Your Definitive Guide To The Lawsuits, Criminal and Civil Cases Against Donald Trump

It’s all good news for the rule of law.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

by Bob Cesca

WASHINGTON, DC – Back in February, I wrote a comprehensive list of the various criminal investigations, civil suits, and individual lawsuits against Donald Trump. At the time, two prosecutors in New York City resigned after it appeared the new district attorney, Alvin Bragg, was backing away from indicting Trump himself. We have an update on that front, among many others, and it’s all good news for the rule of law. 

Today, I thought I’d update the roster of legal problems for Trump and his goons for two reasons: 1) the list has grown longer in the last six months, and 2) anything that makes Trump unhappy, uncomfortable, sleepless, stressed, or angry makes me very happy. So here goes.

1) The espionage grand jury investigation. (Federal, Criminal)

This didn’t end up on my original list of 18 legal actions, but I mentioned it as a bonus at the end of the piece. At the time, I wrote: 

Attorney General Merrick Garland this week said that he’ll follow the evidence in the National Archives document theft case against Trump. This could turn into another criminal prosecution against the former president, and the first one to emerge from the Department of Justice.

It turned out there was a secret grand jury empaneled in DC looking into Trump’s theft of top secret documents. No one really cared about this story last winter, but after the August 8 search and seizure at Mar-a-lago, it jumped to the top of the list of potential federal indictments against Trump. It’s likely he violated the Espionage Act, committed obstruction of justice, and it’s become clear in the past week that some of the missing documents have either been “lost or compromised” – that phrase is directly quoted from a recent Justice Department filing.

The probability is high that Trump will be indicted on these charges, as well as possible related charges including lying to the FBI. And we still don’t know whether all the documents have been recovered or why he absconded with the documents in the first place.

Incidentally, the Republican National Committee announced it would not cover Trump’s legal bills related to this matter.

2) The January 6 grand jury investigation. (Federal, Criminal)

It’s hilarious to me that as recently as July, Normals were rending their garments over Merrick Garland’s apparent inaction when it came to investigating Trump. It turns out, there’s not one but two grand juries in progress – the Jan. 6 grand jury being the oldest of the two. This probe is not only looking into Trump’s involvement in the insurrection, but also his Save America PAC slush fund, the fake electors scheme, and most recently it subpoenaed 40 officials linked to Trump, including a seizure of Mike Lindell’s cellphone at a Hardee’s restaurant.

3) Trump Organization tax fraud investigation. (Local, Civil)

This is the one that we thought was slipping away back in February. However, next month, the Trump Organization, the centerpiece of Trump’s businesses, will go on trial for tax fraud linked to Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony in which Trump’s former fixer said Trump and Allen Weisselberg would routinely low-ball its assets for tax purposes, while inflating its assets for loan applications and so forth. It’s very likely this will, in conjunction with the New York State investigation, dissolve Trump’s family business.

4) Trump Organization tax fraud investigation. (State, Civil)

This is attorney general Letitia James’s concurrent probe into Trump’s business and alleged fraud committed by it. Remember that the New York AG’s office previously shut down the Trump Foundation after it defrauded contributors, depriving money to pediatric cancer charities. My favorite detail about the outcome of this one is that Ivanka, Eric, and Don Jr. were ordered to attend classes to learn how not to commit charity fraud – sort of like traffic school for drunk drivers and the like.

5) Fulton County, Georgia election fraud. (Local, Criminal)

This one continues to expand with additional revelations from the January 6 committee. District attorney Fani Willis recently subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani as the grand jury continues to examine evidence that Trump tried to coerce Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger into giving him 11,780 votes – just enough for Trump to win the state.

6) The January 6 Committee. (House select committee)

We’ll have more to say about the committee later this month when hearings resume. By the way, if we don’t deliver enough votes in November, the committee will cease to exist in January, to be replaced by what will surely be the Committee to Investigate the January 6 Committee. Bet on  it.

7) Senate investigation: Barr Justice Department pressure on Geoffrey Berman. (Senate)

This week we learned the Bill Barr era Justice Department pressured then-U.S. attorney Geoffrey Berman in the Southern District of New York to investigate Trump’s political enemies including John Kerry and Democratic lawyer Greg Craig, based on allegations in Berman’s new book. It’s possible this could turn into federal charges against Barr, Trump, and their possible co-conspirators.

Lawsuits against Trump:

8) Trump and his adult children are being sued by an anonymous group of investors who claim the Trumps duped them into pumping cash into what amounted to a multi-level marketing pyramid scheme.

9) Mary Trump is suing her Uncle Donald, along with her cousins Don Jr., Eric, and Ivanka, for fraud related to the family inheritance.

10-13) In four separate cases, 10 capitol police officers are suing Trump over the insurrection. Likewise, a DC metro police office is also suing Trump for inciting the violent invasion of the Capitol.

14) No fewer than 11 elected members of the House are suing Trump for sparking the insurrection. Rudy Giuliani and two white supremacist groups, the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, are also named in the lawsuit.

15) The NAACP is suing Trump for a similar reason: his frantic attempt to commit election fraud. The basis for the lawsuit is that if Trump had been successful, it would’ve disenfranchised voters of color.

16) Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen is suing Trump in a case related to Cohen’s prison sentence.

17) E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit remains in progress. Trump accused Carroll of lying about the raping her – the defamation in this case.

18) Alexander Vindman is suing Trump after Trump retaliated against Vindman for testifying the first impeachment proceeding against him.

19) A group of activists are suing Trump after being assaulted during a protest outside Trump Tower.

20) Karl Racine, the DC attorney general, launched a criminal probe into Trump’s plotting of the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

(The lawsuit list was pulled from my previous article.)

I don’t know about you but that made me smile. 

A few weeks ago, Lawrence O’Donnell referred to Trump as having to endure his own personal “sleep struggle.” Whether that’s true or not doesn’t matter, but it’s fair to assume Trump is trapped in a version of hell that he personally created for himself. It’s all 100 percent his fault. And now, the system that he attempted to shove over a cliff is pushing back with unprecedented ferocity, and we should all sleep well knowing that it’s unlikely Trump escaped unscathed.

Read the latest for Banter Members:

The Poison Is Already In The System

The GOP has infected the judicial system so badly that it may not be possible to repair it.

Photo by Dim Hou on Unsplash

by Justin Rosario

The last couple of weeks have been filled with a lot of good (and occasionally hilarious) news but the last several days have not been all that great for American jurisprudence. I’ve written before about how out of control Republican judges are, and recent events indicate it isn’t getting any better. We are witnessing two extremes at work now: unqualified judges shamelessly enacting the GOP’s agenda because that’s why they were made judges in the first place, and more experienced activist judges seizing the opportunity of a broken Supreme Court to abuse their power. 

Republicans, long-planning to use the courts to control our nation, stacked the system with 200 extremists during Trump’s benighted 4 years in office. Biden and the Democrats are moving with the same urgency, having filled a record 79 open seats (with qualified jurists) so far, but only have around another 80 left. Fortunately, quite a few new seats open every year and a Biden reelection would see more Republican appointees from the Reagan and both Bush eras retire and be replaced than Democratic appointees from Clinton and Obama. As long, of course, as Republicans do not control the Senate and the filibuster.

The upside is that Republicans appear to be throwing away their shot at retaking the Senate and blocking all of Biden’s nominations. The very much downside is that the poison is already in the system…

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