In the past year, former President Donald Trump has had 91 felony charges across four separate cases levied against him. Unprecedented both in the immediate reality of a former President falling under such legal scrutiny and in the matter’s potential implications for the 2024 election and beyond, the outcomes of the four cases facing the former President and current Presidential candidate have become entwined with the current landscape of American politics. Here’s a brief overview of the information needed to understand the indictments, the scope of their charges, and an overall timeline of each case’s proceedings.
What is …
An Indictment: An indictment is a formal legal assertion stating that someone has committed a crime. Under the 5th Amendment, federal indictments can only be levied by a Grand Jury, though individual states may have different thresholds for when an indictment can be made. An indictment does not equate to guilt; it is simply an accusation which, if a not-guilty plea is returned, will be followed by a trial to determine the validity of the indictment and the indicted party’s guilt or innocence.
A Grand Jury: A Grand Jury is a group of citizens called to determine if an indictment should be brought to trial. Grand Juries are typically composed of 16-23 people, and 12 affirmative votes are required to bring an indictment to trial. The prosecution of an indictment is tasked with presenting a case’s evidence to a Grand Jury; in federal trials, a person cannot be tried on an indictment without the assent of a Grand Jury.
Racketeering: Racketeering is a type of crime characterized by organized fraud or coercion (typically involving a group of people) to achieve a particular goal. In the context of the Georgia indictments, the prosecution asserts that Trump committed racketeering by having an organized group of supporters attempt to fraudulently influence the outcome of the state’s presidential election.
A Special Counsel: A special counsel is a prosecuting attorney tasked with investigating and trying cases in which there exists a potential conflict of interest within the default prosecution body. In the case of Trump’s federal indictments, a conflict of interest is posed by the federal government investigating its current or former executive officer, so Special Counsel Jack Smith has been called to investigate the former president separately from the Attorney General’s Office.
The Indictments
New York Grand Jury: 2016 Hush Money Indictment
On March 30, 2023, Donald Trump became the first former President to face criminal charges when a New York Grand Jury indicted him with 34 counts of 1st-degree falsification of business records. The charges stemmed from an alleged 2016 “hush money” payment from Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer who received 3 years in federal prison for this same scandal, to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels in hopes of covering up an alleged affair between Trump and Daniels. The charges are centered around subsequent efforts to hide these payments through the falsification of business records. The grand jury alleges that Trump deliberately concealed his reimbursement of Cohen for his $130,000 payment to Daniels, doctoring records to write the transaction off as a business expense and income for each respective party.
On April 4th, 2023, Trump pled not guilty to all charges, further claiming that the indictment was politically motivated (citing the Manhattan District Attorney’s membership in the Democratic Party). The trial is set to occur in March 2024.
Special Counsel: 2022 Classified Documents Indictment
In another historic indictment, Donald Trump became the first former President charged with federal crimes (as opposed to the New York state-level offenses detailed in the first indictment) on June 8 when he, alongside an aide, was indicted on 37 felony counts of willful retention of classified information at his Mar-a-Lago estate after the end of his presidential term. Prosecutors have additionally levied similar charges against Walt Nauta, a Trump aide, and Carlos de Oliveira, the Mar-a-Lago Property Manager. All parties have pled not guilty.
The case represents the culmination of the effort beginning with the 2022 Mar-a-Lago raid, during which federal agents recovered documents, many pertaining to classified national security information, stored around Trump’s club and residence. Prosecutors allege Trump willfully retained these classified documents, in some cases showing them to individuals without proper clearance, and further attempted to prevent their return to federal possession by hiding the materials around his estate. The trial is scheduled to begin in May 2024. Special Counsel Jack Smith is overseeing the prosecution’s case for this indictment and an additional indictment stemming from the January 6 Capitol Attack.
Special Counsel: 2021 January 6 Capitol Insurrection Indictment
On August 1, 2023, Trump was indicted on four separate charges related to the transfer of power at the end of his Presidency: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. The indictment further notes six unnamed co-conspirators who worked under Trump to further his goal of obfuscating the results of the 2020 Presidential Election.
While none of the charges explicitly accuse the former President of inciting insurrection, the prosecution seeks to implicate Trump in delegitimizing the results of the 2020 Presidential Election, which he lost to President Biden. The charges allege Trump knowingly lied about election results and further claim the former President attempted to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to alter the election results by rejecting Biden’s electoral votes during the confirmation process. The prosecution states that Trump’s lies surrounding and attempts to fraudulently alter the 2020 election directly led to the events of January 6, 2021, and that the President failed to take adequate measures to diffuse his violent supporters. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in his transfer of power following the 2020 Presidential Election.
Fulton County District Attorney: 2020 Georgia RICO Indictment
Initially beginning in February 2021, a Georgia Grand Jury tasked with investigating potential fraud in the 2020 Georgia State presidential election presented indictments against Trump and 18 others on 41 total counts of racketeering and election fraud. Thirteen of these charges (1 racketeering, 4 soliciting or impersonating a public officer, 8 forgery or false statements in documents) are levied against Trump in particular. The jury further notes there are 30 additional unindicted co-conspirators. Under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), the grand jury accuses Trump and his allies of attempting to subvert the results of the Georgia election by forging electoral college documents and attempting to cast false votes in the electoral process. The jury additionally claims that the conspirators lied to Georgia state officials (by impersonating electors) and stole voter information and ballot equipment.
Trump has again denied any wrongdoing in Georgia’s electoral process and further asserts that the charges levied against him are politically motivated by his Democratic opponents. Georgia prosecutors have requested an August 5, 2024 start date for the trial.
