Former US President Donald Trump on Thursday surrendered in the case which focuses on the efforts he made to overturn his 2020 general election defeat in Georgia, marking the fourth surrender and indictment to be handed to him this year.
He was probed shortly after a phone call transcript between him and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was released where Trump could be heard saying to Raffensperger on January 2, 2021 to find “11,780 votes” which would be just enough to overtake Joe Biden, the election winner and current US President.
Trump defended his position and said his phone call was a perfect one. The Republican frontrunner portrayed the prosecution by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis as a political witch hunt.
These are the other main legal cases against Trump as he mounts his 2024 US Presidential Elections campaign:
CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS CASE
US Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith is leading two probes related to Donald Trump. Both of these probes have led to charges against the former president.
The first charges are from the investigations in June when Trump was indicted on charges he mishandled top secret documents at his Florida estate.
The indictment against the former president says that he repeatedly enlisted aides and lawyers to help him hide records demanded by investigators. A report by the Associated Press says he proudly showed off a Pentagon “plan of attack" and classified map.
A superseding indictment issued in July added new charges alleging Trump demanded that the surveillance footage at his Mar-a-Lago estate be deleted after FBI and US Justice Department investigators visited in June 2022 to collect classified documents he took with him after leaving the White House.
The fresh indictment alleges that he held onto a document illegally and showed it off to visitors in New Jersey. Donald Trump faces 40 felonies in the classified documents case and the most serious charge can send him behind bars for at least 20 years.
Walt Nauta, a valet for Donald Trump, and Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager at Trump’s Florida estate, have been charged in the case and are accused of plotting to hide surveillance footage from federal investigators and lying about it.
Trump and Nauta have pleaded not guilty. De Oliveira is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.
The trial date is on May 20, 2024 as set by US District Judge Aileen Cannon. This means the trial will not start during the time of the nomination of would-be US Presidential election contender.
ELECTION INTERFERENCE
Earlier in August Smith unveiled a second case against the former US President Donald Trump after which he was indicted on felony charges for working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the violent riot by his supporters at the US Capitol.
This indictment includes charges of conspiracy to defraud the US government and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, which in this case was the congressional certification of Biden’s victory.
Trump repeatedly told his supporters and others that he won the election despite knowing it was false. He tried to persuade state officials to overturn the legitimate results. When this did not work, he tried to persuade Mike Pence, the then-vice president of the US and finally the US Congress.
Prosecutors also alleged that Trump exploited the January 6, 2021 Capitol Hill riots and said it was a reason to further delay the counting of votes which ensured his defeat.
The prosecutors also pointed out that lawyers inside and outside of government worked with Trump to undo the election results and advanced legally dubious schemes to enlist slates of fake electors in battleground states won by Biden, the Associated Press reported.
Trump demanded to know why it took more than two-and-a-half years to bring them.
HUSH MONEY SCHEME
Donald Trump is also the first former US President in history to face criminal charges when he was indicted in New York in March on state charges stemming from hush money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to stifle allegations related to his extramarital sexual encounters.
Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Each count can send him to prison for up to four years. These counts are to a series of cheques he wrote to his lawyer Michael Cohen to reimburse him for his role in paying off porn actor Stormy Daniels.
The charges date back to 2006, not long after former first lady Melania Trump gave birth to Barron Trump.
Trump will appear in New York’s state court on January 4, days before Republicans begin their nominating process in earnest.
NEW YORK CIVIL CASES
Trump also faces a lawsuit filed against him by New York Attorney General Letitia James which alleges he and his Trump Organization misled banks and tax authorities about the value of assets including golf courses and skyscrapers to get loans and tax benefits.
James is seeking a $250 million fine and a ban on Trump doing business in New York. The trial will take place in a state court in October. If charged, this lawsuit could lead to civil penalties against the company.
Trump was also found liable in May for sexually abusing and defaming former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s. The jury, however, rejected Carroll’s claim that Trump had raped her in a dressing room and ordered him to pay $5 million to Carroll. He denied her accusations and appealed against the payment but a federal judge upheld the jury’s verdict against Trump.