The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) record has focused attention on his handling of official documents while he was president.
Two criminal investigations continue: one into possible electoral interference and another into alleged financial crimes.
Meanwhile, a political investigation is considering recommending criminal charges for Trump’s role in the takeover of Congress on January 6, 2021.
For his part, Trump contemplates his presidential re-election in 2024, but these are the legal cases that can threaten his ambitions.
The investigation of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago
When Trump left the White House, he took boxes of records with him to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Under the Presidential Records Act, the removal of official records can be a criminal offense.
According to Trump himself, “a large group of FBI agents” searched his residence on August 8.
His attorney, Christina Bobb, told NBC News that some papers had been seized.
In February, the National Archives said they had recovered 15 boxes of papers from Mar-a-Lago, which Trump should have delivered when he left the White House.
The agency later told Congress that the boxes included “items marked as classified national security information.”
But Trump claimed the administration “didn’t ‘find’ anything” and that Democrats were simply “looking for their next scam.”
Keeping records allows presidents to be held accountable for their actions in office, presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky told BBC News.
But enforcing the Presidential Records Act is “complicated” because it requires the “goodwill” of presidents to preserve their records.
Riots at the US Capitol
Trump is accused of inciting a riot as his supporters looted the Capitol building as members of Congress certified Joe Biden’s election victory on January 6, 2021.
Weeks earlier, he made claims of voter fraud, which he repeated at a rally on the National Mall in Washington DC just before the riots.
Shortly afterward, Trump was acquitted in an impeachment trial in the Republican-controlled Senate and his supporters declared victory. But that was not the end.
In July of last year, some Democratic and Republican politicians formed a January 6 committee, which examines Trump’s actions in detail. He has obtained thousands of communications made by and for the White House that day.
So far, the committee’s public hearings have generated a number of accusations, including testimony from Trump’s own aides and advisers that he knew the claims of voter fraud were untrue and that the steps he was taking to overturn the results were illegal.
Of course, there is a key difference between these hearings and a criminal trial: Trump and his supporters have not had a chance to offer their defense.
While the committee does not have legal powers to prosecute Trump, it could choose to refer criminal charges to the US government’s top lawyer, Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Possible charges include obstructing the counting of votes in Congress and conspiring to defraud the US by annulling election results, which can carry fines or jail time .
However, no former president has ever been prosecuted . More public hearings will be held in September as the investigation continues.
election interference
A few days before the takeover of Congress, the top election official for the state of Georgia received an unusual phone call.
“I just want to find 11,780 votes,” an agitated Trump told Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
The votes would have given Trump victory in the 2020 swing state. Alleging baseless voter fraud, Trump suggested such an outcome might be possible if Raffensperger could “reexamine” the result.
The 11,780 votes never materialized. “We think our numbers are correct,” Raffensperger said.
The chief prosecutor of Fulton County in Georgia, Fani Willis, launched an investigation into possible state election crimes, punishable by fines or prison .
Trump sees the case as a “witch hunt,” but his call to Raffensperger could be an “incriminating statement,” said Barbara McQuade, a law professor at the University of Michigan.
However, prosecutors would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump knew his actions were fraudulent.
Financial affairs
The New York State Attorney General has filed a civil fraud lawsuit against Donald Trump and three of his sons involved in the family real estate business, for falsely inflating their net worth by billions to enrich themselves and obtain favorable loans.
Announcing the suit in New York on Wednesday, Letitia James also said references had been made to federal prosecutors and the Internal Revenue Service, a move sure to anger the former US president and add to the dismay among his inner circle at the depth of your legal situation.
Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump were deposed during the New York investigation, which began when Trump was president and lasted three years.
The lawsuit seeks to bar the four Trumps from serving as executives in New York and bar the Trump Organization from acquiring commercial real estate or receiving loans from New York-based entities for five years.
Announcing the lawsuit, James said: “The complaint demonstrates that Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and cheat the system, fooling us all. He did it with the help of the other defendants.”
James said his office uncovered evidence of federal criminal violations, including making false statements to financial institutions and bank fraud, and had referred the matter to the Southern District of New York and the IRS.
The suit also seeks to recover at least $250 million and bar Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg and Comptroller Jeffrey McConney from holding senior positions at any New York company.
In a separate investigation, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and his team also spent more than two years poring over Trump’s finances for potential wrongdoing.
For prosecutors, getting their hands on Trump’s tax returns and charging his company’s chief financial officer with tax fraud were two major developments.
Then, in late 2021, Vance left office and was succeeded by fellow Democrat Alvin Bragg.
To pursue the case, the two prosecutors in charge of the investigation, Carey Dunne and Mark Pomerantz, tried to convince their new boss that they had enough evidence to file criminal charges.
While initially disagreeing, prompting Dunne and Pomerantz to resign, Bragg promised that the investigation would continue. He has said he will publicly announce any charges once the investigation is over.
sexual misconduct
“She’s not my type,” Trump said in response to allegations that he sexually assaulted a female columnist in the 1990s. “It never happened, okay?”
That was in 2019, days after Jean Carroll made the accusations. She subsequently sued Trump for calling her a liar.
The case has long been mired in legal quicksand, but a trial date has now been set for February 6, 2023, unless there is an out-of-court settlement within this timeframe.
