Guide to the Trials Against Trump: his Cases as President, Businessman, or Citizen

Trump is charged with 13 felony counts linked to a conspiracy to interfere in the results of the 2020 presidential elections in Georgia.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis accused the former president and 18 others, including Trump's former lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and his White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows.

The investigation stems from the infamous 2021 phone call Trump made to Georgia's Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger (also a Republican), in which he pressured him to "find" the over 11,000 votes he needed to overturn his defeat to Joe Biden in that state.

Four co-defendants have pleaded guilty: Trump's former lawyers Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, and Kenneth Chesebro, as well as Scott Hall, a bail bonds agent charged with offenses related to tampering with the voting system in Coffee County.

This is potentially the most serious case Trump faces because it aims to cover all fronts of attempts to subvert the election result. The prosecutor relied on the violation of the 'Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act' (RICO). RICO allows adding alleged criminal actions (with a common plan) to link multiple people and hold them able regardless of their role. Why? To gain the cooperation of lower-level co-defendants and obtain more evidence against the leaders.

But the case took a turn when a co-defendant's defense alleged a romantic relationship between Willis and her special prosecutor Nathan Wade and alleged conflicts with the case. This led to the proceedings of the case being halted to hold hearings to determine whether Willis could continue to lead.

Judge Scott McAffee did not determine that the relationship between Willis and Wade constituted a conflict of interest, but it appeared "improper" and ordered one of the two to step away from the case. Wade was disassociated.

Then, on the defendants' side, they requested to appeal the decision for Willis to continue leading the case, further postponing the start of the trial, something that benefits Trump.

Trump faces (at least) 40 charges for mishandling classified documentation and attempting to obstruct the recovery of said files stored mostly at his home, Mar-a-Lago Club, in Florida.

The case began because Trump took documents when leaving the White House in 2021, after losing the elections. The retrieval of the records took place in August 2022 in an FBI investigation at Mar-a-Lago.

The accusation indicates that some of the files contained alleged sensitive information related to national security, and some documents were even marked as 'top secret.'

Trump pleaded not guilty. The charges are being pursued by special prosecutor Jack Smith, who is handling another separate investigation into events related to the Capitol assault on January 6, 2021.

Smith accuses Trump of jeopardizing security secrets by taking thousands of confidential documents and storing them at his resort in Florida and another golf club of his in New Jersey.

The charges include violations of the Espionage Act, which penalizes unauthorized possession of national defense information, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

In addition to Trump, an assistant, Walt Nauta, and another employee, Carlos De Oliveira, are accused of attempting to erase security camera footage at Mar-a-Lago.

In early May, the trial was indefinitely postponed by Judge Aileen Cannon, a judge appointed by Trump when he was president and who has been criticized for unusual procedures and delays.

The postponement is a point in favor of Trump, who seeks to postpone this and other trials until after the November presidential elections, as if he returns to the White House, he would be protected as the sitting president. And he could also appoint his allies to key positions in the Department of Justice and dismiss the case.

Trump is found guilty of all charges. In this case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Trump faced 34 charges related to falsifying records to cover up money paid during the 2016 presidential campaign to porn actress Stormy Daniels.

On April 4 of this year, Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges in a Manhattan court.

The case refers to $130,000 that Trump's then-personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid to the porn star in exchange for silence about a sexual encounter she claims to have had with Trump in 2006. Trump denies having had relations with the actress.

The case focuses on the money that Trump and his company reimbursed to Cohen for that payment and the alleged falsification of ing documents to cover up another crime: a violation of election law, as it is considered that the payment to Daniels was a campaign expense intended to protect Trump's image as a candidate.

The trial began on April 15 with jury selection. Judge Juan Merchán issued a gag order on the former president, preventing him from speaking about potential witnesses and people associated with the trial.

Stormy Daniels herself has taken the witness stand, recounting the story of her alleged sexual encounter with Trump in a hotel in 2006. At that time, Trump and Melania Trump, his wife, had recently had their son, Barron.

For his part, Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to charges related to campaign finance violations, lying to Congress, among other crimes. He spent about 13 months in prison and a year and a half in home confinement.

The case led by New York State Attorney General Letitia James points to Trump, his adult children, and the Trump Organization for fraudulently manipulating property values to gain benefits in loans.

In 2022, James filed the case alleging years of widespread fraud with false financial statements in which the Trumps inflated their net worth by billions of dollars to secure more favorable loan and insurance while simultaneously reducing taxes.

In September 2023, Manhattan State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ruled that Trump's company did indeed commit fraud repeatedly, and what remains to be determined is the damages it must pay and the implications for the family's business future in New York.

The civil trial began on October 2. The prosecutor is seeking at least $250 million in damages. Additionally, as a penalty, Trump and his children could be disqualified from managing businesses in New York, and the Trump Organization could be banned from conducting business.

On November 15, the former president's lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the trial, accusing the judge of being biased against Trump. Prosecutor James requested time until December for the judge to respond to the motion to dismiss the trial.

Trump's public comments about the judge and his legal assistant led to a gag order that prohibits Trump and his lawyers from speaking publicly about the personnel. Engoron fined Trump for violating the gag order.

On February 16th, the judge ruled that Trump must pay $355 million plus interest in compensation. Additionally, the former president is prohibited from serving as an officer or director of any corporation in New York or any legal entity in New York for a period of three years. The former president will appeal.

Writer E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her and then sued him for defamation when he publicly denied the accusation and called her a 'liar.'

Carroll has said for years that Trump raped her in 1996 at the Bergdorf Goodman store in Manhattan. She testified that on that day she had a chance encounter with Trump in that store until Trump cornered her in a dressing room and assaulted her.

In May 2023, a jury concluded that Trump had sexually assaulted and defamed Carroll, and awarded $5 million in damages to the writer.

Judge Lewis Kaplan dismissed a countersuit for defamation that Trump attempted against Carroll. Trump's defense had asked for the damages to be reduced or for a new trial to be ordered, arguing that the $2 million compensatory damages for sexual assault were excessive because rape could not be proven. But Judge Kaplan upheld the verdict, stating that the jury concluded that she had not been able to prove rape "within the technical meaning... of a particular section of New York's Penal Law."

Then, in January 2024, a new trial determined the compensation for damages to which Carroll is entitled. On Friday, January 26, the jury reached the verdict that Trump must pay the sum of $83.3 million.

The court ordered Trump to deposit over $91 million into a judicial sufficient to cover the money he owes to Carroll plus interest. Trump complied with the deposit. He said he will appeal.

This case, which began in a state court and reached the country's Supreme Court, revolves around the main issue of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which states that those who "have engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the Constitution cannot hold public office.

The provision of Section 3 originally aimed to prevent, after the Civil War between the North and the South, former Confederates from taking control of the government. What is unclear is whether the section applies to presidential candidates, as the presidency is not specifically mentioned, unlike the positions of senator or representative.

The case began in a Colorado court when groups of voters sued, claiming that Trump should be disqualified as a candidate because he participated in an insurrection against the Constitution. They cited the Republican's role in attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential elections, with the most notable event being the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

The lawsuit reached the Colorado Supreme Court, which, for the first time in history, applied Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to disqualify a presidential candidate. The decision, whose implementation was suspended until the Supreme Court pronounces, concludes that the presidency is clearly a position to which the rule applies and that Trump's actions related to the Capitol assault fall under the 'insurrection clause.'

Following this ruling, Republicans requested the U.S. Supreme Court to review the matter. "The Colorado Supreme Court has removed the main Republican candidate from the primary elections... fundamentally altering the course of American democracy," wrote the lawyers for the Colorado Republican Party.

This case stems from the one being pursued by special prosecutor Jack Smith in Washington DC, in which Trump is accused of 4 charges related to attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.

Trump's legal team appealed in this case using the argument that he cannot be judged due to alleged presidential immunity. But the appeals court gave the green light to prosecutor Smith to proceed with the trial for conspiracy and obstruction.

However, once again, in February, Trump's lawyers requested to suspend such a decision. The former president's defenders turned to the Supreme Court asking it to review the case and also argued that Trump had already been tried in an impeachment for the events related to the Capitol assault on January 6, 2021.

The Supreme Court granted Trump the suspension on February 28 and heard arguments at the end of April. With these months of delay, the former president gains time, one of his strategies in almost all the legal cases he faces. It is expected that the Supreme Court will issue its decision in the current term, which ends in late June. If the decision comes and is favorable to Smith's case, the trial could still begin and end before the November elections.