Donald Trump lawsuits and investigations: Six headaches for the former president
A sigh of relief rang out from Donald Trump’s resort as he fended off one challenge, now he must dust himself off for the fight of his life.
Donald Trump may have breathed a sigh of relief from his Florida resort when he was acquitted by the US Senate over the weekend, but he is now facing an avalanche of lawsuits, inquiries and criminal investigations.
The former president is finding himself being bombarded with legal challenges from every angle as he looks to wind down after his four years in power.
In total he faces six major hurdles so far, including a ‘9/11-type commission’ into the Capitol riot, a criminal investigation into his loans and lawsuits from women who accused him of sexual assault.
During his presidency, Mr Trump’s lawyers repeatedly invoked immunity and executive privilege to keep him from having to testify – but once again a private citizen, he’s now far more vulnerable.
There may be other legal challenges yet to surface against the former president, and this week he has been served a taste of what’s to come in his post-politics life.
The latest challenge came overnight with civil rights organisation the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People filing a federal lawsuit against him and Rudy Giuliani, accusing the duo of conspiring to incite the January 6 riot.
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The suit, which seeks compensatory and punitive damages and also names the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers as defendants, alleges that Mr Trump, his lawyer and members of the far-right groups plotted to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election, which the NAACP says violates the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act.
In response to the move, a spokesman for Mr Trump told The Wall Street Journalthe former president had nothing to fear.
“President Trump has been acquitted in the Democrats’ latest Impeachment Witch Hunt, and the facts are irrefutable,” he said. “President Trump did not plan, produce or organise the January 6 rally on the Ellipse. President Trump did not incite or conspire to incite any violence at the Capitol on January 6.”
‘9/11-TYPE COMMISSION’
Adding to Mr Trump’s ever-growing to-do list, Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, called on Monday for the creation of a 9/11-style Commission to look into the January 6 attack.
She said she would move to establish an “outside, independent 9/11-type Commission” to probe the US Capitol assault that left five people dead.
The Commission would “investigate and report on the facts and causes relating to the January 6, 2021 domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol Complex,” Ms Pelosi said in a statement.
It would also look into “the interference with the peaceful transfer of power” and the preparedness and response of the Capitol Police and branches of law enforcement.
An exhaustive probe was launched following the September 11, 2001 al-Qaeda attacks that killed about 3000 people in the United States.
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Several Republicans have also said they want an independent probe into the Capitol assault by Trump loyalists who were seeking to halt the final certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory.
“We need a 9/11 commission to find out what happened to make sure it never happens again,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Mr Trump’s fiercest defenders, told Fox News Sunday.
Mr Trump is also facing possible state and federal charges related to the riot. In the days that followed it, Washington D.C. Attorney-General Karl Racine said the former president could face prosecution and that his office was working with federal prosecutors on the case.
$360 MILLION IN DONALD TRUMP LOANS PROBED
The investigation is just another item on a growing list of legal headaches Mr Trump faces now that he is a private citizen without presidential legal protections.
The 74-year-old former president is already the target of at least one criminal investigation, led by Manhattan prosecutor Cyrus Vance, who has been fighting for months to obtain eight years of his tax returns.
Now it is understood the probe is near completion.
People familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that more than $US280 million ($A360 million) in loans taken out by the former president for Trump Tower; 40 Wall St; Trump International Hotel and Tower; and Trump Plaza are being examined.
District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr’s office is investigating the loans – made to Mr Trump by subsidiaries of Ladder Capital Corp, a New York City-based real-estate investment trust – since 2012.
The probe, led by Mr Vance, a Democrat, has been labelled a partisan “witch hunt” by the former president, while his lawyers have called it a “fishing expedition” aimed at gaining Mr Trump’s tax returns.
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What began last year as an investigation into an alleged hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels has grown into a wider probe of what Mr Vance’s office has described as “possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct” at Mr Trump’s business, including allegations of bank and insurance fraud.
GEORGIA ON TRUMP’S MIND
It’s not just the Capitol riot and his taxes that have Mr Trump in a spot of bother. He has the fallout of his election-rigging claims to deal with.
Last week, a prosecutor in Georgia revealed she was investigating Mr Trump’s efforts to subvert the state’s results in the November 3 election by pressuring Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn the results.
“I just want to find 11,780 votes,” Mr Trump told him, a recording of the hour-long call showed.
Mr Trump said in the call that a failure to do so would be a “criminal offence”.
“You can’t let that happen. That’s a big risk to you,” he said.
The investigation is focused on contacts between subjects of the investigation and Mr Raffensperger, the Governor, State Attorney General and the federal prosecutor for the area – all of whom had contact with Mr Trump and his representatives after the vote.
The investigation will span potential charges of election fraud, false statements, conspiracy, racketeering and involvement in violence or threats related to the election.
FALLOUT FROM SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS
To top it all off, Mr Trump is additionally fending off civil lawsuits, including from two women who have alleged he sexually assaulted them and are suing him for defamation.
At least 26 women accused Mr Trump of sexual misconduct, including assault, since the 1970s.
Mr Trump has denied any wrongdoing in all of the cases we have outlined.
He is facing a defamation suit over his response to claims from author E. Jean Carroll, who alleged Mr Trump raped her in a department store in the 1990s. Mr Trump said she was “totally lying” to sell a memoir.
The lawsuit is currently on hold as an appeals court weighs Mr Trump’s argument that the United States government, rather than he as an individual, should be the defendant.
AP reports that government lawyers have argued that statements he made about Ms Carroll fell within the scope of his work as president because Ms Carroll was, in effect, questioning his fitness to hold public office.
A ruling in Mr Trump’s favour would allow the Justice Department to represent him in the matter.
Mr Trump is also facing a defamation case from Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos.
She told reporters at an October 2016 press conference that Mr Trump assaulted her during a 2007 meeting at The Beverly Hills Hotel.
Ms Zervos is suing Mr Trump for defamation after he accused her of lying about the allegations.
Mr Trump’s lawyers previously claimed the Constitution gives him immunity from civil suits filled in New York State. It’s an argument that he can no longer hide behind and the suit is ongoing.
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