Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States, has been no stranger to controversy and legal troubles throughout his political career. However, he now faces a new and unprecedented challenge – the possibility of criminal charges as a former president. As investigations into his role in the Capitol insurrection continue, Trump’s actions are under intense scrutiny, and legal experts believe that he could soon find himself in legal jeopardy. In this article, we will explore the potential criminal charges that Trump may face and the implications they could have for American politics.
Former US President Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury after an investigation into hush money paid to adult film actress, Stormy Daniels. The charges, led by Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, could have significant ramifications for the 2024 presidential race. Mr Trump has previously said he would continue campaigning for the Republican Party’s nomination if charged with a crime.
While Mr Trump has falsely claimed he lost to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election due to widespread voter fraud, the charges against him are being considered in relation to the payments made to Ms Daniels days before the 2016 presidential election, which he went on to win. Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claims to have received the money in exchange for keeping quiet about a sexual encounter she had with Mr Trump in 2006.
The former president’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, has previously claimed that Mr Trump directed hush payments to Ms Daniels and to a second woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also claims to have had a sexual relationship with him. Mr Trump has denied both affairs.
It is worth noting that no former or sitting US president has ever faced criminal charges. Mr Trump also currently faces two criminal investigations by a special counsel appointed by US Attorney General Merrick Garland and one by a local prosecutor in Georgia.
Mr Trump, a divisive figure in US politics, served as president from 2017 to 2021, governing as a right-wing populist. He has been impeached twice by the House of Representatives, once in 2019 over conduct relating to Ukraine and again in 2021 over the attack on the US Capitol by his supporters. He was acquitted by the Senate on both occasions.
Despite these controversies, Mr Trump continues to lead his early rivals for his party’s presidential nomination. Holding the support of 43% of Republicans in a February Reuters/Ipsos poll, compared with 31% support for his nearest rival, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who is yet to announce his candidacy, Mr Trump remains a popular choice among white blue-collar and conservative Christian voters. Mr Biden is expected to seek re-election in 2024.
Since the indictment, some leading Republicans have accused Mr Bragg of selective prosecution with political motivations. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives, called it an “outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA” and announced a congressional investigation into whether federal funding was being used to support Mr Bragg’s inquiry and “subvert our democracy”. Three House Republican committee chairmen asked Mr Bragg to provide them with communications, documents and testimony about the investigation.
In 2018, Mr Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance law violations for his role in orchestrating the payments to Ms Daniels and Ms McDougal and was sentenced to three years in prison. He testified that Mr Trump directed him to make the payments. Cohen testified before the Manhattan grand jury investigating Mr Trump on March 13th, and the grand jury also heard from David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, who had bought the rights to Ms McDougal’s story about her alleged relationship with Mr Trump for $150,000.
Ms Daniels has said that she had a sexual encounter with Mr Trump in 2006 at a Lake Tahoe hotel, the year after he married his current wife Melania and more than a decade before he became president.
It is worth noting that Mr Trump’s reputation suffered a further blow when the Trump Organization was convicted on tax fraud charges. However, Mr Bragg declined to charge Mr Trump himself with financial crimes related to his business practices during this case, prompting two prosecutors who worked on the inquiry to resign.
Aside from the New York indictment, Mr Trump faces continuing legal challenges. For example, Fani Willis, the Democratic district attorney in Georgia’s Fulton County, is investigating whether he unlawfully tried to overturn his 2020 election defeat in that state. Meanwhile, special counsel Jack Smith is separately investigating Mr Trump’s handling of classified government documents after leaving office and his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
