump includes a phone call made where he urged Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” the number he was trailing Biden with in the state.
Two weeks prior to the Georgia case being brought upon Trump, Jack Smith, who is the special counsel who took over the Justice Department’s investigations about Trump and Jan. 6, raised four new charges against him in the matter. Due to Smith’s indictment, Trump is only being indicted on three charges with connections to his desire to stay in power: one to defraud the United States, a second to obstruct an official government proceeding and a third to deprive people of civil rights provided by federal law or the Constitution.
The indictment stated, “The purpose of the conspiracy was to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election by using knowingly false claims of election fraud to obstruct the federal government function by which those results are collected, counted and certified,” as well as “that is, on the pretext of baseless fraud claims, the defendant pushed officials in certain states to ignore the popular vote; disenfranchise millions of voters; dismiss legitimate electors; and ultimately, cause the ascertainment of and voting by illegitimate electors in favor of the defendant.” Trump and six unnamed others are being faced with these charges.
Alongside this, prosecutors are also alleging that Trump attempted to install fake electors in swing states, in order to gain votes and take away from Biden. Lastly, this indictment states that Trump attempted to exploit Jan. 6 in order to “levy false claims of election fraud and convince members of Congress to further delay the certification based on those claims.”
Trump is also facing backlash for his handling of classified documents he took with him after his term in office ended. For more than a year, Trump refused the efforts to make him give back these documents, leading to the FBI raiding his Mar-a-Lago residency in August of 2022. This indictment states that Trump was attempting to hide this evidence and obstruct the investigation.
Leading to the last case Trump is still involved in, being the payoff of Stormy Daniels, an adult entertainer who Trump is alleged to have paid large sums of money to in order for her to be silent about their relations during his campaign. Trump’s fixer at the time Michael Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 in order to stay quiet, and Trump paid him this money back after he left office.
The crime being brought against Trump is not the payment itself, it is Trump’s attempt to falsely record where this money was going. This movement is scheduled to be brought to court in March, right when the presidential campaign will also be in full force, leaving many to wonder how this will affect these nominations and overall the election.
Many are curious if this will drive or derail many to or away from supporting Trump in his run for reelection, or if this will give one of the other Republican nominees a chance to step in and face whomever is nominated for the Democratic party.
