Former US President Donald Trump stood before the Manhattan court on Thursday, facing 34 charges in his hush-money trial, and was found guilty on all counts, marking the beginning of an arduous legal journey for him.
In the case regarding classified documents, the main issue brought to light involves Trump’s alleged misuse of governmental files. These were seemingly taken by him following the end of his term in office. A specially chosen investigator, Jack Smith, was tasked with carrying out a legal inquiry into this matter. Trump faced 37 felonious charges in June, which encompassed unauthorised holding of sensitive national security documents and interfering with recovery efforts of these files at his Mar-a-Lago headquarters in Florida. Three additional charges were filed in July. Trump dismisses these allegations, labelling them as another “witch-hunt”, and the trial is not likely to take place before November’s presidential election.
In the case involving election fraud in Georgia, a 2021 recording surfaced of an appeal made by Trump to Brad Raffensperger, the then secretary of state of Georgia. In the alleged recording, Trump is urging Raffensperger to procure additional votes in order to secure his victory. This sparked Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton county, to launch an extensive investigation into Trump’s supposed efforts to undermine the elections outcome. Trump, along with 18 co-accused, is now facing accusations of conspiracy, with four of them having admitted their guilt. Considering the charges of conspiracy and organised crimes, hefty prison terms could be a potential consequence. The commencement of this trial will probably be postponed until after November’s presidential election.
Finally, in relation to the January 6th case, Trump’s role in the US Capitol riots, post Joe Biden’s triumphant election campaign, fell under scrutiny. A committee created by Congress unearthed Trump’s suspected involvement in deliberate attempts to overturn election results and incite an insurrection. Consequently, they set forth four criminal charges, referring them to the justice department. This referral, for the most part, was symbolic as the justice department had already kickstarted their investigation under the same special counsel, Jack Smith. By August, Trump was prosecuted on four separate counts, including conspiring to infringe upon rights, defraud the government, obstruct an official proceeding and planning to block an official proceeding. The date for this trial is yet to be fixed, but it is not expected to take place before the election in November.