The lawsuit may be the biggest obstacle to Trump's campaign.
The full text is 5072 words, and it takes about 13 minutes to read
Beijing News reporter Xie Lian Editor Zhang Lei Proofreader Li Lijun.
Since the former Trump of the United States announced his candidacy for the 2024 election, one of the key controversies surrounding him has been his lawsuit. In the U.S. Congress, he has twice encountered the House of Representatives**, setting a record for the former and current members of the United States. At the federal level, he faces two criminal prosecutions from the Department of Justice. At the local level, he faces criminal and civil prosecution in multiple states.
However, after the United States started the 2024 ** election primaries at the beginning of this year, Trump won a "good start" in Iowa and New Hampshire. A number of experts pointed out that this means that Trump is likely to win the Republican nomination for the third time in a row after 2016 and 2020, so as to smoothly move towards the ** election in November. However, his lawsuit may be the biggest obstacle in his campaign.
In fact, after his two primary victories earlier this month, Trump was forced to devote his energies to two civil lawsuits. Last week, a jury in Manhattan, New York, ruled that Trump should pay $83.3 million in damages to American writer Carroll in a defamation case; This week, Trump will also face a "life-and-death verdict" that will determine the future fate of his family business. In addition, Trump may have to appear in federal and district courts several times over the next nine months of the campaign, facing nearly 100 criminal charges against him.
On January 27, 2024 local time, in Las Vegas, USA, former Trump of the United States attended a rally. Figure ic photo
What civil lawsuits does Trump face?
At present, there are two main civil lawsuits surrounding Trump, one is the defamation case filed against him by American writer Carroll, and the other is about the financial fraud case of Trump and his family business. Both cases occurred in New York State.
Defamation case: Awarded $83.3 million in damages.
On January 25, local time, Trump walked to the witness stand in the federal court in Manhattan, New York, to plead the defamation lawsuit filed against him by American columnist Carroll.
Mr. Trump's entanglement with Carroll has a long history. In 2019, when Trump was still the United States, Carroll accused Trump of committing suicide against her in the 90s in her memoirs. Trump denied this, slamming Carroll for making up "false stories" to increase sales of his memoirs. Subsequently, Carroll filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump and demanded damages.
In May 2023, a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of Carroll, and at the same time ruled that Trump had lied about Carroll, saying that his accusations were "defamatory to Carroll, and demanded that Trump pay $5 million in damages." Subsequently, Trump appealed and continued to verbally disparage Carroll on **. Carroll filed a revised lawsuit seeking at least $10 million in damages from Trump.
On May 9, 2023 local time, a jury in Manhattan, New York, USA, ruled that Carroll, a former columnist for Trump magazine in the United States, should be compensated. Figure ic photo
Since the defamation case has been convicted, the jury will only have to decide on damages at the trial on January 25. According to the Associated Press, Trump appeared in court for less than 5 minutes that day, and Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered that he should not testify that he did not ** commit Carroll, or make statements such as Carroll lying. Trump ended up giving only brief testimony, saying he was "just trying to defend himself."
On January 26, a Manhattan jury ruled that Trump should pay Carroll $83.3 million in damages. After the verdict was released, Trump called it "completely ridiculous" on his social ** platform and said that he would appeal the decision.
Financial Fraud Case: Involving 3$700 million fine This week, Trump could face a ruling that will determine the "life and death" of his family business. According to USA Today, a New York state court is expected to rule this week on Trump's financial fraud case, which will not only determine whether Trump needs to pay 3.A hefty fine of $700 million will also determine whether to dissolve Trump's real estate empire.
Last September, New York State Judge Arthur Ngoren had already ruled that Trump and his real estate company had committed financial fraud. The ruling states that Trump and his company deceived banks, insurers and others by significantly overvaluing their assets and inflating their net worth on instruments used for transactions and financing, the ruling said. In addition, Trump and his company and key executives have repeatedly lied about their annual financial statements, resulting in returns such as favorable loan terms and lower insurance premiums.
Ngoren ordered the revocation of some of Trump's business licenses, making it difficult or impossible for the companies to operate in New York, and said he would continue to have an independent ombudsman oversee the Trump Organization's operations. Trump appealed.
In October last year, the judge began holding trials on the remaining charges and the possible punishment. New York State Attorney General James is seeking a 3. sentence against Trump, his business, his two adult sons, and two company executives$700 million fine and barring Trump from continuing to do business in New York State in the future. On January 11 this year, the closing arguments of the case were completed. Ngoren said he hopes to reach a ruling by the end of the month.
Trump previously testified in court that the case was a "crazy trial" and accused Ngoren of believing in "political hacker" James. During the trial, Trump repeatedly attacked James, Ngoren and their clerks. For publicly lashing out at the clerk for violating the gag order, Ngoren previously issued a 1$50,000 fine.
When the verdict was about to be released, Trump once again stated on social media on January 29, calling the case a "witch hunt", saying that there were "no victims except me" in the case, and that the case should have been canceled a long time ago.
The Associated Press analyzed New York State's anti-fraud cases over the past 70 years, saying that there had been only a dozen previous rulings to close businesses. In Trump's case, his business is at risk of closure without clear victims and massive losses. As a result, it is unclear whether Trump's real estate business will be ruled to shut down.
Trump faces multiple criminal charges.
A civil lawsuit could cost Mr. Trump, while a criminal case could send Mr. Trump to jail. The Atlantic notes that while civil cases such as defamation cases and financial fraud cases may cost Trump a significant amount of money or make it impossible for him to continue doing business in New York State in the future, these cases do not have as much impact on him and the United States as criminal cases.
In March 2023, a grand jury in Manhattan, New York, decided to indict Trump on charges of falsifying business records and other charges for paying "hush money" to two stars during the 2016 U.S. ** election. Trump thus became the first ex** in U.S. history to be criminally charged.
Since then, in June and August 2023, Trump has been criminally indicted three times. In these four criminal cases, Trump faces a total of 91 charges, involving allegedly overturning the results of the United States in 2020 and mishandling classified documents. Trump has denied all the allegations, calling them political.
All four cases faced a series of legal challenges before the trial began. Trump, for his part, has taken several avenues to try to drop the case or postpone the trial date. He has also been punished on several occasions for assaulting relevant prosecutors, witnesses and other staff. So far, where have these cases go?
Federal Interference Case: As early as March 4, 2023, on August 1, 2023, Trump faced a third criminal charge for allegedly trying to overturn the results of the 2020** election, which was brought by the U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith.
According to the indictment, Trump faces four charges in the case, including conspiracy to defraud the state, conspiracy to obstruct ** process, obstruction or attempted obstruction of official proceedings, and conspiracy to violate civil rights. Trump also allegedly had six more accomplices in the case, including four lawyers, a Justice Department** and a political adviser.
Two months after the conclusion of the 2020 U.S. ** election, Trump refused to admit defeat and "spread lies that there was fraud in deciding the outcome of the election and claimed that he himself actually won the election," the indictment alleges. He also pressured then-deputy Pence to help him overturn the election results. And it was his series of actions that led to the Capitol Hill riot in the United States on January 6, 2021.
On January 6, 2021 local time, in Washington, USA, demonstrators entered the U.S. Capitol area and stormed the Capitol. Figure ic photo
Mr. Trump's lawyers had asked a federal judge to dismiss the case, saying Mr. Trump enjoyed immunity for all official acts committed while in office. Since then, a district judge has ruled that Trump has no immunity, and his lawyers have appealed, and the case is now before the federal court of appeals. Some analysts believe that the Trump side wants to use the lengthy appeal process to postpone the trial date, preferably after 2024**.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan previously set a trial date for March 4, 2024, which coincides with the North Dakota Republican primary, in Washington, D.C., but later hinted that the date could be postponed. She also ruled in January that Smith should not file any significant new motions pending a ruling on immunity.
The Atlantic said Smith may need to move faster, and if the cases are postponed until later, they could be closed if Trump or any other Republican comes to power. Smith had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to bypass the appellate court and immediately address Trump's issue of immunity, but was refused.
Hush money" case: trial began on March 25.
Trump's first criminal charges related to his "hush money" payments to stars Tommy Daniels and Stephanie Clifford.
On March 30 of last year, Manhattan, New York, District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed a criminal case against Trump. Trump is accused of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in "hush money" to two stars through his then-personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, during the 2016 U.S. ** election, to conceal his improper relationship with Trump. In this case, Trump faces a total of 34 charges, including falsifying business records. On April 4, Trump appeared in court to "turn himself in" and pleaded not guilty.
On June 27, 2023 local time, in New York, USA, the lawyer team of former Trump arrived in the Manhattan District Court to participate in the hearing of the "hush money" case. Figure ic photo
Mr. Trump said the charges were politically motivated, and his team had tried to refer the case to federal court. He has also said that as the current candidate, the relevant procedures should be used in different ways. Prosecutors said Trump was "trying to evade criminal responsibility."
At present, the case is scheduled to commence on March 25. However, the judge in the case, Juan Melchan, has said that the trial date of the case could change due to Trump's tight schedule of legal issues. He will decide whether to postpone the trial date at a pretrial hearing in February.
The Atlantic analysis believes that the case about "hush money" may be the least influential criminal case for Trump, and some Trump critics have expressed disappointment that Bragg is the first person to file criminal charges against Trump.
Classified Documents Case: May 20**On June 8, 2023, U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel Jake Smith filed a criminal indictment against Trump, accusing Trump of illegally possessing classified documents involving *** after leaving the White House while lying to the FBI** who tried to retrieve them from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. This is the second time Trump has faced criminal charges.
In this case, Trump initially faced 37 federal felony charges, which have since increased to 40, including mishandling classified documents, obstruction of justice, and making false statements. One of Mr. Trump's personal aides, Mar-a-Lago property manager, and others are also facing related charges.
In response to these allegations, Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that he had declassified the documents before he brought them to Mar-a-Lago, but there was no evidence to prove it. The Associated Press said that Trump's lawyers may grasp two points in their defense, one is that under the U.S. Records Act, Trump enjoys broad latitude in handling documents during his tenure; Second, when the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago, Trump was working with relevant authorities to return the documents.
The judge in the case, Erin Cannon, has set a trial date for May 20 of this year in Fort Pierce, Florida. Mr. Trump had requested a delay in the trial date, but it was denied. However, Cannon said she would reconsider the trial date at the hearing on March 1.
Georgia Interference** case: May begin trial in August.
On August 14, 2023, Trump and 18 other defendants were criminally indicted in Georgia. They are accused of trying to overturn Georgia's election results during the 2020 election, according to the indictment.
Trump faces 13 counts, including violating Georgia racketeering laws, inducing a public official to break an oath, conspiracy to impersonate a public official, conspiracy to commit first-degree forgery and conspiracy to file false documents, among others. Trump was then registered in jail but left the jail the same day after paying $200,000 bail.
Georgia was one of the key swing states in the 2020 U.S.** election. Official results show that in 2020** Biden scored 49Of 47% of the vote, Trump received 49With 24% of the vote, Biden narrowly won all the electoral votes in the state.
According to a previous report by the Washington Post, a ** recording shows that Trump called Georgia Election ** Brad Raffensperg in January 2021 to ask him to challenge some of the state's votes in order to change the outcome of his election loss in the state. After the recording leaked, Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fanny Willis conducted an investigation into Trump and his allies for about two and a half years, culminating in a decision to indict Trump and those involved.
Currently, Willis has reached a plea agreement with four of the other 18 defendants, and he is seeking others to plead guilty in support of the charges against Trump. Willis had proposed that the case begin on Aug. 5 of this year.
However, Willis is also facing some trouble at the moment. One of the defendants in the case filed a motion on Jan. 8, alleging that Willis had an improper relationship with the chief prosecutor in the case and that they had mishandled money. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAffie, who is hearing the case, has ordered a hearing on the motion Feb. 15 and asked Willis to respond in writing to the allegations Feb. 2. On January 26, the Georgia Senate formed a special committee to investigate Willis.
Trump, for his part, asked the federal appeals court to dismiss the case, saying that Trump enjoyed criminal immunity for "official actions" taken during his tenure. His lawyers filed multiple motions asking the judge to dismiss the case in an attempt to cancel the trial or postpone the trial until after 2024**. At present, the legal proceedings are still ongoing.