Bloomberg — Donald Trump’s legal troubles are mounting just as the race for the 2024 presidential election heats up.
The former president, who is campaigning for another term in the White House, potentially faces up to six criminal and civil lawsuits in the next year, including lawsuits against him, his family and businesses.
Four such trials have already been scheduled. The trials, some of which are expected to last for weeks, coincide with key primary election dates, raising questions about the obstacles and fallout Trump will face in his 2024 campaign.
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Republican Party voters will choose their candidate in a series of primaries beginning January 15 in Iowa.
The most serious are two criminal charges against Trump, which can carry prison terms if convicted. One filed by the Justice Department and one by Manhattan state attorneys. Trump also faces two civil lawsuits in state and federal courts in New York.
Two other potential criminal trials involving Trump remain up in the air. Special counsel Jack Smith is conducting a second investigation against the former president into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. No charges have been announced, but an investigative letter Trump received indicates another federal case may be on the way.
Meanwhile, the former president could soon be indicted by Atlanta’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who has spent months investigating his alleged election interference in Georgia following his 2020 defeat.
May 20, 2024: Trump’s handling of classified documents
In June, the Justice Department charged Trump with tampering with classified material at his Mar-a-Lago resort. US Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the case, set the trial to start on May 20 on Friday, rejecting the Justice Department’s request to try the case in December, as well as the former president’s request for a postponement until after the 2024 election.
The trial date falls after nearly all of the 2024 primaries have concluded, but before an official Republican presidential nominee is named at the July convention. Trump will still have to appear in court to face criminal charges, according to legal experts.
“It is a fundamental right of a defendant to be present at his trial,” said David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Florida, now in private practice. “You can’t say, ‘I’m too busy to come to court because I’m running for president.'”
March 25, 2024: Criminal trial in Manhattan for alleged payments
The first-ever criminal indictment against a current or former president will begin March 25 in Manhattan state court.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg alleges that during the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump directed his then-attorney and fixer Michael Cohen to make secret payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to hide damaging allegations of a sexual encounter. Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal the true nature of the payments in the indictment filed in March.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan has already ordered Trump to appear in person at his April 4 arraignment, in which he pleaded not guilty, and at a second hearing in May, but excused the former president from at least one court proceeding while he was on the campaign trail.
Trump’s next court appearance in that case is scheduled for January 4.
January 15, 2024: E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit
Trump faces a second trial over the allegations by columnist E. Jean Carroll, which begins Jan. 15 in Manhattan federal court.
In May, Carroll obtained a landmark verdict against Trump when a jury found him liable for sexually abusing her during an alleged dressing room assault in 1996 and awarded him $5 million in damages.
In this 2019 lawsuit, Carroll claims that Trump defamed her by accusing her of fabricating the assault to gain attention and sell a book. Carroll is seeking at least $10 million in damages.
Although Trump did not appear in court at the first trial with Carroll, his lawyers have not said whether he will attend the second trial or the state lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
October 2, 2023: Fraud Lawsuit by New York Attorney General
Trump faces New York state’s top prosecutor in a Manhattan state court trial beginning Oct. 2 in a $250 million fraud case against the former president, his company and two of his sons.
The lawsuit filed by James in September 2022 alleges that Trump, his children and his family business overvalued their assets by billions of dollars.
New York State Judge Arthur Engoron, who has rejected Trump’s bid to dismiss the case, said the trial would begin in October “against all odds.” Engoron has estimated that the trial could last up to two months.
James alleges that Trump and his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, lied to lenders and insurers about the value of the former president’s assets to obtain favorable loan terms and lower insurance premiums.
With the assistance of Zoe Tillman.
Read more at Bloomberg.com
