There are 14 lawsuits currently in the works coming for Donald Trump. 11 are civil suits, 3 are criminal.
Defamation Cases
The civil suits include two defamation cases;
- One was brought by Summer Zervos.
- The other was brought by Jean Carroll. In both matters the courts have ruled the cases can go forward now that Trump is not the sitting president. Trump could be forced to be sworn to tell the truth and deposed in these matters.
Civil Fraud Cases
3. There is a civil suit brought by Mary Trump, Donald’s niece, who alleges she was defrauded out of millions of dollars of her rightful inheritance by Donald Trump and others in the family. That case is pending with a motion to dismiss currently being considered by the court.
4. There is a tax fraud case having to do with Trump’s Panama Hotel where the allegation is that Trump exaggerated the value of the hotel.
5. There is a class action suit against the Trump family for using their brand to scam investors.
6. There is a civil suit for the misuse of inauguration funds to enrich the Trump family business. Discovery is going on in a local DC court. The Attorney General’s Office is deposing Trump executives and family members.
Civil Cases Stemming from January 6th
7. Representative Bennie Thompson joined by the NAACP is suing Trump, Guiliani and two right wing militia groups for conspiracy to prevent Congress from counting the Electoral College votes on January 6th.
8. Representative Eric Swalwell is suing Trump and others for violating federal civil rights laws including the KKK Act, conspiracy to interfere with the Electoral College on January 6th and for negligently violating the DC Criminal Code by inciting violent conduct and for intentional infliction of emotional distress on members of congress.
9. Two injured capitol police officers are suing Trump for injuries they sustained in the mob attack on January 6th. They allege Trump’s incendiary words and conduct directed the crowd to physically attack them. They also seek monetary damages for emotional distress. (Note: Many more of these cases are coming for Trump once capitol police officers know the extent of the damage they suffered and will continue to have to deal with including long term treatment for physical and psychological damage.)
10. The NAACP and Legal Defense Fund have a voting rights case against Trump, his campaign and the RNC for attempting to overturn the election in violation of the Voting Rights Act and KKK Act.
Civil Case that Could Lead to a Criminal Referral
11. The NY AG, Letitia James, is suing the Trump Organization for altering alleged property values to avoid tax liability. This case arose out of Michael Cohen’s testimony in Congress that Trump routinely engaged in fraud. Thousands of documents are in the hands of investigators based on a Supreme Court ruling that Trump lost, opening the door to an extensive investigation.
Criminal Cases
12. Cyrus Vance, Manhattan District Attorney, has obtained Trump’s tax information. The crimes being investigated are tax and insurance fraud as well as other financial crimes. Allen Weisselberg is being pressured to become a witness for the government. If he does, that will signal far greater risk to Trump, because he knows “where the bodies are buried” (what Trump has directed him to be done to hide what Trump wanted hidden). An expanded part of the probe includes an investigation into a loan involving Chicago’s Trump Tower that was forgiven but that may not have been reported as income. Additional Trump properties are being scrutinized as well.
13. Karl Racine, DC Attorney General, is investigating Trump’s role in provoking the attack on Congress on January 6th. It is a misdemeanor to incite violence. There is very little precedent for charging a political figure with this crime.
14. Fani Willis, Fulton County, District Attorney is investigating Trump and Lindsey Graham, Brad Raffensperger (Georgia Secretary of State) and Rudy Guiliani for potential false statements to Georgia officials. There are two grand juries with subpoena power that will be used to obtain relevant documents. John Floyd, a national expert on state racketeering prosecutions, has been hired to assist the team.
Scams and Frauds that Were Not Charged
The Trump Campaign was involved in a fraud on its own supporters. As the 2020 election neared, the Trump campaign coffers were running low. The amount of money the Trump campaign had was far behind what the Biden campaign had. To get more money quickly the campaign set up a con: automatic recurring donations with prechecked boxes that supporters had to UNcheck to avoid recurring donations. Many did not read the teeny tiny small print that was buried in the legalese that told them they must uncheck the box or expect to be charged multiple times. $122 million dollars had to be refunded to supporters. That’s a lot of money! But by then there was another scam going on–another effort to get more money out of Trump supporters: this was the so called Stop the Steal scam that raised money after the election was over. Money raised from that con was used to repay supporters who had been ripped off by the first scam. Stop the Steal indeed!
The emoluments cases that based lawsuits on the Constitution’s emoluments clause which was said to prevent a president from enriching himself were dismissed by the Supreme Court without a decision. The matter was not heard while Trump was president and became moot after Trump was no longer president. There needs to be Congressional legislative action taken to prevent future presidents from doing what Trump got away with. He enriched himself and his family by forcing government workers to stay at his hotels and he used his DC hotel as a conduit for influence by allowing foreign operatives to flatter him and improve his bottom line by staying at his hotel.
Why Are These Cases Taking So Long?
It takes a long time to get a complex financial crimes case investigated. Most of the civil cases have been wending their way through the court system that has been way too slow to rule, probably because Trump was in office as president. Now that Trump is no longer president, they should be able to step up the pace. When Trump left office he did not try to pardon himself or resign and get Pence to pardon him as many had expected he would do. That leaves Trump exposed to both civil and criminal cases as they ripen.
Trump is a skillful mob boss. He gets others to act on his behalf by telling people what he wants but doing it in an oblique way. Mob bosses are really skilled at this and Trump has learned how to direct people by innuendo, not direct statements. Roy Cohn, his mentor, represented many mob bosses and taught Trump how to do this. Trump was a good student. Because of this, getting Trump indicted let alone convicted is not easy even when he breaks the rules and defies the law. He avoids consequences by blaming others and being careful not to say things that could directly incriminate him.
Will Trump Ever Face the Music?
The criminal case being developed by Cyrus Vance’s office in New York and the case being developed by Fani Willis in Georgia both have the potential to result in convictions that could send Trump to prison.
The Manhattan case is being prepared by Vance with an elite group of seasoned financial crimes experts. It relies in great measure both on financial documents and the way Trump always operates– he gives people inside his enterprises favors that create loyalty to him but are illegal. That helps Trump to have power over them because he offers them protection.
In the case of Barry Weisselberg, Allen’s son, there are sketchy things he did that may create leverage for the prosecution team to encourage his father to help the government. Michael Cohen has met with the prosecution team 9 times. He has helped the prosecutors to understand the documents and find the hidden illegalities. If Barry Weisselberg broke the law, prosecutors will encourage Allen to help the prosecution team and consequently help his son avoid a harsher sentence. Barry’s former wife, Jennifer Weisselberg is sad to be assisting the prosecution team.
In recent meetings with the D.A.’s office, Jennifer Weisselberg was interviewed by Mark Pomerantz, a former federal prosecutor with experience in complex financial and organized crime cases, who was hired by the office in February to work on the Trump investigation. (CBS News)
As for the Georgia case, Trump implicates himself in the taped conversation that Brad Raffensberger released to the public. We can all hear him with our own ears insisting that the Georgia secretary of state find him the votes he needs to cheat to win that state. His state of mind is revealed when he identifies the exact number of votes Raffensberger needs to find in order for Trump to win.
Trump has been a lawbreaker for years, but he has been able to get away with it by fighting hard then paying money to settle and get out of trouble. That will not work here. At least two criminal matters may well force Trump at long last, to be accountable.