Trump’s charges strike at the very heart of American democracy

Washington: America survived 234 years without a president or former president ever being charged.

Then along came Donald J. Trump, who now faces so many legal entanglements that even keen observers of US politics might struggle to keep up.

Donald Trump recording a video statement on the afternoon of January 6, 2021.Credit: AP

In April, the 2024 Republican presidential candidate was charged in court with 34 counts related to alleged hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.

In May, a civil jury in Manhattan found him liable of sexually abusing and defaming New York writer E. Jean Carroll.

And in June, he was charged yet again – this time by the federal Justice Department over his alleged mishandling of classified documents.

Now, with the presidential election only 15 months away – and Trump the overwhelming frontrunner to win the Republican nomination to run against President Joe Biden – he faces a fresh set of federal charges over his attempt to stop Biden’s 2020 election victory being certified.

Indeed, when added to other legal woes relating to his business and another potential charge looming in Georgia over alleged election interference in that state, Trump faces at least six civil or criminal court cases against him, his family or his companies, as he campaigns for another term in the White House.

But what makes the latest case so serious is that it strikes at the very heart of American democracy, and Trump will be forced to confront the charges in the Democratic city where his alleged assault on democracy took place.

While hush money and classified documents are important matters, never before has a newly ousted US president engaged in a multipart plan to overturn the lawful result of an election, resulting in a deadly riot in the nation’s capital.

That’s exactly what was laid bare in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s 45-page indictment, which charges Trump on four counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights (namely, the rights of voters).

Trump’s lawyers had argued his incendiary statements on January 6, 2021 before the riot were protected speech and in line with official duties.Credit: AP

Boiled down, the charges reinforce many of the findings of the January 6 Select Committee, whose final report last December created a road map for the Justice Department to investigate this case.

Smith’s grand jury probe tells much the same tale. According to the indictment, Trump attempted to remain in power by stoking lies about a stolen election, including false claims that dead people were casting ballots and that rigged machines were creating results in favour of Biden.

He and six unnamed co-conspirators – believed to include his former lawyers Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and John Eastman – also allegedly concocted a “fake electors scheme” to flip electoral votes in battleground states where he lost.

He then engaged in a pressure campaign to get various Justice Department officials, state representatives and his own vice president, Mike Pence, to stop Biden’s victory from being certified.

And he ultimately exploited the “intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger” over the 2020 election, which led to his supporters eventually storming the Capitol building.

Equally astonishing is the fact that Trump did all this despite being told by his own aides, White House lawyers and intelligence officials, that there was no evidence to prove the election was rigged.

Indeed, one political adviser, believed to be Jason Miller, who is now central to Trump’s re-election campaign, is quoted as saying: “I’ll obviously help to hustle on all fronts but it’s tough to own any of this when it’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.”

It is yet to be seen if Trump’s many legal woes will affect his chances of securing his party’s nomination to run against Biden next year. For now, he is so far ahead in the polls that even adversaries marvel at his resilience.

The latest New York Times/Siena poll released on Monday, for example, had Trump a massive 37 points ahead of his nearest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and more than 50 points ahead of other Republicans seeking the nomination, such as Pence, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and Senator Tim Scott.

Voter Nicky Sundt holds a banner outside the Federal District Court this week.Credit: AP

And with every indictment that’s handed down, his donations surge as he portrays himself as a victim of a political witch-hunt.

But make no mistake, the latest charges are the most serious so far, and present a challenge for Trump distinct from the others.

The classified documents case, for example, will be tried in Florida, a Republican state where Trump is incredibly popular and only requires one jury member out of 12 to force an acquittal.

The New York hush money case will be tried in left-leaning Manhattan, but there have always been questions about whether District Attorney Alvin Bragg could make the charges stick.

But the January 6 trial, on the other hand, will involve a jury pool selected from a Democratic city that lived through the Capitol attack, and it will be tried in a courthouse where hundreds of rioters who stormed the building that day have already been prosecuted.

“This has the inevitability of a Greek tragedy and we’re now getting to the climax,” says Columbia Law School Professor John Coffee.

“You know what is coming – but you do not know if enough voters care to make a difference.”

Trump is embroiled in six cases in several jurisdictions involving:

1. 34 counts relating to alleged hush money paid to Stormy Daniels, New York
2. 40 counts relating to classified documents kept at his residence, Florida
3. alleged “persistent and repeated business fraud” at his Trump Organisation, New York
4. writer E Jean Carrol’s second defamation trial, New York
5. alleged scheme to overturn the 2020 election Georgia college vote, Georgia
6. four counts relating to an effort to overturn the 2020 election which led to the January 6 Capitol riots, Washington. The charges are: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights (namely, the rights of voters).

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.