Trump’s Ongoing Legal Issues
Trump Was Found Liable For The Sexual Abuse Of E. Jean Carroll. According to the New York Times, “A Manhattan jury on Tuesday has found former President Donald J. Trump liable for the sexual abuse of the magazine writer E. Jean Carroll in a widely watched civil trial that sought to apply the accountability of the #MeToo era to a dominant political figure.” [New York Times, 5/9/23]
The Jury Found That Trump Defamed Carroll. According to the New York Times, “The federal jury of six men and three women also held Mr. Trump, 76, liable for defaming Ms. Carroll when he posted a statement on his Truth Social website in October, calling her case ‘a complete con job’ and ‘a Hoax and a lie.’” [New York Times, 5/9/23]
The Jury Awarded Carroll $5 Million In Damages. According to the New York Times, “The jury awarded Ms. Carroll, 79, a total of $5 million in damages.” [New York Times, 5/9/23]
Jury’s Verdicts Were Unanimous. According to the New York Times, “The jury’s unanimous verdicts came after three hours of deliberation in Federal District Court in Manhattan. Its findings are civil, not criminal, meaning Mr. Trump has not been convicted of any crime and faces no prison time.” [New York Times, 5/9/23]
Federal
Special Counsel
November 18, 2022: The Department Of Justice Appointed Jack Smith As Special Counsel Over The Mar-a-Lago And January 6 Insurrection Investigations. According to CNN, “Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday appointed a special counsel to oversee the criminal investigations into the retention of national defense information at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and parts of the January 6, 2021, insurrection. […] Jack Smith, the former chief prosecutor for the special court in The Hague, where he investigated war crimes in Kosovo, will oversee the investigations.” [CNN, 11/18/22]
Confidential Documents Investigation
May 2022: Grand Jury Subpoenaed Documents With Classified Markings. According to the Washington Post, “Of particular importance to investigators in the classified-documents case, according to people familiar with the probe, is evidence showing that boxes of documents were moved into a storage area on June 2, just before senior Justice Department lawyer Jay Bratt arrived at Mar-a-Lago with agents. The June 3 visit by law enforcement officials was to collect material in response to the May 2022 grand jury subpoena demanding the return of all documents with classified markings.” [Washington Post, 5/25/23]
June 3, 2022: DOJ Lawyer Jay Bratt And FBI Agents Visited Mar-A-Lago To Collect Subpoenaed Materials. According to the Washington Post, “Of particular importance to investigators in the classified-documents case, according to people familiar with the probe, is evidence showing that boxes of documents were moved into a storage area on June 2, just before senior Justice Department lawyer Jay Bratt arrived at Mar-a-Lago with agents. The June 3 visit by law enforcement officials was to collect material in response to the May 2022 grand jury subpoena demanding the return of all documents with classified markings.” [Washington Post, 5/25/23]
August 8, 2022: The FBI Searched Mar-a-Lago For Classified Documents From The White House. According to the Associated Press, “The FBI searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate as part of an investigation into whether he took classified records from the White House to his Florida residence, people familiar with the matter said Monday, a move that represents a dramatic and unprecedented escalation of law enforcement scrutiny of the former president.” [Associated Press, 8/9/22]
The Search Warrant Cited Possible Violations Of The Espionage Act. According to the New York Times, “The warrant said the agents would be searching for material as they investigated potential violations of the Espionage Act, which outlaws the unauthorized retention of defense-related information that could harm the United States or aid a foreign adversary — a standard that was written by Congress before the creation of the modern classification system.” [New York Times, 8/12/22]
December 8, 2022: A Federal Court Of Appeals Overturned The Appointment Of A Special Master Who Was Charged With Overseeing Documents Seized By The FBI. According to Politico, “Former President Donald Trump’s quest for outside supervision of the Justice Department’s investigation into sensitive White House records seized at his Mar-a-Lago estate came to an end Thursday, after he failed to challenge an appeals court ruling rejecting such oversight. Trump had a week to contest the issue before the full bench of the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals or at the Supreme Court, but he did not. The appeals court formalized its ruling Thursday afternoon ending the so-called ‘special master’ process a lower judge established in September.” [Politico, 12/8/22]
December 9, 2022: Judge Howell Declined To Hold Trump In Contempt For Failing To Certify Documents Were Fully Turned Over. According to CNN, “A federal judge declined to hold former President Donald Trump in contempt of court in a closed-door hearing on Friday, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. The sources also told CNN that Chief Judge Beryl Howell instead pressed the Trump team and the Justice Department to work together to find a mutually agreeable resolution. ABC News first reported the judge had urged the teams to resolve the matter themselves. The contempt proceedings for Trump ended after almost 90 minutes behind closed doors on Friday afternoon at a Washington, DC, courthouse. CNN observed prosecutors, including the Justice Department’s counterintelligence chief Jay Bratt, and attorneys for Trump exiting the courthouse just before 3:30 p.m. ET. The two legal teams had gathered in the chambers area for Howell, who was set to consider whether to hold Trump in contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena ordering him to turn over classified records, according to CNN’s reporting. […] The DOJ sought to hold Trump and his office in contempt for not fully complying with the subpoena following the search of his Mar-a-Lago resort in August. Being held in contempt over subpoenas for documents has become a feature of the former president’s court tangles since he left office.” [CNN, 12/9/22]
December 12, 2022: Judge Cannon Dismissed Trump Attempt To Impose Special Master. According to CNN, “The special master review of evidence seized from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is no more. Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday formally dismissed the case, which Trump brought to challenge the Mar-a-Lago evidence collection and in which she appointed special master Raymond Dearie, another judge, to make recommendations on whether prosecutors could access evidence.” [CNN, 12/12/22]
December, 2022: Trump Lawyers Found Box Of White House Schedules With Some Marked Classified After Junior Aide Transported The Box Of Schedules From Secondary Office To Mar-A-Lago. According to the Guardian, “Donald Trump’s lawyers found a box of White House schedules, including some that were marked classified, at his Mar-a-Lago resort in December because a junior aide to the former president had transported it from another office in Florida after the FBI completed its search of the property. The former president does not appear to have played a direct role in the mishandling of the box, though he remains under investigation for the possible improper retention of national security documents and obstruction of justice. This previously unreported account of the retrieval was informed by two sources familiar with the matter.” [The Guardian, 2/24/23]
December 2022: Trump Lawyer Parlatore Testified Before The Classified Documents Grand Jury. According to ABC News, “A top attorney for former President Donald Trump gave previously undisclosed testimony before a grand jury late last year regarding efforts by Trump's team to locate any classified documents that remained in Trump's possession after the FBI's unprecedented August search of his Mar-a-Lago estate, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. The Dec. 22 testimony from attorney Timothy Parlatore was ordered after months of wrangling between Trump's attorneys and officials in the Justice Department, who had grown increasingly concerned that Trump still continued to hold onto classified documents after more than 100 were discovered in the August 8 search, sources said.” [ABC News, 3/23/23]
January 23, 2023: The Special Counsel Subpoenaed The National Archives. According to CNN, “In her letter, Wall says that NARA began searching for relevant records after receiving a subpoena from Smith’s team on Jan. 23, 2023. The Archives found 104 unclassified documents that matched what federal prosecutors had requested.” [CNN, 5/17/23]
January 2023: Trump Lawyer Corcoran Testified Before A Federal Grand Jury Over Trump Classified Documents. According to the New York Times, “Through witness interviews, subpoenas and other steps, Mr. Smith has been moving aggressively since being named to take over the inquiries nearly three months ago, seeking to make good on his goal of resolving as quickly as possible whether Mr. Trump, still a leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, should face charges. […] His prosecutors have brought a member of Mr. Trump’s legal team, M. Evan Corcoran, before a federal grand jury investigating why Mr. Trump did not return classified information kept at his Mar-a-Lago residence and private club in Florida. Justice Department officials have interviewed at least one other Trump lawyer in connection with the documents case.” [New York Times, 2/12/23]
January 2023: Trump Lawyer Bobb Appeared Before A Grand Jury Investigating Trump’s Classified Documents. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Two lawyers for Donald Trump appeared before a grand jury last month as part of the special counsel investigation into the handling of classified documents and other records discovered at the former president’s South Florida residence and private club, according to people familiar with the matter. Christina Bobb and Evan Corcoran, lawyers who have represented Mr. Trump in dealings with the Justice Department over the classified documents, made their appearances in the early weeks of January as the special counsel, Jack Smith, ramped up his investigation, the people said.” [Wall Street Journal, 2/11/23]
January 2023: Trump Lawyer Habba Appeared Before The Federal Grand Jury For Classified Documents. According to CNN, “Alina Habba, an attorney for former President Donald Trump, appeared last month before a federal grand jury investigating the mishandling of classified documents from his time in the White House, two sources familiar with the investigation told CNN. Habba is the third Trump lawyer known to have been brought before the DC-based grand jury, which is investigating obstruction in addition to criminal violations of government records laws.” [CNN, 2/14/23]
February 9, 2023: Special Counsel Smith Subpoenaed Former National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien In Both The 2020 Election And Classified Documents Probes. According to CNN, “Former national security adviser Robert O’Brien has been subpoenaed by special counsel Jack Smith in both his investigation into classified documents found at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and the probe related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to a source familiar with the matter.” [CNN, 2/9/23]
February 10, 2023: Folder And Document With Classified Markings, As Well As A Trump Aide’s Laptop, Was Turned Over To Investigators. According to ABC News, “Former President Donald Trump's legal team turned over a folder with classification markings found last month at his Mar-a-Lago resort to federal agents, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News. It is unclear what type of classification markings the folder had or what material had previously been inside. In addition to the folder, one document with classification markings was also turned over to investigators, the sources said. Additionally, sources tell ABC News that a laptop belonging to a current aide of the former president was also provided to federal agents.” [ABC News, 2/10/23]
March 16, 2023: At Least Two Dozen Mar-A-Lago Staff Were Subpoenaed To Testify Before A Federal Grand Jury In The Classified Documents Investigation. According to CNN, “At least two dozen people – from Mar-a-Lago resort staff to members of Donald Trump’s inner circle at the Florida estate – have been subpoenaed to testify to a federal grand jury that’s investigating the former president’s handling of classified documents, multiple sources familiar with the investigation told CNN.” [CNN, 3/16/23]
March 16, 2023: Trump Communications Aide Martin Testified Before The Grand Jury. According to CNN, “On Thursday, Trump’s communications aide Margo Martin, who worked in the White House and then moved with Trump to Florida, appeared before the grand jury in Washington, DC. One of special counsel Jack Smith’s senior-most prosecutors was involved in the interview.” [CNN, 3/16/23]
March 17, 2023: Federal Judge Partially Ruled Trump Lawyer Cororan Must Testify Before A Grand Jury Into Trump’s Possession Of Classified Documents. According to the Washington Post, “A federal judge has at least partially granted a request from U.S. prosecutors to force an attorney for Donald Trump to testify before a grand jury about the former president’s possession of classified documents after leaving office, according to two people briefed on the decision. The lawyer, Evan Corcoran, had refused to answer investigators’ questions about his interactions with Trump, invoking attorney-client privilege — a principle of U.S. legal practice that says lawyers must keep confidential what they are told by their clients.” [Washington Post, 3/17/23]
March 17, 2023: Former Chief Federal Judge Howell Ruled That Prosecutors Presented Compelling Evidence That Trump Knowingly And Deliberately Misled His Own Attorneys About Retaining Classified Documents. According to ABC News, “Prosecutors in the special counsel's office have presented compelling preliminary evidence that former President Donald Trump knowingly and deliberately misled his own attorneys about his retention of classified materials after leaving office, a former top federal judge wrote Friday in a sealed filing, according to sources who described its contents to ABC News.” [ABC News, 3/21/23]
March 17, 2023: Judge Howell Ordered Corcoran To Comply With Grand Jury Subpoena Over Six Lines Of Inquiry. According to ABC News, “In her sealed filing, Howell ordered that Evan Corcoran, an attorney for Trump, should comply with a grand jury subpoena for testimony on six separate lines of inquiry over which he had previously asserted attorney-client privilege.” [ABC News, 3/21/23]
March 17, 2023: Judge Howell Ordered Corcoran To Produce Records. According to ABC News, “Sources added that Howell also ordered Corcoran to hand over a number of records tied to what Howell described as Trump's alleged ‘criminal scheme,’ echoing prosecutors. Those records include handwritten notes, invoices, and transcriptions of personal audio recordings.” [ABC News, 3/21/23]
March 17, 2023: Judge Howell Ordered Trump Attorney Little To Testify On All But One Topic Where Little Sought To Assert Privilege. According to ABC News, “As ABC News has previously reported, investigators sought to compel the testimony of Corcoran and another Trump attorney, Jennifer Little, as part of their probe, citing the crime-fraud exception, which allows for attorney-client privilege to be pierced in cases where it is suspected that legal services were rendered in the commission of a crime. Sources told ABC News that Howell ordered Little's testimony as well, with the exception of one of the topics for which she sought to assert attorney-client privilege.” [ABC News, 3/21/23]
March 22, 2023: Three Judge Panel Of D.C. Circuit Court Of Appeals Declined Trump’s Request To Stay Judge Howell’s Ruling. According to Politico, “Trump’s bid to appeal Howell’s ruling unfolded with extraordinary speed on Tuesday and overnight into Wednesday. After setting middle-of-the-night deadlines for filings in the dispute, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday afternoon declined Trump’s request for a stay of Howell’s ruling, ordering attorney Evan Corcoran to provide records to a Washington-based grand jury assigned to the special counsel’s probe.” [Politico, 3/22/23]
March 24, 2023: Trump Lawyer Corcoran Testified For About Three Hours Before The Grand Jury In The Mar-a-Lago Documents Investigation. According to the Washington Post, “A key lawyer for Donald Trump appeared Friday before a federal grand jury investigating whether the former president sought to keep top-secret documents in his home — testimony that capped an ultimately losing effort by Trump’s legal team to prevent prosecutors from reviewing the lawyer’s notes and other documents in the case. Shortly before 9 a.m., Evan Corcoran strode into the federal courthouse in D.C., where judges had previously ruled he could not use attorney-client privilege to shield his material from investigators. He left about 12:20 p.m. Both Corcoran and his lawyer, Michael Levy — who accompanied his client to the courthouse but is not allowed to enter the grand jury room with him — declined to comment to waiting reporters.” [Washington Post, 3/24/23]
April 2, 2023: New Evidence Suggested Trump May Have Obstructed Investigation Into His Taking Of Classified Documents. According to the Washington Post, “Justice Department and FBI investigators have amassed fresh evidence pointing to possible obstruction by former president Donald Trump in the investigation into top-secret documents found at his Mar-a-Lago home, according to people familiar with the matter.” [Washington Post, 4/2/23]
April 7, 2023: Secret Service Agents Connected To Trump Were Subpoenaed And Were Likely To Testify Before The Grand Jury In The Classified Documents Probe. According to Fox News, “Several U.S. Secret Service agents connected to former President Trump have been subpoenaed and are expected to testify before a Washington, D.C., grand jury likely on Friday this week. The grand jury appearances are related to Special Counsel Jack Smith's probe into the handling of classified documents at Trump's personal estate, Mar-a-Lago. A source familiar with the probe did not give a definitive number of agents involved, but confirmed the April 7 scheduled testimony.” [Fox News, 4/3/23]
April 14, 2023: Federal Prosecutors Asked Witnesses Who Either Worked For Trump Of Had Legal Representation Provided By Trump Whether Their Attorneys Tried To Influence Their Testimony To Protect Trump. According to CNN, “Federal prosecutors investigating former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents are pressing multiple witnesses for details about their attorneys, including whether any of them have attempted to influence testimony in order to protect the former president, multiple sources tell CNN. Investigators have focused these questions toward a group of witnesses who either work for Trump or are represented by lawyers provided by him. In some instances, prosecutors have asked how witnesses found their lawyers and if they know how they were compensated during grand jury sessions.” [CNN, 4/14/23]
April 15, 2023: Trump Lawyer Corcoran Recused Himself From Representing Trump In The Classified Documents Case. According to the Washington Post, “One of former president Donald Trump’s top lawyers on the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case is no longer working on the matter after he appeared before a federal grand jury last month, according to people familiar with the move. Evan Corcoran is still representing Trump in other cases, such as special counsel Jack Smith’s probe into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information they are not authorized to disclose.” [Washington Post, 4/15/23]
April 20-21, 2023: Trump Advisor Epshteyn Interviewed By The Special Counsel’s Office. According to ABC News, “After meeting with special counsel Jack Smith's office for multiple hours Thursday, top Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn is expected to continue his interview today, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.” [ABC News, 4/21/23]
April 26, 2023: A Letter From Trump’s Attorneys To The House Intelligence Committee Said That Classified Briefings Of Phone Calls With Foreign Leaders Were Among The Documents Returned To The National Archives In January 2022. According to CNN, “Two of Donald Trump’s defense lawyers now believe that classified briefings of phone calls with foreign leaders were among ‘all manner of documents’ in 15 boxes that Trump returned to the National Archives a year after he left the presidency, according to a new letter his lawyers sent to Congress.” [CNN, 4/26/23]
April-May 2023: Questions About Handling Of Footage And Response To DOJ Request Prompted Another Round Of Subpoenas To Top Trump Employees. According to CNN, “Prosecutors for special counsel Jack Smith have been asking questions in recent weeks about the handling of surveillance footage from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort after the Trump Organization received a subpoena last summer for the footage, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation. The handling of the footage, and how employees within the Trump Organization responded to the Justice Department’s demand for it, have prompted a new round of grand jury subpoenas to top Trump employees in the last few weeks, the sources told CNN.” [CNN, 5/4/23]
April-May 2023: Almost Everyone Who Worked At Mar-a-Lago Was Subpoenaed. According to the New York Times, “In the past few weeks, at least four more Mar-a-Lago employees have been subpoenaed, along with another person who had visibility into Mr. Trump’s thinking when he first returned material to the National Archives, according to people briefed on the matter. Two people said that nearly everyone who works at Mar-a-Lago has been subpoenaed, and that some who serve in fairly obscure jobs have been asked back by investigators.” [New York Times, 5/4/23]
Prosecutors Subpoenaed The Software Company That Handled All The Surveillance Footage At Mar-a-Lago After Gaps In The Footage Were Found. According to the New York Times, “Prosecutors have also issued several subpoenas to Mr. Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, seeking additional surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago, his residence and private club in Florida, people with knowledge of the matter said. While the footage could shed light on the movement of the boxes, prosecutors have questioned a number of witnesses about gaps in the footage, one of the people said. But hoping to understand why some of the footage from the storage camera appears to be missing or unavailable — and whether that was a technological issue or something else — the prosecutors subpoenaed the software company that handles all of the surveillance footage for the Trump Organization, including at Mar-a-Lago.” [New York Times, 5/4/23]
May 4, 2023: Trump Organization COO Matthew Calamari And Trump Organization Director Of Security Matthew Calamari, Jr. Expected To Testify Before The Grand Jury Concerning Handling Of Surveillance Footage At Mar-a-Lago. According to CNN, “Longtime Trump Organization executives Matthew Calamari Sr. and his son Matthew Calamari Jr. are expected to appear Thursday before the grand jury investigating possible mishandling of classified documents brought to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, sources said. Prosecutors are expected to ask them about the handling of the surveillance footage and Trump employees’ conversations following the subpoena, according to the sources. Calamari Sr., the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Trump Organization, has primarily overseen security operations for Trump and his properties during his decadeslong career working for Trump. His son, Calamari Jr., is director of security for the Trump Organization.” [CNN, 5/4/23]
Federal Prosecutors Obtained Confidential Cooperation Of A Person Who Worked For Trump At Mar-a-Lago. According to the New York Times, “Federal prosecutors investigating former President Donald J. Trump’s handling of classified documents have obtained the confidential cooperation of a person who has worked for him at Mar-a-Lago, part of an intensifying effort to determine whether Mr. Trump ordered boxes containing sensitive material moved out of a storage room there as the government sought to recover it last year, multiple people familiar with the inquiry said.” [New York Times, 5/4/23]
May 16, 2023: The National Archives Informed Trump That It Would Be Turning Over 16 Records To Smith Showing Trump And His Top Advisors Were Knowledgeable Of The Correct Declassification Process. According to CNN, “The National Archives has informed former President Donald Trump that it is set to hand over to special counsel Jack Smith 16 records that show Trump and his top advisers had knowledge of the correct declassification process while he was president, according to multiple sources. In a May 16 letter obtained by CNN, acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall writes to Trump, ‘The 16 records in question all reflect communications involving close presidential advisers, some of them directed to you personally, concerning whether, why, and how you should declassify certain classified records.’” [CNN, 5/17/23]
Federal Prosecutors Subpoenaed The Trump Organization For Information On Its Foreign Business Dealings Since He Became President. According to the New York Times, “Federal prosecutors overseeing the investigation into former President Donald J. Trump’s handling of classified documents have issued a subpoena for information about Mr. Trump’s business dealings in foreign countries since he took office, according to two people familiar with the matter. The subpoena — drafted by the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith — sought details on the Trump Organization’s real estate licensing and development dealings in seven countries: China, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, according to the people familiar with the matter. The subpoena sought the records for deals reached since 2017, when Mr. Trump was sworn in as president.” [New York Times, 5/22/23]
May 23, 2023: Trump’s Lawyers Wrote A Letter To Attorney General Garland Requesting A Meeting Over The Special Counsel’s Investigations Into Trump. According to the Washington Post, “Former president Donald Trump’s legal team fired off a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday asking for a meeting to discuss what they call the ‘unfair’ treatment of their client by special counsel Jack Smith.” [Washington Post, 5/23/23]
Prosecutors Had Evidence That Trump Kept Classified Documents In His Office Where They Were Visible. According to the Washington Post, “Prosecutors in addition have gathered evidence indicating that Trump at times kept classified documents in his office in a place where they were visible and sometimes showed them to others, these people said.” [Washington Post, 5/25/23]
Prosecutors Had Evidence That Trump Showed Classified Documents To Others. According to the Washington Post, “Prosecutors in addition have gathered evidence indicating that Trump at times kept classified documents in his office in a place where they were visible and sometimes showed them to others, these people said.” [Washington Post, 5/25/23]
DOJ Sought To Question Trump Lawyer Cannon. According to the New York Times, “The Justice Department is also seeking to question a former Trump lawyer, Alex Cannon, who people briefed on the matter said repeatedly urged Mr. Trump to turn over the boxes of material that the National Archives was seeking.” [New York Times, 2/12/23]
Special Counsel Sought Interviews With People Who Worked In The Trump White House Familiar With How Trump Used Classified Documents On How He Carted Boxes Of Documents With Him During His Time In Office. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Smith’s team is seeking interviews with a number of people who worked in the Trump White House and who had familiarity with either how he consumed classified information, or how he dealt with paper that he routinely carted with him in cardboard boxes, during much of the span of his presidency. Such interviews could help Mr. Smith establish patterns of behavior by Mr. Trump over time, such as how he handled secret information he was provided about foreign countries and how he treated presidential documents generally.” [New York Times, 2/12/23]
May 24, 2023: NARA Intended To Turn Over Records To The Special Counsel Unless Blocked By A Court Order. According to CNN, “The National Archives has informed former President Donald Trump that it is set to hand over to special counsel Jack Smith 16 records that show Trump and his top advisers had knowledge of the correct declassification process while he was president, according to multiple sources. […] The letter goes on to state that the records will be handed over on May 24, 2023 ‘unless prohibited by an intervening court order.’” [CNN, 5/17/23]
Sources Said Special Counsel Smith Was Poised To Announce Possible Criminal Charges After Memorial Day. According to Bloomberg, “Special Counsel Jack Smith is wrapping up his investigation into former president Donald Trump’s refusal to return classified documents after his election defeat and is poised to announce possible criminal charges in the days or weeks after Memorial Day, according to people familiar with the matter. […] Trump’s associates believe the Justice Department’s investigation into documents taken from the White House after he left office is close to the end, said one of the people, but they don’t know if charges will be brought against the former president or anyone else.” [Bloomberg, 5/25/23]
2020 Election Investigation
July 2022: Sources Said The Department Of Justice Was Investigating Trump’s Actions To Overturn The 2020 Election. According to the Washington Post, “The Justice Department is investigating President Donald Trump’s actions as part of its criminal probe of efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to four people familiar with the matter. Prosecutors who are questioning witnesses before a grand jury — including two top aides to Vice President Mike Pence — have asked in recent days about conversations with Trump, his lawyers, and others in his inner circle who sought to substitute Trump allies for certified electors from some states Joe Biden won, according to two people familiar with the matter. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.” [Washington Post, 7/26/22]
September 2022: The Justice Department Was Investigating The Fake Electors Plot, False Election Fraud Claims, Legal Efforts To Challenge Trump’s Electoral Loss, And The Effort To Finance Efforts To Overturn The 2020 Election. According to CNN, “Justice Department criminal prosecutors are now examining nearly every aspect of former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election – including the fraudulent electors plot, efforts to push baseless election fraud claims and how money flowed to support these various efforts – according to sources and copies of new subpoenas obtained by CNN. The investigation is also stretching into cogs of the sprawling Trump legal machine that boosted his efforts to challenge his electoral loss – with many of the recipients of 30-plus subpoenas that were issued in recent days being asked to turn over communications with several Trump attorneys.” [CNN, 9/13/22]
November 2022: The U.S. Attorney’s Office In Washington Subpoenaed Giuliani For Records Concerning His Representation Of Trump. According to the New York Times, “Rudolph W. Giuliani, the lawyer who oversaw former President Donald J. Trump’s legal challenges to the 2020 election, has received a grand jury subpoena for records related to his representation of Mr. Trump, including those that detailed any payments he received, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday. The subpoena, which was sent in November, bore the name of a prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington. It predated the appointment of Jack Smith, the special counsel chosen to take over the Justice Department’s investigation of the roles that Mr. Trump and several of his aides and lawyers played in seeking to overturn the results of the election. It remained unclear, however, if Mr. Smith and his team have assumed control of the part of the inquiry related to Mr. Giuliani.” [New York Times, 1/9/23]
December 2022: Trump Campaign Officials Received A Subpoena From The January 6 Grand Jury. According to the Washington Post, “A wide-ranging subpoena sent to Trump campaign officials last month shows new areas of investigative interest as part of the Justice Department’s extensive Jan. 6 criminal probe, according to a copy reviewed by The Washington Post, and lawyers say a grand jury focused on the day’s events and related fundraising has increased its activities in recent months. The subpoena was received in early December, according to a former Trump campaign official who provided the document to The Post on the condition of anonymity because a criminal investigation is ongoing. The document seeks more than two dozen categories of information, and includes some questions that were not part of a series of similar subpoenas reviewed by The Post that were sent to several dozen people in September.” [Washington Post, 1/11/23]
December 2022: Election Officials In Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, And Wisconsin Were Subpoenaed For Any And All Communication With Trump, His Aides And Allies, And His Campaign. According to the Associated Press, “Special counsel Jack Smith has subpoenaed local election officials in Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania, asking for communications with or involving former President Donald Trump, his 2020 campaign aides and a list of allies involved in his efforts to try to overturn the results of the election. The requests, issued to Milwaukee and Dane counties in Wisconsin; Wayne County, Michigan; Maricopa County, Arizona; and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, are the first known subpoenas by Smith, who was named special counsel last month by Attorney General Merrick Garland.” [Associated Press, 12/6/22]
December 2022: Special Counsel Sent Grand Jury Subpoena To Georgia Secretary Of State Raffensperger And Election Officials In Nevada. According to the Washington Post, “Special counsel Jack Smith has sent grand jury subpoenas to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and to authorities in Clark County, Nev., bringing to six the number of 2020 battleground states where state or local election officials are known to have received such requests for any and all communications with Trump, his campaign, and a long list of aides and allies.” [Washington Post, 12/12/22]
January 2023: The Special Counsel’s Office Interviewed Former Acting Homeland Security Secretary Wolf. According to Bloomberg, “Chad Wolf, former acting homeland security secretary, has been interviewed as part of a special counsel’s probe into efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election, according to a person familiar with the matter. Wolf sat for a four-hour recorded discussion under oath a few weeks ago with several FBI agents and Justice Department lawyers rather than appear before a federal grand jury, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. The interview was conducted by representatives of Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to take over the probe in November, after former President Trump declared his candidacy for the White House in 2024.” [Bloomberg, 2/8/23]
February 9, 2023: Special Counsel Smith Subpoenaed Former Vice President Pence In Regards To Trump Attempts To Overturn The 2020 Election. According to ABC News, “Former Vice President Mike Pence has been subpoenaed by the special counsel overseeing probes into former President Donald Trump, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. Sources told ABC News that the subpoena from special counsel Jack Smith requests documents and testimony related to the failed attempt by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election, which culminated in the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The subpoena follows months of negotiations between federal prosecutors and Pence's legal team.” [ABC News, 2/9/23]
February 9, 2023: Special Counsel Smith Subpoenaed Former National Security Advisor O’Brien In Both The 2020 Election And Classified Documents Probes. According to CNN, “Former national security adviser Robert O’Brien has been subpoenaed by special counsel Jack Smith in both his investigation into classified documents found at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and the probe related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to a source familiar with the matter.” [CNN, 2/9/23]
February 12, 2023: The Special Counsel Investigated How And Why Trump’s Save America PAC Paid Their Vendors. According to the New York Times, “In addition to the documents and Jan. 6 investigations, Mr. Smith appears to be pursuing an offshoot of the Jan. 6 case, examining Save America, a pro-Trump political action committee, through which Mr. Trump raised millions of dollars with his false claims of election fraud. That investigation includes looking into how and why the committee’s vendors were paid. […] More recently his team has been asking witnesses about research the Trump campaign commissioned by an outside vendor shortly after the election that was intended to come up with evidence of election fraud. The existence of that research was reported earlier by The Washington Post. The apparently related investigation into the activities of Mr. Trump’s main fund-raising arm, the Save America PAC in Florida, was emerging even before Mr. Smith arrived in Washington around Christmas from The Hague. A vast array of Trump vendors have been subpoenaed. Investigators have been posing questions related to how money was paid to other vendors, indicating that they are interested in whether some entities were used to mask who was being paid or if the payments were for genuine services rendered.” [New York Times, 2/12/23]
February 15, 2023: Former Chief Of Staff Meadows Subpoenaed By The Special Counsel Over January 6. According to CNN, “Donald Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows has been subpoenaed by the special counsel investigating the former president and his role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. Special counsel Jack Smith’s office is seeking documents and testimony related to January 6, and Meadows received the subpoena sometime in January, the source said. An attorney for Meadows declined to comment.” [CNN, 2/15/23]
February 22, 2023: The Special Counsel Subpoenaed Ivanka Trump And Jared Kushner Concerning Trump’s Efforts To Overturn The 2020 Election. According to the New York Times, “Former President Donald J. Trump’s daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have been subpoenaed by the special counsel to testify before a federal grand jury about Mr. Trump’s efforts to stay in power after he lost the 2020 election and his role in a pro-Trump mob’s attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to two people briefed on the matter. The decision by the special counsel, Jack Smith, to subpoena Ms. Trump and Mr. Kushner underscores how deeply into Mr. Trump’s inner circle Mr. Smith is reaching, and is the latest sign that no potential high-level witness is off limits.” [New York Times, 2/22/23]
February 24, 2023: Chief Judge Howell Released Previous Sealed Rulings That Rejected Most Of Representative Perry’s Claims Of Protections Under The Speech And Debate Clause Concerning Documents On His Cell Phone. According to the Washington Post, “Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell of the U.S. District Court in D.C. released a number of previously sealed opinions after finding that the ‘powerful public interest’ outweighed the need for secrecy in the constitutional battle over Perry’s claims and the historic investigation. The Pennsylvania Republican has asserted that 2,219 documents contained on his phone are shielded by the Constitution’s ‘speech or debate’ clause, which grants members of Congress immunity from criminal investigation in their official capacities. But in a ruling in December, Howell rejected that claim for more than 90 percent of the records, ordering Perry to turn over 2,055 text messages, emails and attachments after concluding that they were only incidentally related to his status as a lawmaker, and not central to that status and constitutionally protected as part of his lawmaking. ‘What is plain is that the Clause does not shield Rep. Perry’s random musings with private individuals touting an expertise in cybersecurity or political discussions with attorneys from a presidential campaign, or with state legislators concerning hearings before them about possible local election fraud or actions they could take to challenge election results in Pennsylvania,’ Howell wrote.” [Washington Post, 2/25/23]
Chief Judge Howell Unsealed Her Order, Which Was Stayed By A Federal Appeals Court, After The Opinion Was Released To The House General Counsel’s Office And Certain Members Of Congress. According to the Washington Post, “The scope and nature of the Perry fight had been secret, because they involve an FBI search warrant used to seize Perry’s phone on Aug. 9. But Howell said the Justice Department agreed to unseal details Friday because a federal appeals court held fast-tracked public arguments this week after staying Howell’s order and approved the release of her key opinions to certain members of Congress and the House general counsel’s office. That office has taken Perry’s side. Perry’s lawyers objected to the unsealing, but Howell said redactions protected his interests, noting that the government’s specific allegations about why Perry’s phone might contain evidence of a crime remain under seal.” [Washington Post, 2/25/23]
April 4, 2023: Former Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Cuccinelli Was Seen Entering The Building Where The Grand Jury Met. According to CNN, “Now some of those same officials, including Wolf, Cuccinelli and O’Brien, as well as others who have so far refused to testify, may have to return to the grand jury in Washington, DC, to provide additional testimony after a series of pivotal court rulings that were revealed in recent weeks rejected Trump’s claims of executive privilege. Cuccinelli was spotted going back into the grand jury on Tuesday, April 4.” [CNN, 4/5/23]
April 11, 2023: Former White House Aide Miller Appeared Before The Grand Jury. According to Bloomberg, “Stephen Miller, a top White House aide to former President Donald Trump, appeared before a federal grand jury in Washington on Tuesday. Miller’s appearance came after a federal appeals court on April 4 rebuffed Trump’s request to block grand jury testimony by several former top administration advisers, a group that reportedly included Miller. Trump had unsuccessfully raised a challenge on executive privilege grounds before a district judge. Miller, accompanied by two attorneys, did not speak with reporters as he entered the courthouse and walked into the grand jury suite.” [Bloomberg, 4/11/23]
April 13, 2023: Former Director Of National Intelligence Ratcliffe Testified Before The Grand Jury. According to CNN, “Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe testified before a federal grand jury Thursday in Washington, DC, as part of the special counsel’s criminal probe into the aftermath of the 2020 election. Former President Donald Trump had sought to block testimony from Ratcliffe and other top officials from his administration, but courts have rejected his executive privilege claims.” [CNN, 4/13/23]
April 13, 2023: Former Acting Director Of National Intelligence Grenell Testified Before The Grand Jury. According to CNN, “Former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell testified Thursday before a grand jury investigating Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents. CNN identified Grenell as he was departing the courthouse in Washington, DC. Grenell was subpoenaed to testify in special counsel Jack Smith’s ongoing criminal probe, according to a source familiar with the matter.” [CNN, 4/13/23]
April 2023: Ken Block Was Subpoenaed And Met With Federal Prosecutors From The Special Counsel’s Office. According to the Washington Post, “Block said he recently received a subpoena from special counsel Jack Smith’s office and met with federal prosecutors in Washington, but he declined to discuss his interactions with them. Block said he contemporaneously sent his findings disputing fraud claims in writing to the Trump campaign in late 2020. ‘I just don’t believe it’s appropriate at this point in time to discuss anything related to the grand jury process,’ he said.” [Washington Post, 4/27/23]
Federal Prosecutors Interviewed Employees From Berkeley Research Group, Which Was Paid By The Trump Campaign To Investigate Election Fraud Claims. According to the Washington Post, “Separately, prosecutors have interviewed multiple employees from the Berkeley Research Group in recent weeks, another Trump-paid firm that produced a 29-page report ultimately undermining many of Trump’s fraud claims, according to three people familiar with the matter. Berkeley’s study contradicted claims made by Trump and his advisers that there were extensive numbers of dead voters and cases of fraud in states such as Georgia and Nevada.” [Washington Post, 4/27/23]
April 26, 2023: Former Fox News Producer Abby Grossberg Was In Discussions To Turn Audiotapes Over To The Special Counsel’s Office. According to CNN, “Special Counsel Jack Smith has expressed interest in audio tapes recorded by former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg while she worked at the right-wing network, her lawyer said. Grossberg attorney Gerry Filippatos told CNN on Wednesday that he has given a spreadsheet to the special counsel’s team, detailing the nearly 90 audiotapes in Grossberg’s possession. Talks are underway for a subpoena, so Grossberg can turn over the material to Smith’s team of federal prosecutors, who are investigating efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election. ‘We’re in the process of negotiating a targeted subpoena for Abby’s electronic data, so they can have what they want,’ Filippatos said.” [CNN, 4/26/23]
April 2023: Federal Prosecutors Focused On Whether Trump Violated Wire Fraud Laws By Raising Money To Reverse Election Fraud That Did Not Occur. According to the New York Times, “As they investigate former President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, federal prosecutors have also been drilling down on whether Mr. Trump and a range of political aides knew that he had lost the race but still raised money off claims that they were fighting widespread fraud in the vote results, according to three people familiar with the matter. Led by the special counsel Jack Smith, prosecutors are trying to determine whether Mr. Trump and his aides violated federal wire fraud statutes as they raised as much as $250 million through a political action committee by saying they needed the money to fight to reverse election fraud even though they had been told repeatedly that there was no evidence to back up those fraud claims.” [New York Times, 4/28/23]
May 2023: Trump Aide Russell Testified Before The Grand Jury. According to the New York Times, “A third track of Mr. Smith’s investigation is focused on Mr. Trump’s efforts to leverage claims of investigating election fraud to raise money. Mr. Trump raised tens of millions of dollars in small increments from donors as he aired allegations about election fraud that were eventually debunked. Mr. Smith’s team is still bringing witnesses to the grand jury in connection with that matter. One witness this week is William Russell, an aide to Mr. Trump who worked for him in the White House and who was paid by Mr. Trump’s political action committee, Save America, where much of the money raised went.” [New York Times, 5/22/23]
March 24, 2023: Former Chief Judge Howell Rejected Claims Of Executive Privilege For Several Of Trump’s Top Aides In The January 6 Investigation. According to ABC News, “A federal judge has rejected former President Donald Trump's claims of executive privilege and has ordered Mark Meadows and other former top aides to testify before a federal grand jury investigating Trump's efforts to overturn the election leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News. Meadows, Trump's former chief of staff, was subpoenaed along with the other former aides by Special counsel Jack Smith for testimony and documents related to the probe.” [ABC News, 3/24/23]
March 29, 2023: Trump Appealed Decision Requiring His Top Aides To Testify Before The Grand Jury. According to Bloomberg, “Former President Donald Trump is appealing an order rejecting his efforts to block grand jury testimony from several former White House advisers in an investigation into efforts to undermine the 2020 presidential election. A federal judge in Washington rebuffed Trump’s challenge earlier in March to efforts by Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office to question former top administration officials. That March 15 order is under seal, but a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss it confirmed the substance of the ruling, the date of the order and the district court case number. A new appeals court docket on Wednesday shows an appeal in that case that matches the date.” [Bloomberg, 3/29/23]
April 4, 2023: The DC Circuit Court Of Appeals Rejected Trump’s Emergency Request To Block Aides From Being Required To Testify Before The Grand Jury. According to Politico, “A federal appeals court in Washington D.C. has rejected an emergency bid by former President Donald Trump to block several top aides from testifying in the special counsel investigation of his effort to subvert the 2020 election. In a sealed order, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Trump’s urgent demand to block his aides from being required to appear before special counsel Jack Smith’s grand jury. Trump’s emergency motion triggered a frenzied set of overnight filings ahead of the Tuesday morning ruling.’ [Politico, 4/4/23]
May 2023: Former White House Deputy Chief Of Staff Dan Scavino Testified Before The Grand Jury. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Earlier this week, Dan Scavino, Mr. Trump’s former deputy chief of staff for communications, testified for eight hours before a Washington grand jury, according to a person familiar with the matter, weeks after a federal appeals court rejected Mr. Trump’s bid to block his testimony and that of other top aides.” [Wall Street Journal, 5/5/23]
March 3, 2023: Former President Trump Asked Chief Judge Howell To Prevent Former Vice President Pence From Testifying Before The Grand Jury Over Executive Privilege. According to the New York Times, “Former President Donald J. Trump has filed a motion asking a federal judge to prevent his former vice president, Mike Pence, from testifying to a grand jury about specific issues that Mr. Trump is claiming are protected by executive privilege, a person briefed on the matter said. The filing is unsurprising — Mr. Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly sought to assert executive privilege over former aides as a means of blocking testimony — but it underscores how much the Justice Department’s attempts to get Mr. Pence to testify in the investigation into Mr. Trump’s efforts to cling to power may be drawn out. The sealed filing was made on Friday, according to the person briefed on the matter. Its existence was reported earlier by CNN. A spokesman for Mr. Trump did not respond to a request for comment.” [New York Times, 3/4/23]
March 6, 2023: Former Vice President Pence Filed A Motion To Block The Subpoena Issued By A Grand Jury Investigating The January 6 Attack On The Capitol. According to CNN, “Former Vice President Mike Pence has filed a motion asking a judge to block a federal grand jury subpoena for his testimony related to January 6 on the grounds that he is protected by the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, according to a source familiar with the filing.” [CNN, 3/6/23]
March 23, 2023: Chief Judge Boasberg Heard Arguments About Whether To Enforce A Subpoena Against Former Vice President Pence. According to CBS News, “A federal judge heard arguments Thursday in a dispute between former Vice President Mike Pence, attorneys for former President Donald Trump and special counsel Jack Smith over whether Pence can be compelled to testify in Smith's probe of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, three sources tell CBS News. Smith issued the subpoena for Pence's testimony before a federal grand jury in February, and the former vice president said he would contest it, calling it ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘unprecedented.’ Trump's legal team claimed executive privilege over Pence's testimony after CBS News first reported prosecutors filed a motion asking the federal courts to compel the former vice president to testify. Emmet Flood, Pence's attorney, as well as Trump's legal team — Evan Corcoran, Jim Trusty, Tim Parlatore and John Rowley — were spotted inside the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., on Thursday ahead of the expected hearing. Legal teams for both Trump and Pence are working to fight the subpoena. Justice Department prosecutor Thomas Windom was also at the federal courthouse.” [CBS News, 3/23/23]
March 28, 2023: Chief Judge Boasberg Largely Rejected Former President Trump’s Attempt To Assert Executive Privilege Over Vice President Pence’s Testimony. According to Politico, “A federal judge presiding over the special counsel investigation into Donald Trump’s attempt to subvert the 2020 election has largely rejected an effort by the ex-president to assert executive privilege over the testimony of his former vice president, Mike Pence, according to a person familiar with the ruling.” [Politico, 3/28/23]
Pence Must Testify About Conversations He Had With Trump Leading Up To January 6. According to CNN, “A federal judge has decided that former Vice President Mike Pence must testify to a grand jury about conversations he had with Donald Trump leading up to January 6, 2021, according to multiple sources familiar with a recent federal court ruling.” [CNN, 3/28/23]
Judge Boasberg Ruled That Pence Had Some Immunity Due To His Role As President Of The Senate On January 6. According to Politico, “However, Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg agreed that Pence does enjoy a degree of immunity from testifying due to his role as president of the Senate on Jan. 6. It was not immediately clear whether that ruling is broad enough to satisfy Pence’s resistance to the subpoena — issued by special counsel Jack Smith — or whether he intends to appeal.” [Politico, 3/28/23]
April 5, 2023: Former Vice President Pence Decided Against Appealing Court Decision Requiring Him To Testify Before The Grand Jury. According to Politico, “Mike Pence has decided against appealing a court order requiring him to testify before the grand jury investigating Donald Trump’s effort to subvert the 2020 presidential election. ‘Vice President Pence will not appeal the Judge’s ruling and will comply with the subpoena as required by law,’ spokesman Devin O’Malley said Wednesday in a statement.” [Politico, 4/5/23]
April 7, 2023: Trump Requested The DC Circuit Court Of Appeals To Immediately Block The Subpoena For Mike Pence While A Full Appeal Was Pursued. According to Bloomberg, “Donald Trump has asked a federal appeals court in Washington to immediately block a subpoena for grand jury testimony from former Vice President Mike Pence. The former president’s lawyers filed the request on Friday under seal, but the public docket shows they asked the court to vacate the underlying order or at least stop prosecutors from enforcing the subpoena while they pursue a full appeal. The appeal, which is largely under seal but previously confirmed by Bloomberg News, was filed on April 10. The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has rebuffed Trump’s earlier efforts to halt grand jury subpoenas from Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office in its investigation into efforts to undermine the 2020 presidential election.” [Bloomberg, 4/14/23]
April 10, 2023: Trump Appealed Decision Requiring Pence To Testify Before The Grand Jury. According to NBC News, “Former President Donald Trump is moving to block former Vice President Mike Pence from testifying before a federal grand jury investigating Trump’s role in the efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to a source familiar with the litigation. The sealed appeal was filed Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia Circuit. It comes days after Pence's adviser said the former vice president will not appeal an order by Judge James Boasberg, the chief judge of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, requiring Pence to testify in special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into Trump. Boasberg issued that ruling late last month.” [NBC News, 4/10/23]
April 26, 2023: The D.C. Circuit Court Of Appeals Rejected Trump’s Attempt To Block Mike Pence From Testifying Before The Grand Jury. According to the Associated Press, “A federal appeals court on Wednesday night moved former Vice President Mike Pence closer to appearing before a grand jury investigating efforts to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election, rejecting a bid by lawyers for former President Donald Trump to block the testimony. It was not immediately clear what day Pence might appear before the grand jury, which for months has been investigating the events preceding the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and efforts by Trump and his allies to subvert the election outcome. But Pence’s testimony, coming as he inches toward a likely entrance in the 2024 presidential race, would be a milestone moment in the investigation and would likely give prosecutors a key first-person account as they press forward with their inquiry. The order from the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia Circuit was sealed and none of the parties are mentioned by name in online court records. But the appeal in the sealed case was filed just days after a lower-court judge had directed Pence to testify over objections from the Trump team.” [Associated Press, 4/26/23]
April 27, 2023: Mike Pence Testified Before The Grand Jury Investigating The January 6 Attack On The Capitol. According to the Washington Post, “Former vice president Mike Pence testified Thursday before a grand jury that has been investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and alleged efforts by President Donald Trump and others to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to a person familiar with his appearance who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.” [Washington Post, 4/27/23]
April 2023: Prosecutors Sought Documents Related To Trump’s Fundraising Following The 2020 Election. According to the Washington Post, “Federal prosecutors probing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol have in recent weeks sought a wide range of documents related to fundraising after the 2020 election, looking to determine if former president Donald Trump or his advisers scammed donors by using false claims about voter fraud to raise money, eight people familiar with the new inquiries said. Special counsel Jack Smith’s office has sent subpoenas in recent weeks to Trump advisers and former campaign aides, Republican operatives and other consultants involved in the 2020 presidential campaign, the people said. They have also heard testimony from some of these figures in front of a Washington grand jury, some of the people said.” [Washington Post, 4/12/23]
Prosecutors Reportedly Sought To Figure Out Whether Wire Fraud Laws Were Violated By False Representations Over Email For Money. According to the Washington Post, “The fundraising prong of the investigation is focused on money raised during the period between Nov. 3, 2020, and the end of Trump’s time in office on Jan. 20, 2021, and prosecutors are said to be interested in whether anyone associated with the fundraising operation violated wire fraud laws, which make it illegal to make false representations over email to swindle people out of money.” [Washington Post, 4/12/23]
Subpoenas Sought To Compare What Trump Advisors Were Telling Each Other To What They Said In Their Public Appeals For Money. According to Washington Post “The subpoenas seek more specific types of communications so that prosecutors can compare what Trump allies and advisers were telling one another privately about the voter-fraud claims with what they were saying publicly in appeals that generated more than $200 million in donations from conservatives, according to people with knowledge of the investigation.” [Washington Post, 4/12/23]
January 6 Committee
June 24, 2021: Speaker Pelosi Announced Creation Of A Select Committee To Investigate The January 6 Attack On The Capitol. According to CNN, “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday she will create a select committee to investigate the January 6 attack on the Capitol after Republicans blocked the formation of an independent commission. The select committee will corral the various House Democratic investigations into the events surrounding the deadly insurrection into a single effort to examine what led to pro-Donald Trump supporters breaching the Capitol and disrupting the certification of President Joe Biden’s November 2020 election win.” [CNN, 6/24/21]
June 9, 2022: The First Committee Hearing Opened With Chairman Thompson Saying Trump “Was At The Center Of This Conspiracy.” According to the Washington Post, “The House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the United States Capitol opened a landmark set of hearings on Thursday by showing video of aide after aide to former President Donald J. Trump testifying that his claims of a stolen election were false, as the panel laid out in meticulous detail the extent of the former president’s efforts to keep himself in office. Over about two hours, the panel offered new information about what it characterized as an attempted coup orchestrated by Mr. Trump that culminated in the deadly assault on the Capitol. The panel’s leaders revealed that investigators heard testimony that Mr. Trump endorsed the hanging of his own vice president as a mob of his supporters descended on Congress. They also said they had evidence that members of Mr. Trump’s cabinet discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. The session kicked off an ambitious effort by the nine-member committee, which was formed after Republicans blocked the creation of a nonpartisan commission, to lay out the full story of a remarkable assault on U.S. democracy, orchestrated by a sitting president, that led to a deadly riot, an impeachment and a crisis of confidence in the political system. ‘Donald Trump was at the center of this conspiracy,’ said Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and the chairman of the committee. ‘And ultimately, Donald Trump, the president of the United States, spurred a mob of domestic enemies of the Constitution to march down the Capitol and subvert American democracy.’” [Washington Post, 6/9/22]
October 13, 2022: The House January 6 Committee Voted Unanimously To Subpoena Trump. According to the Associated Press, “The House Jan. 6 committee voted unanimously to subpoena former President Donald Trump, demanding his personal testimony as it unveiled startling new video and described his multi-part plan to overturn his 2020 election loss, which led to his supporters’ fierce assault on the U.S. Capitol. With alarming messages from the U.S. Secret Service warning of violence and vivid new video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders pleading for help, the panel on Thursday showed the raw desperation at the Capitol. Using language frequently seen in criminal indictments, the panel said Trump had acted in a ‘premeditated’ way before Jan. 6, 2021, despite countless aides and officials telling him he had lost.” [Associated Press, 10/14/22]
December 19, 2022: The House January 6 Committee Issued Four Criminal Referrals Of Trump To The Department Of Justice. According to the Associated Press, “The House Jan. 6 committee urged the Justice Department on Monday to bring criminal charges against Donald Trump for the violent 2021 Capitol insurrection, calling for accountability for the former president and ‘a time of reflection and reckoning.’ After one of the most exhaustive and aggressive congressional probes in memory, the panel’s seven Democrats and two Republicans are recommending criminal charges against Trump and associates who helped him launch a wide-ranging pressure campaign to try to overturn his 2020 election loss. The panel also released a lengthy summary of its final report, with findings that Trump engaged in a ‘multi-part conspiracy’ to thwart the will of voters. At a final meeting Monday, the committee alleged violations of four criminal statutes by Trump, in both the run-up to the riot and during the insurrection itself, as it recommended the former president for prosecution to the Justice Department.” [Associated Press, 12/19/22]
December 22, 2022: The January 6 Committee Released Their Report Which Recommended Trump Be Barred From Federal Office. According to NPR, “After roughly 18 months of investigations, the House committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has released their full report. The document, which is more than 800 pages long, recommends the Justice Department pursue criminal charges against former President Donald Trump for his role in the attack. And they say Congress should act to bar Trump, and others involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection, from ever holding federal office again.” [NPR, 12/23/22]
The House January 6 Committee Said Trump May Have Violated Laws On Conspiracy To Prevent The Discharge Of Official Duties And Conspiracy To Prevent Execution Of The Law. According to the Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, “Depending on evidence developed by the Department of Justice, the President’s actions with the knowledge of the risk of violence could also constitute a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 372 and § 2384, both of which require proof of a conspiracy. Section 372 prohibits a conspiracy between two or more persons ‘to prevent, by force, intimidation, or threat, any person from accepting or holding any office, trust, or place of confidence under the United States, or from discharging any duties thereof, or to induce by like means any officer of the United States to leave the place, where his duties as an officer are required to be performed, or to injure him in the discharge of his official duties.’ Oath Keepers Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, and Jessica Watkins were convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. § 372 in connection with the January 6th attack on the Capitol.650 The Committee believes that former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (who refused to testify and was held in contempt of Congress) could have specific evidence relevant to such charges, as may witnesses who invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination before this Committee. Section 2384, the seditious conspiracy statute, prohibits ‘conspir[acy] to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States . . . or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder or delay the execution of any law of the United States . . . .’” [Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, 12/22/22]
The House January 6 Committee Said Trump May Have Attempted To Obstruct Its Investigation. According to the Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, “The Committee has substantial concerns regarding potential efforts to obstruct its investigation, including by certain counsel (some paid by groups connected to the former President) who may have advised clients to provide false or misleading testimony to the Committee. Such actions could violate 18 U.S.C. §§ 1505, 1512. The Committee is aware that both the U.S. Department of Justice and the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office have already obtained information relevant to these matters, including from the Committee directly. We urge the Department of Justice to examine the facts to discern whether prosecution is warranted. The Committee’s broad concerns regarding obstruction and witness credibility are addressed in the Executive Summary to this Report.” [Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, 12/22/22]
April 11, 2023: Former Trump White House Lawyer Passantino Sued The January 6 Committee. According to Bloomberg Law, “Former Trump White House lawyer Stefan Passantino is suing the House Jan. 6 committee, alleging its members pushed a ‘false narrative’ that he encouraged star witness Cassidy Hutchinson to lie to the panel. The committee leaked ‘an outrageous tale’ about Passantino to the news media, he said in a complaint filed Tuesday.” [Bloomberg Law, 4/11/23]
Tax Returns
May 10, 2019: The House Ways And Means Committee Subpoenaed Six Years Of Trump’s Tax Returns From The Treasury Department And The IRS. According to the New York Times, “The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee subpoenaed the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service on Friday, disregarding the Treasury secretary’s refusal this week to hand over six years of President Trump’s personal and business tax returns and demanding access. The subpoenas from Representative Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Massachusetts, to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Charles P. Rettig, the I.R.S. commissioner, amounted to an unexpected shift in tactics in the yearslong Democratic effort to secure tax returns that Mr. Trump has refused to release. Mr. Mnuchin had rejected a request for the returns made under a little-known provision of the federal tax code that dates back to the Teapot Dome scandal of Warren G. Harding’s administration nearly a century ago.” [New York Times, 5/10/19]
May 17, 2019: Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Refused The Subpoena. According to CNN, “Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Friday defied subpoenas from House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal for President Donald Trump’s tax returns. In a new letter, Mnuchin again says the request ‘lacks a legitimate legislative purpose’ and that he is ‘not authorized to disclose the requested returns and return information.’” [CNN, 5/17/22]
June, 2019: Trump Filed Multiple FOIA Requests While President In An Attempt To Look At IRS Deliberations Involving His Tax Returns. According to Bloomberg, “Donald Trump demanded reams of information from the Internal Revenue Service as it was preparing to turn over his personal tax returns to a congressional committee, papering the agency with a deluge of Freedom of Information Act requests in search of a behind-the scenes look at its deliberations, new documents show. The former president routinely works to drag out any legal challenge to him personally or politically. But this effort took an unusual turn when he filed several FOIA requests during the nearly four years he spent unsuccessfully trying to block his tax returns from becoming public. Trump’s decision to use the public records request law to get information from his own government is unconventional, largely because as commander-in-chief and leader of the Executive Branch he has numerous options to get data from federal agencies that don’t require him to use a last-resort tool available to anyone.” [Bloomberg, 1/30/23]
July 2, 2019: House Democrats Sued Mnuchin And IRS Commissioner Rettig. According to NPR, “House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., sued Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig to obtain six years of President Trump's tax returns. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., is the latest step in a months-long battle with the Trump administration over the president's tax records. Democrats want the court to enforce a subpoena requesting the returns.” [NPR, 7/2/19]
December 14, 2021: Federal Judge McFadden Ruled In Favor Of House Democrats. According to Politico, “A federal judge has rejected former President Donald Trump’s bid to block congressional Democrats from obtaining his tax returns. Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee to federal district court in Washington, said Trump was ‘wrong on the law’ and that Congress is due ‘great deference’ in its inquiries. ‘Even the special solicitude accorded former Presidents does not alter the outcome,’ McFadden wrote in a 45-page ruling. ‘The Court will therefore dismiss this case.’” [Politico, 12/14/21]
November 23, 2022: The Supreme Court Rejected Trump’s Appeal, Granting Congress Access To Trump’s Taxes. According to the BBC, “The US Supreme Court has cleared the way for ex-President Donald Trump's tax forms to be released to a Democratic-controlled congressional committee. The justices rejected Mr Trump's bid in October to block a lower court's ruling that granted the panel's request for his financial records. The move is a blow to Mr Trump, who has for years kept his returns sealed. He criticised the decision on Wednesday and said the Supreme Court had ‘lost its honour’.” [BBC, 11/23/22]
November 30, 2022: Congress Received The Tax Returns. According to CNN, “The House Ways and Means Committee now has six years of Donald Trump’s federal tax returns, ending a yearslong pursuit by Democrats to dig into one of the former president’s most closely guarded personal details. ‘Treasury has complied with last week’s court decision,’ a Treasury spokesperson told CNN on Wednesday.” [CNN, 11/30/22]
December 30, 2022: House Democrats Released Trump’s Federal Tax Returns From 2015 To 2020. According to the New York Times, “House Democrats released six years of former President Donald J. Trump’s tax records on Friday, offering new insight into his business dealings that further undermined his long-cultivated image as a wildly successful businessman.” [New York Times, 12/30/22]
January 23, 2023: House Democrats Asked The Government Accountability Office To Probe Why Trump’s Tax Returns Were Not Adequately Audited. According to Politico, “Democrats are asking a government watchdog to probe why the IRS didn’t adequately audit President Donald Trump despite its own guidelines and raising questions about potential political interference with the agency. Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) and 14 other Democrats who were on the Ways and Means Committee when the circumstances surrounding Trump’s audit were disclosed want the Government Accountability Office to examine the long delay in auditing Trump under an IRS program that mandates the scrutiny of tax returns filed by every sitting president.” [Politico, 1/23/23]
State-Criminal
New York
Tax Fraud
July 1, 2021: The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Charged The Trump Organization With Tax Fraud. According to the New York Times, “The Trump Organization, the real estate business that catapulted Donald J. Trump to tabloid fame, television riches and ultimately the White House, was charged Thursday with running a 15-year scheme to help its executives evade taxes by compensating them with fringe benefits that were hidden from the authorities. The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which has been conducting the investigation alongside the New York attorney general, also accused a top executive, Allen H. Weisselberg, of avoiding taxes on $1.7 million in perks that should have been reported as income. Mr. Weisselberg, Mr. Trump’s long-serving and trusted chief financial officer, faced grand larceny, tax fraud and other charges.” [New York Times, 7/1/21]
October 2021: The Trump Organization Was Held In Contempt In A Secret Trial After Prosecutors Claimed They Were “Willfully Disobeying” Grand Jury Subpoenas And Court Orders. According to the New York Times, “Donald J. Trump’s family business lost a criminal contempt trial that was held in secret last fall, according to a newly unsealed court document and several people with knowledge of the matter, with a judge ruling against the company almost exactly a year before it was convicted of a tax fraud scheme last week. The document, a judicial order released Tuesday, showed that in October 2021, a one-day contempt trial was held after prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office requested that the company be punished for ‘willfully disobeying’ four grand jury subpoenas and three court orders enforcing compliance.” [New York Times, 12/13/22]
August 18, 2022: Trump Organization CFO Weisselberg Pled Guilty To 15 Felonies In Plea Deal To Testify Against The Trump Organization. According to CNN, “Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, pleaded guilty Thursday to his role in a 15-year-long tax fraud scheme, and as part of the deal he has agreed to testify against former President Donald Trump’s real estate company at trial. In court Thursday, Weisselberg said, ‘Yes, your honor’ when asked if he was pleading guilty of his own choice. Weisselberg pleaded guilty to 15 felonies and admitted he failed to pay taxes on $1.7 million in income, including luxury perks, such as rent and utilities for a Manhattan apartment, leases for a pair of Mercedes-Benz cars and private school tuition for his grandchildren. He admitted to concealing those benefits from his accountant to under-report his income and knowingly omitting the income from his personal tax returns. Weisselberg answered a series of specific questions about the scheme from the judge in a hushed and barely audible tone, saying ‘Yes, your honor’ repeatedly. As part of the deal, he will pay nearly $2 million in back taxes, interest and penalties and waive any right to appeal.” [CNN, 8/18/22]
December 6, 2022: The Trump Organization Was Found Guilty On All 17 Counts Of Tax Fraud And Other Crimes For Giving Off-The-Books, Tax-Free Perks To Employees. According to the New York Times, “The Trump Organization, the family real estate business that made Donald J. Trump a billionaire and propelled him from reality television to the White House, was convicted on Tuesday of tax fraud and other crimes, forever tarring the former president and the company that bears his name. The conviction on all 17 counts, after more than a day of jury deliberations in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, stemmed from the company’s practice of doling out off-the-books perks to executives: They received luxury apartments, leased Mercedes-Benzes, extra cash at Christmas, even free cable television. They paid taxes on none of it.” [New York Times, 12/6/22]
January 10, 2023: Weisselberg Was Sentenced To Five Months In Jail And Five Years Of Probation And Ordered To Pay Nearly $2 Million In Taxes, Fees, And Penalties. According to the Associated Press, “Allen Weisselberg, a longtime executive for Donald Trump ’s business empire whose testimony helped convict the former president’s company of tax fraud, was sentenced Tuesday to five months in jail for dodging taxes on $1.7 million in job perks. Weisselberg, 75, was promised that sentence in August when he agreed to plead guilty to 15 tax crimes and to testify against the Trump Organization, where he’s worked since the mid-1980s and until his arrest, had served as chief financial officer. He was handcuffed and taken into custody moments after the sentence was announced and was expected to be taken to New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex. Weisselberg will be eligible for release after a little more than three months if he behaves behind bars. As part of the plea agreement, Judge Juan Manuel Merchan also ordered Weisselberg to pay nearly $2 million in taxes, penalties and interest — which he has paid as of Jan. 3. Additionally, the judge ordered Weisselberg to complete five years of probation after his jail term is finished.” [Associated Press, 1/10/23]
January 13, 2023: The Trump Organization Received The Maximum Penalty, A $1.6 Million Fine, For Its Convictions On Tax Avoidance. According to the New York Times, “Former president Donald J. Trump’s family real estate business was ordered on Friday to pay a $1.6 million criminal penalty for its conviction on tax fraud and other charges, a stinging rebuke and the maximum possible punishment. The sentence, handed down by a judge in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, caps a lengthy legal ordeal for Mr. Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, which was convicted in December of doling out off-the-books perks to some of its top executives. One of the executives who orchestrated the scheme, Allen H. Weisselberg, pleaded guilty and testified at the company’s trial. He was sentenced on Tuesday to serve five months at the notorious Rikers Island jail complex.” [New York Times, 1/13/23]
January 24, 2023: The Trump Corporation And The Trump Payroll Corporation Paid The $1.6 Million Fine They Received After Being Convicted On Tax Fraud. According to the Daily Beast, “Former President Donald Trump’s family company—notorious for stiffing contractors and dodging bills—has paid the $1.6 million fine it received for its tax fraud conviction in December. The New York County Clerk received the payment in two separate checks on Jan. 24, according to a clerk who confirmed matter-of-factly that the checks didn’t bounce. In recent days, according to a court spokesman, the clerk’s office notified Justice Juan Merchan, the judge who sentenced the Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corporation in January to the maximum financial penalty allowed by the state. The companies, which are part of the overall Trump Organization, were convicted in early December by a New York jury that was deeply offended at the way Trump’s businesses cooked the books to shower top executives with untaxed benefits.” [Daily Beast, 2/3/23]
March 2023: The Trump Organization Allegedly Fired The Lawyer Representing Their Former CFO Allen Weisselberg Because He Was Too Willing To Cooperate With The Manhattan DA. According to the Daily Beast, “The Trump Organization has suddenly switched the attorney representing its jailed former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, after some folks in Trumpworld expressed concerns he was too willing to play ball with the Manhattan District Attorney investigating former President Donald Trump, according to three sources familiar with the situation. For months, the Trump Organization paid New York City lawyer Nicholas Gravante to represent Weisselberg. But according to two people familiar with the situation who spoke with The Daily Beast on the condition of anonymity, Gravante wasn’t ‘Trumpy’ enough to keep onboard.” [Daily Beast, 3/30/23]
April 19, 2023: Former Trump Organization CFO Weisselberg Was Released From Jail 100 Days Into Five Month Sentence. According to Reuters, “Former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg was released from jail on Wednesday, according to New York City Department of Correction records. Weisselberg was sent to New York's Rikers Island jail on January 10 for helping engineer a wide-ranging 15-year tax fraud scheme at former president Donald Trump's family business. He was sentenced to five months behind bars but was eligible for release after 100 days with time off for good behavior.” [Reuters, 4/19/23]
Stormy Daniels
October 2016: Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 For Being Silent About A Sexual Encounter With Donald Trump. According to the Wall Street Journal, “A lawyer for President Donald Trump arranged a $130,000 payment to a former adult-film star a month before the 2016 election as part of an agreement that precluded her from publicly discussing an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump, according to people familiar with the matter. Michael Cohen, who spent nearly a decade as a top attorney at the Trump Organization, arranged payment to the woman, Stephanie Clifford, in October 2016 after her lawyer negotiated the nondisclosure agreement with Mr. Cohen, these people said. Ms. Clifford, whose stage name is Stormy Daniels, has privately alleged the encounter with Mr. Trump took place after they met at a July 2006 celebrity golf tournament on the shore of Lake Tahoe, these people said. Mr. Trump married Melania Trump in 2005.” [Wall Street Journal, 1/12/18]
August 21, 2018: Cohen Said He Made The Payment At The Request Of Trump While Pleading Guilty To Campaign Finance Law Violations. According to the New York Times, “Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, made the extraordinary admission in court on Tuesday that Mr. Trump had directed him to arrange payments to two women during the 2016 campaign to keep them from speaking publicly about affairs they said they had with Mr. Trump. Mr. Cohen acknowledged the illegal payments while pleading guilty to breaking campaign finance laws and other charges, a litany of crimes that revealed both his shadowy involvement in Mr. Trump’s circle and his own corrupt business dealings. He told a judge in United States District Court in Manhattan that the payments to the women were made ‘in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office,’ implicating the president in a federal crime. ‘I participated in this conduct, which on my part took place in Manhattan, for the principal purpose of influencing the election’ for president in 2016, Mr. Cohen said.” [New York Times, 8/21/18]
July-August, 2019: Manhattan District Attorney Vance Opened An Investigation Into The Hush-Money Payment. According to the New York Times, “State prosecutors in Manhattan subpoenaed President Trump’s family business on Thursday, reviving an investigation into the company’s role in hush-money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to people briefed on the matter.The subpoena, issued by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, demanded the Trump Organization provide documents related to money that had been used to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels, a pornographic film actress who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump. The inquiry from the district attorney’s office, which is in early stages, is examining whether any senior executives at the company filed false business records about the hush money, which would be a state crime, the people said.” [New York Times, 8/1/19]
November 2022: The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Jump-Started Criminal Investigation Into Trump, Focusing On The Hush-Money Payment To Daniels. According to the New York Times, “The Manhattan district attorney’s office has moved to jump-start its criminal investigation into Donald J. Trump, according to people with knowledge of the matter, seeking to breathe new life into an inquiry that once seemed to have reached a dead end. Under the new district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, the prosecutors have returned to the long-running investigation's original focus: a hush-money payment to a porn star who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump. The district attorney’s office first examined the payment to the actress, Stormy Daniels, years ago before changing direction to scrutinize Mr. Trump’s broader business practices. But Mr. Bragg and some of his deputies have recently indicated to associates, supporters and at least one lawyer involved in the matter that they are newly optimistic about building a case against Mr. Trump, the people said.” [New York Times, 11/21/22]
January 17, 2023: Manhattan DA’s Office Met With Former Trump Lawyer Cohen Over Hush Money Payments To Daniels. According to the New York Times, “The Manhattan district attorney’s office on Tuesday took a significant step forward in its investigation of Donald J. Trump, meeting with his former personal lawyer about hush money paid to a porn star who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The questioning of the lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, offered the clearest sign yet that the district attorney’s office was ramping up its investigation into Mr. Trump’s role in the $130,000 hush money deal. Mr. Cohen has said publicly that Mr. Trump directed him, in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign, to buy the silence of Stephanie Clifford, the actress known as Stormy Daniels. While the hush money was an impetus for the district attorney’s investigation, which began in 2018, prosecutors had shifted in recent years to a broader examination of Mr. Trump’s business practices. In recent months, however, the prosecutors returned to the payments, seeking to breathe new life into the investigation, The New York Times reported in November.” [New York Times, 1/17/23]
January 30, 2023: The Manhattan DA Planned To Present Evidence To A Grand Jury Concerning Trump’s Role In The Stormy Daniels Hush Money Payment. According to the New York Times, “The Manhattan district attorney’s office on Monday will begin presenting evidence to a grand jury about Donald J. Trump’s role in paying hush money to a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign, laying the groundwork for potential criminal charges against the former president in the coming months, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The grand jury was recently impaneled, and witness testimony will soon begin, a clear signal that the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, is nearing a decision about whether to charge Mr. Trump.” [New York Times, 1/30/23]
February 2, 2023: Manhattan Prosecutors Warned Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg He May Face Additional Charges On Insurance Fraud In An Effort To Pressure Him To Cooperate. According to the New York Times, “Manhattan prosecutors this week warned that they might file new fraud charges against Allen H. Weisselberg, a longtime top executive at Donald J. Trump’s real estate business — increasing pressure on Mr. Weisselberg to cooperate in a broader investigation into the former president, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Mr. Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, is already serving a five-month sentence in the Rikers Island jail complex after pleading guilty to unrelated tax fraud charges. While he testified against the company at its trial on the same charges last year, he has for years refused to turn on Mr. Trump directly. But as the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, jump-starts his office’s effort to indict Mr. Trump, his prosecutors are using the prospect of additional charges to exert leverage over Mr. Weisselberg, the people with knowledge of the matter said. The potential charges, which prosecutors conveyed to the former executive’s legal team this week, center on insurance fraud and could lead to a significant prison sentence for Mr. Weisselberg, who is 75.” [New York Times, 2/2/23]
March 1, 2023: Former Trump Campaign Manager Kellyanne Conway Met With The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. According to the New York Times, “Kellyanne Conway, who managed the final months of Donald J. Trump’s 2016 campaign, met with prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office on Wednesday, the latest sign that the office is ramping up its criminal investigation into the former president.” [New York Times, 3/1/23]
March 15, 2023: Former Trump Lawyer Cohen Concluded His Testimony Before The Grand Jury. According to Bloomberg, “Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen said he testified for a second and final time before a New York grand jury investigating the former president for potential crimes tied to hush-money payments made to a porn star during the 2016 campaign. Following his appearance before the grand jury Wednesday, which lasted at least two hours, Cohen told reporters he looked forward to testifying at trial if prosecutors decide to charge Trump. Cohen made his first appearance before the panel on Monday.” [Bloomberg, 3/15/23]
March 15, 2023: Stormy Daniels Met With The Manhattan DA’s Office. According to the New York Times, “Manhattan prosecutors on Wednesday met with Stormy Daniels, the porn star who was paid $130,000 to keep quiet about her affair with Donald J. Trump, according to a lawyer for Ms. Daniels. The lawyer, Clark Brewster, tweeted that at the request of the Manhattan district attorney’s office, he and Ms. Daniels had met with prosecutors. Ms. Daniels responded to questions, he said, ‘and has agreed to make herself available as a witness, or for further inquiry if needed.’” [New York Times, 3/15/23]
March 6, 2023: Former White House Aide Hope Hicks Met With The Manhattan DA’s Office. According to the New York Times, “Hope Hicks, a trusted aide to Donald J. Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign, met with the Manhattan district attorney’s office on Monday — the latest in a string of witnesses to be questioned by prosecutors as they investigate the former president’s involvement in paying hush money to a porn star. The appearance of Ms. Hicks, who was seen walking into the Manhattan district attorney’s office in the early afternoon, represents the latest sign that the prosecutors are in the final stages of their investigation.” [New York Times, 3/6/23]
March 24, 2023: Manhattan DA Bragg Received A Death Threat In A Letter That Also Contained A White Powder. According to CNBC, “Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was threatened with assassination in a letter containing powder, hours after former President Donald Trump warned Friday of ‘potential death & destruction’ if he is indicted by a grand jury in a criminal case led by Bragg. ‘ALVIN: I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!’’ said the typewritten note in a letter contained in an envelope addressed to Bragg, WNBC reported, citing law enforcement sources.” [CNBC, 3/24/23]
March 27, 2023: Former Chief Executive Of The National Enquirer’s Parent Company Pecker Testified Again Before The Grand Jury. According to the Associated Press, “A pivotal figure in the hush money payment investigation of Donald Trump returned on Monday to the building where a grand jury has been meeting for months, a repeat appearance suggesting his testimony could be key as prosecutors push toward potential criminal charges. There was still no word on when the panel might vote on a possible indictment of the former president. David Pecker, a longtime Trump friend and the former chief executive of the parent company of The National Enquirer, was back as the grand jury heard testimony in the probe for the first time since last Monday, when a witness favorable to the ex-president appeared.” [Associated Press, 3/27/23]
March 13, 2013: Trump Declined To Testify Before The Grand Jury Probing His Payment To Stormy Daniels. According to NBC News, “Former president Donald Trump will not appear before the Manhattan grand jury probing a hush-money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump attorney Joe Tacopina told NBC News on Monday. Trump's legal team met with the former president in Florida over the weekend. Following the discussions, the president decided not to sit for a meeting with the grand jury in New York. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office convened the grand jury to look into the payment made to Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress who alleges she slept with Trump before he became president.” [NBC News , 3/13/23]
Trump’s Lawyers Met With the Manhattan DA’s Office To Argue Against Prosecution. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Trump declined the offer, people with knowledge of his decision said. And members of his legal team recently met privately with prosecutors to make their case against an indictment, one of his lawyers, Joseph Tacopina, said on ‘Good Morning America’ on Monday. One of the lawyers at the meeting was Susan R. Necheles, who Mr. Tacopina said was ‘leading the charge’ for Mr. Trump.” [New York Times, 3/13/23]
March 20, 2023: Robert Costello Testified As A Rebuttal Witness For Trump Before The Grand Jury. According to Bloomberg, “Robert Costello, a lawyer who said he once advised Cohen, said he testified Monday for about two hours before the state grand jury investigating Trump as a rebuttal witness for the defense. Cohen denies Costello ever represented him.” [Bloomberg, 3/20/23]
March 18, 2023: Trump Said That He Would Be Arrested By The Manhattan DA’s Office On Tuesday, March 21 And Called For Protest. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Donald Trump called on his supporters to protest in the face of expected charges against the former president in New York connected to the payment of hush money to a porn star. Mr. Trump posted a message on his social media site Saturday morning, saying leaks indicated that he would be charged by the Manhattan district attorney’s office and arrested on Tuesday ‘BASED ON AN OLD & FULLY DEBUNKED (BY NUMEROUS OTHER PROSECUTORS!) FAIRYTALE.’” [Wall Street Journal, 3/18/23]
March 24, 2023: Trump Posted That A Charge Against Him Could Yield “Potential Death & Destruction.” According to a post to Truth Social by @realDonaldTrump, “What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former President of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting President in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country? Why & who would do such a thing? Only a degenerate psychopath that truely hates the USA” [Truth Social - @realDonaldTrump, 3/24/23]
March 25, 2023: House Committee Chairs Pressed DA Bragg To Cooperate With Their Request For Information. According to the Wall Street Journal, “House Republicans pressed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to cooperate with their request for information about the potential indictment of former President Donald Trump over his role in paying hush money to a porn star. In a Saturday letter to Mr. Bragg, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R., Ohio), Oversight Chairman James Comer (R., Ky.), and House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil (R., Wis.) outlined their reasoning for why Congress should have access to communications, documents and testimony relating to the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation.” [Wall Street Journal, 3/25/23]
March 31, 2023: Manhattan DA’s Office Called House Republicans’ Accusations Of His Indictment Of Trump “Misleading And Meritless” And “Baseless And Inflammatory.” According to Politico, “Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg defended his office’s decision to indict Donald Trump in a letter to Republican lawmakers Friday, rejecting GOP accusations of political persecution as ‘baseless and inflammatory.; ‘That conclusion is misleading and meritless,’ wrote Leslie Dubeck, Bragg’s general counsel, in a six-page letter to three House Republican committee chairs who have sought internal details of the criminal probe.” [Politico, 3/31/23]
April 11, 2023: Manhattan DA Bragg Sued House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan Over A “Brazen And Unconstitutional Attack” On The Investigation Into Donald Trump. According to the New York Times, “The Manhattan district attorney on Tuesday sued Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio in an extraordinary step intended to keep congressional Republicans from interfering in the office’s criminal case against former President Donald J. Trump. The 50-page suit, filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, accuses Mr. Jordan of a ‘brazen and unconstitutional attack’ on the prosecution of Mr. Trump and a ‘transparent campaign to intimidate and attack’ the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg. Mr. Bragg last week unveiled 34 felony charges against Mr. Trump that stem from the former president’s attempts to cover up a potential sex scandal during and after the 2016 presidential campaign.” [New York Times, 4/11/23]
March 30, 2023: Manhattan Grand Jury That Had Heard Testimony In Stormy Daniels Investigation Voted To Indict Donald Trump. According to the Washington Post, “A Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict former president Donald Trump, making him the first person in U.S. history to serve as commander in chief and then be charged with a crime, and setting the stage for a 2024 presidential contest unlike any other. The indictment was sealed, which means the specific charge or charges are not publicly known. But the grand jury had been hearing evidence about money paid to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, allegedly to keep her from saying she’d had a sexual encounter with Trump years earlier. Trump is expected to turn himself in and appear in court on Tuesday at 2:15 p.m., said a person familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that have not been publicly announced.” [Washington Post, 3/30/23]
Manhattan DA Bragg Said Trump’s “Unlawful Scheme” Violated Election Laws, Made False Business Records, And Committed Tax Crimes In Order To Influence The 2016 Presidential Election. According to the Statement of Facts in People v. Donald J. Trump from the Manhattan DA’s Office, “From August 2015 to December 2017, the Defendant orchestrated a scheme with others to influence the 2016 presidential election by identifying and purchasing negative information about him to suppress its publication and benefit the Defendant’s electoral prospects. In order to execute the unlawful scheme, the participants violated election laws and made and caused false entries in the business records of various entities in New York. The participants also took steps that mischaracterized, for tax purposes, the true nature of the payments made in furtherance of the scheme.” [Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, 4/4/23]
April 4, 2023: Trump Pleaded Not Guilty To 34 Felony Counts Of Falsifying Business Records. According to Politico, “Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 34 felony charges connected to his alleged role in hush money payments to two women during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump, the first former president ever indicted, delivered his plea in a Manhattan courtroom a few hours after turning himself in to authorities. All 34 counts he faces are for ‘falsifying business records,’ a crime that carries a sentence of up to four years in prison when charged as a felony. Judges often sentence first-time offenders to probation, particularly in non-violent cases.” [Politico, 4/4/23]
April 17, 2023: The Manhattan DA’s Office Asked The Judge To Look Into A Possible Conflict Of Interest Involving Trump Lawyer Tacopina. According to ABC News, “Prosecutors in New York City on Monday asked the judge overseeing the criminal case against former President Donald Trump to seek additional information from one of Trump's attorneys who they believe may have a potential conflict of interest in the case. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 hush payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the closing weeks of the 2016 campaign. Trump has denied all charges. Trump's defense team includes Joe Tacopina, a lawyer Daniels once considered hiring as her attorney, and the Manhattan district attorney's office said Tacopina's representations so far are insufficient. ‘[T]he People request that the Court make certain additional inquiries of Mr. Tacopina and conduct a Gomberg inquiry of the defendant,’ executive assistant district attorney Susan Hoffinger wrote in a letter to the court, referring to a hearing that would establish that Trump knowingly opts to continue with Tacopina as his attorney notwithstanding any conflict.” [ABC News, 4/17/23]
April 25, 2023: The Manhattan DA’s Office Asked A Judge For Order To Prohibit Trump From Discussing Evidence Turned Over To Him Prior To His Trial. According to Bloomberg, “Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office asked a judge to issue an order prohibiting former President Donald Trump from publicly discussing information prosecutors turn over to his lawyers before he’s tried on business fraud charges. ‘The risk that this defendant will use the covered materials inappropriately is substantial,’ Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Catherine McCaw wrote. ‘Defendant has a long history of discussing his legal matters publicly — including by targeting witnesses, jurors, investigators, prosecutors, and judges with harassing, embarrassing, and threatening statements on social media and in other public forums — and he has already done so in this case.’” [Bloomberg, 4/25/23]
May 4, 2023: Judge Merchan Ruled That Trump Could Not Talk About Evidence, Including Names And Personal Information, That Was Obtained By The DA And Turned Over To Trump’s Defense Team. According to the New York Post, “Former President Donald Trump has been banned from talking — or posting — about certain evidence uncovered in the Manhattan District Attorney’s ‘hush money’ criminal case. Justice Juan Merchan handed down the ruling Thursday during a Manhattan Supreme Court hearing after prosecutors sought a protective order to restrict Trump, 76, from publicly revealing any evidence handed over to his legal team as the case unfolds. The judge — who insisted he was not imposing a ‘gag order’ — said Trump was prohibited from talking about evidence specifically obtained by the DA’s Office and turned over to the defense to prepare for trial, including people’s names or personal information. ‘I am not going to do anything … to infringe on his First Amendment rights,’ the judge said. Merchan said Trump is still free to talk about information that is already on the public record, as well as the vast majority of evidence tied to the case that has comes from the defense.” [New York Post, 5/4/23]
May 4, 2003: Trump’s Legal Team Filed Papers To Move Case To Federal Court. According to Bloomberg, “Donald Trump is seeking to move his criminal hush-money case to federal court, away from the state judge whom he’s accused of being biased against him. Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, on Thursday afternoon filed papers formally requesting a transfer.” [Bloomberg, 5/4/23]
[New York Times, 5/4/23]
May 9, 2023: Judge Hellerstein Said The Case Could Proceed In New York State Court While The Motion To Move It To Federal Court Was Ongoing. According to ABC News, “‘In the meantime, proceedings may continue in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County,’ Hellerstein's order said.” [ABC News, 5/9/23]
May 16, 2023: The Manhattan DA’s Office Said Trump Was Not Entitled To Additional Details About The Charges He Faces From The Stormy Daniels Hush Money Payment. According to ABC News, “Former President Donald Trump ‘has more than sufficient information to prepare his defense’ and is not entitled to a written statement with additional details about the criminal charges he is facing, the Manhattan district attorney's office argued Tuesday in a new court filing. Trump, who last month pleaded not guilty in a New York City courtroom to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a 2016 hush money payment, is seeking a bill of particulars that would contain details about the prosecutors' theory of the case that are not included in the indictment.” [ABC News, 5/16/23]
May 16, 2023: The Manhattan DA’s Filing Said Trump Allegedly Falsified Business Records In An Attempt To Conceal Violations Of State And Federal Law. According to Business Insider, “Assistant District Attorney Becky Mangold did tip the DA's hand slightly in the filing. Trump allegedly falsified business records to conceal violations of the following state and federal laws, the filing revealed.” [Business Insider, 5/16/23]
May 23, 2023: Prosecutors Turned Over Discovery Evidence To Trump’s Legal Team At The Hearing. According to CNN, “Prosecutors turned over discovery material to Trump’s lawyers in court during the hearing Tuesday. Scheduling deadlines in the case have been pushed back to give the defense more time to review the materials.” [CNN, 5/23/23]
May 23, 2023: Trump Ordered To Virtually Attend A Hearing On The Protective Order Put On Trump Concerning Evidence In The Stormy Daniels Case. According to the Associated Press, “Donald Trump was ordered Thursday to appear by video at a May 23 hearing in his Manhattan criminal case after a judge this week set rules barring him from using evidence in the case to attack witnesses. Judge Juan Manuel Merchan scheduled the hybrid hearing — the former president on a TV screen, his lawyers and prosecutors in court — to go over the restrictions with Trump and to make clear that he risks being held in contempt if he violates them.” [Associated Press, 5/11/23]
About June 10, 2023: Trump To Receive Second Batch of Discovery Materials. According to Politico, “Around June 10 Prosecutors are expected to give the defense the second tranche of discovery materials, including materials they received in response to subpoenas, other witness materials and some police documents.” [Politico, 4/6/23]
June 15, 2023: Deadline For The Manhattan DA To Respond To Trump’s Motion To Move The Case To Federal Court. According to ABC News, “Trump's attorneys sought to move the case to federal court ‘because the case involves important federal questions since the indictment charges President Trump for conduct committed while he was president of the United States that was within the 'color of his office' and the charges involve alleged federal and state election law violations that have a federal preemption defense.’ […] The district attorney's office has until June 15 to respond to Trump's motion.” [ABC News, 5/9/23]
June 27, 2023: Hearing On Whether To Move The Stormy Daniels Case To Federal Court Scheduled. According to ABC News, “A federal judge in New York on Tuesday set a hearing next month to consider whether former President Donald Trump should be allowed to move his criminal case from State Supreme Court in Manhattan to federal court. Judge Alvin Hellerstein set the hearing for June 27.” [ABC News, 5/9/23]
Unknown Date: Trump To Receive Third Batch Of Discovery Materials. According to Politico, “Date unknown Prosecutors will hand over a third tranche of discovery materials, including certain internal emails from the district attorney’s office that are considered discoverable under the law. ‘Obviously, defense is entitled to see every single email discovery in this case, but those email messages tend not to be the most significant materials,’ one of the assistant district attorneys told the judge on Tuesday.” [Politico, 4/6/23]
August 8, 2023: Deadline For Motions. According to Politico, “Aug. 8 All motions must be filed with the court. Trump’s defense attorneys could file a motion to dismiss the indictment, a motion to argue that the statute of limitations has expired, or motion to argue that the charges should be downgraded to misdemeanors.” [Politico, 4/6/23]
August 29, 2023: Deadline For Defense Motions. According to CNN, “Defense motions are now due by August 29 and prosecutors must respond by October 10.” [CNN, 5/23/23]
October 19, 2023: Deadline For Prosecutors To Respond To Defense Motions. According to the New York Times, “The defense will file any motions — including a motion to dismiss the case — by Aug. 29, with prosecutors responding by Oct. 10.” [New York Times, 5/23/23]
January 4, 2023: Judge Merchan Epxected To Rule On All Motions. According to the New York Times, “The judge will rule on the motions on Jan. 4.” [New York Times, 5/23/23]
January 4, 2024: Next Hearing Scheduled. According to CNN, “The next hearing is now scheduled for January 4, 2024.” [CNN, 5/23/23]
September 19, 2023: Deadline For The Prosecution To Respond To Trump’s Motions. According to Politico, “Sept. 19 Prosecutors must file their responses to Trump’s motions.” [Politico, 4/6/23]
December 4, 2023: Judge To Rule On Trump’s Motions. According to Politico, “Dec. 4 The next court date in the case. The judge will issue his decisions on the motions. Blanche, Trump’s attorney, asked the judge to excuse Trump from appearing in person at this hearing, citing the cost and burden of the security measures required by his visit to the courthouse, but the judge denied that request. The judge added, however, that ‘if a reason were to come up that your client was unable to appear on that date — something unanticipated — you can certainly run that by me.’” [Politico, 4/6/23]
March 25, 2024: Trial Date In The Stormy Daniels Hush Money Payments Trial Set. According to CNN, “A New York judge has set a trial date of March 25, 2024, for the criminal case against former President Donald Trump, potentially setting up a media spectacle in the middle of the Republican presidential primary season. The trial date was set during a brief hearing Tuesday in which Judge Juan Merchan read Trump an order on what he can and cannot say publicly about the case and evidence his legal team will get from prosecutors to prepare for trial.” [CNN, 5/23/23]
Judge Merchan Asked The Parties To Agree To A Specific Trial Date In February Or March Of 2024. According to the New York Times, “At the hearing on Thursday, the state court judge in the case, Juan M. Merchan, asked prosecutors and Mr. Trump’s lawyers to agree on a specific date for Mr. Trump’s trial in either February or March of next year. If that schedule becomes final, the trial will unfold in the thick of the presidential campaign, in which Mr. Trump is a leading contender.” [New York Times, 5/4/23]
Fulton County Investigation
February 10, 2021: Fulton County District Attorney Willis Opened A Criminal Investigation Into Efforts By Trump To Overturn The Results Of The 2020 Presidential Election In Georgia. According to the New York Times, “Prosecutors in Georgia have started a criminal investigation into former President Donald J. Trump’s attempts to overturn Georgia’s election results, including a phone call he made to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Mr. Trump pressured him to ‘find’ enough votes to help him reverse his loss. On Wednesday, Fani T. Willis, the recently elected Democratic prosecutor in Fulton County, sent a letter to numerous officials in state government, including Mr. Raffensperger, requesting that they preserve documents related to ‘an investigation into attempts to influence’ the state’s 2020 presidential election. Of particular note in Ms. Willis’s letter was the wider scope of the investigation. Potential violations of state law include ‘the solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local governmental bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the election’s administration,’ the letter states.” [New York Times, 2/10/21]
January 24, 2022: Fulton County Judges Approved Willis’ Request For A Special Grand Jury. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “The judges on Fulton County’s Superior Court bench on Monday cleared the way for a special grand jury to be used for District Attorney Fani Willis’ investigation of former President Donald Trump and his efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. Chief Judge Christopher S. Brasher wrote that a majority of the judges had agreed to the request issued by Willis’ office late last week.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1/24/22]
May 2022: The Special Grand Jury Issued The First Round Of Subpoenas To Georgia Election Officials, Including Raffensperger. According to WXIA, “Willis has run into a similar issue with certain witnesses telling her office that they would only testify if sent a subpoena. Subpoenas for the case 11Alive received through an open records request show from the Georgia Secretary of State's Office that several staff members have been requested to testify before the jury. The list includes Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Chief Operating Officer Gabriel Sterling, General Counsel Ryan Germany, former Head of Elections Division Chris Harvey, former Chief Investigator Frances Watson, and former executive assistant Victoria Thompson.” [WXIA, 5/31/22]
January 9, 2023: Fulton County Special Grand Jury Completed Its Work And The Judge Overseeing It Ordered It Dissolved. According to a tweet from Sam Gringlas, “The Fulton County special grand jury has completed its work and the judge has ordered it dissolved. The special grand jury has been investigating efforts by former President Trump and his allies to interfere with Georgia's 2020 election result. #gapol” [Twitter – Gringlas, 1/9/23]
February 16, 2023: Judge McBurney Released Excerpts From The Fulton County Grand Jury Report. According to Bloomberg, “Excerpts were released from the final report of a Georgia grand jury investigating 2020 election interference by former President Donald Trump and allies. The introduction, the conclusion, and a section expressing concern that witnesses may have lied under oath were released under an order from Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney. But details about who the grand jurors said should — or should not — face charges will remain sealed, at least for now, to protect their right to due process, the judge said.” [Bloomberg, 2/16/23]
February 21, 2023: Fulton County Grand Jury Foreperson Kohrs Said The Jury Recommended Over A Dozen Indictments. According to NBC News, “The Georgia grand jury that investigated possible interference in the 2020 election by Donald Trump and his allies recommended indicting over a dozen people, the jury foreperson said Tuesday — a list she said ‘might’ include the former president. ‘There are certainly names that you will recognize, yes. There are names also you might not recognize,’ Emily Kohrs said in an interview that aired on NBC News’ ‘Nightly News.’” [NBC News, 2/21/23]
March 6, 2023: The Georgia House Passed A Measure To Create A New State Board To Punish Or Remove District Attorneys. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “The Georgia House approved a measure to create a new state board that could punish or oust district attorneys, the latest step in an ongoing campaign by Republicans to exert oversight over prosecutors they see as skirting their duties. The measure passed the House 98-75 on Monday over the objections of Democrats and prominent prosecutors. Among them is Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is leading an ongoing probe of Donald Trump and has framed the proposals as racist and reactionary.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3/6/23]
March 15, 2023: Five Grand Jury Members Gave Interviews Detailing Parts Of The Investigation Into Trump. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “In an exclusive interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, five of the 23 special grand jurors recounted what it was like to be a pivotal — but anonymous — part of one of the most momentous criminal investigations in U.S. history; one which could lead to indictments of former President Donald Trump and his allies.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3/15/23]
May 1, 2023: Ray Smith III, Who Represented Trump In His Attempt To Reverse Trump’s Loss In Georgia, May Be A Target Of The Fulton County DA’s Investigation. According to Politico, “Ray Smith III, a lawyer who represented President Donald Trump in litigation aimed at reversing Georgia’s 2020 election results, has indicated he may be a target of Atlanta-area District Attorney Fani Willis’ criminal probe. Smith’s attorney, Bruce Morris, characterized Smith as ‘something between a target and witness’ in Willis’ nearly completed investigation, according to documents filed Wednesday in a federal civil lawsuit in Washington D.C. That characterization was revealed by lawyers for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit — two former Georgia election workers who are suing Rudy Giuliani for defamation.” [Politico, 5/17/23]
March 20, 2023: Trump Lawyers Asked Judge To Toss Final Report Of Special Grand Jury. According to CNN, “Attorneys for former President Donald Trump have asked for a judge to toss the final report and evidence from a special grand jury in Georgia that spent months investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election.” [CNN, 3/20/23]
Trump Lawyers Asked Judge To Disqualify Fulton County DA’s Office From Overseeing Investigation. According to CNN, “Trump’s attorneys also are asking that a judge disqualify the Fulton County District Attorney’s office from overseeing the investigation, according to a new court filing.” [CNN, 3/20/23]
Trump Lawyers Alleged Process Was Unconstitutional And That The Fulton County DA’s Office Violated Prosecutorial Standards. According to CNN, “‘President Donald J. Trump hereby moves to quash the SPGJ’s [special purpose grand jury’s] report and preclude the use of any evidence derived therefrom, as it was conducted under an unconstitutional statute, through an illegal and unconstitutional process, and by a disqualified District Attorney’s Office who violated prosecutorial standards and acted with disregard for the gravity of the circumstances and the constitutional rights of those involved,” Trump’s attorneys wrote in the filing.” [CNN, 3/20/23]
April 28, 2023: Alternative Elector Cathy Latham Joined Trump’s Lawsuit To Try To Bury The Special Grand Jury Report. According to WXIA, “One of the ‘fake’ electors for former President Donald Trump is working to stop Atlanta prosecutors from proceeding with their investigation into alleged criminal interference in Georgia's 2020 presidential election. An attorney for Cathy Latham, the former chair of the Coffee County Republican Party, filed a motion Friday joining Trump's efforts to bury a special purpose grand jury report that recommends more than a dozen people be indicted for their actions. Both Latham and Trump want Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her office barred from any further investigation or prosecutions related to the election. The pair also argue evidence uncovered by the special purpose grand jury was ‘unconstitutionally derived’ and no prosecutor should be able to use it. Latham, a retired school teacher, was one of 16 Republicans who cast Electoral College ballots falsely claiming Trump won the 2020 presidential election.” [WXIA, 4/28/23]
May 15, 2023: Fulton County DA Fani Willis Opposed Trump’s Motion To Block The Release Of The Special Grand Jury Report, Saying It Was “Procedurally Flawed And Advance Arguments That Lack Merit.” According to WSB, “Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has filed her response to former President Donald Trump’s legal team’s request to block the release of a special grand jury report and have Willis removed from the case. In March, Trump’s legal team filed the motion, which was 483 pages long, saying the former president didn’t think the special purpose grand jury, the district attorney, or the judge overseeing it were fair. In her response Monday, Willis said the motions should be dismissed because they ‘are procedurally flawed and advance arguments that lack merit.’” [WSB, 5/15/23]
May 19, 2023: Judge McBurney Rejected Trump’s Request To Respond To A Filing From Fulton County DA Fani Willis. According to the Valdosta Daily Times, “A Georgia judge said late last week he has heard enough in the ongoing dispute between former president Donald J. Trump and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney denied a request from Trump who now wants to respond to the most recent court filing by Willis, who is investigating the former president and his allies for alleged interference in Georgia’s 2020 election. […] McBurney denied that request in a May 19 order. ‘To date, the Court has received well over five hundred pages of briefing, argument, and exhibits on the issues raised by former President Trump and Ms. Latham. There will be no more briefing unless it is solicited, in writing, by the Court,’ McBurney stated.” [Valdosta Daily Times, 5/22/23]
May 24, 2023: Trump Asked Judge McBurney To Reconsider His Rejection Of Trump’s Request To Respond To A Filing From The Fulton County DA’s Office. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Lawyers for former President Donald Trump on Wednesday asked a Fulton County judge to reconsider his decision to deny their request to respond to a District Attorney’s Office filing in the ongoing investigation into possible criminal meddling with the 2020 election. In March, Trump’s legal team filed a motion to disqualify the DA’s office from the case and to quash the final report of and evidence obtained by a special purpose grand jury that investigated the issue. A lawyer for alternate GOP elector Cathy Latham, who is a target of the probe, later filed a motion to join Trump’s motion. Because of Latham’s filing, Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney gave the DA’s office an additional two weeks to respond. After the DA’s May 1 response, which said Trump’s motion should be denied, Trump’s lawyers asked McBurney to give them a chance to respond.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 5/24/23]
April 18, 2023: The DA’s Office Sought To Disqualify Kimberly Debrow, The Attorney For 10 Of The Electors, For Failing To Inform Her Clients About Potential Immunity Deals. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “The DA’s office filed the motion in an attempt to disqualify from the case attorney Kimberly Burroughs Debrow, who is representing 10 of the electors. In the explosive motion, prosecutors allege that Debrow failed to inform her clients about the potential immunity deals after they were offered last summer.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 4/18/23]
Electors Told Prosecutors They Were Never Presented Immunity Offers. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Prosecutors said they had been told by Debrow and her then-co-counsel, Holly Pierson, on Aug. 5, 2022, that none of their clients were interested in immunity. But during interviews with the electors last week, some electors ‘told members of the investigation team that no potential offer of immunity was ever brought to them in 2022, which is in direct conflict with ... Ms. Pierson’s representation to this court,’ prosecutors alleged.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 4/18/23]
Interviews With The Alternate Electors Were Conducted On April 12 And 14, 2023. According to Politico, “In a court filing Tuesday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis noted that her office conducted those interviews on April 12 and April 14, suggesting an active and ongoing investigation. Willis disclosed in the filing that more than one of the false electors had described potential violations of Georgia state law by another one.” [Politico, 4/18/23]
Co-Counsel Pierson Said The Allegations From The DA Were “Entirely False.” According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “In a written statement, Pierson called the DA’s allegations ‘entirely false.’ ‘Sadly, the DA’s office continues to seem more interested in media attention, trampling on the constitutional rights of innocent citizens, and recklessly defaming its perceived opponents than in the facts, the law, or the truth,’ Pierson said.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 4/18/23]
May 10, 2023: Fulton County DA Fani Willis Dropped Her Motion To Disqualify Kimberly Bourroughs Debrow From Representing Alternate Electors After Two Of Debrow’s Clients Hired New Lawyers. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Wednesday backed off a push to disqualify the attorney jointly representing eight Georgia Republicans who served as ‘alternate’ presidential electors for Donald Trump in 2020. In a new court filing, Willis indicated she was dropping a complaint she’d lodged against Kimberly Bourroughs Debrow last month. She said her concerns were effectively addressed after two of Debrow’s previous clients, who had not been offered immunity deals by prosecutors, hired new lawyers.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 5/10/23]
April 2023: Fulton County DA’s Office Offered Immunity Deals To Some Alternate Republican Electors Who Cast Illegitimate Electoral College Votes For Trump. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “The Fulton County District Attorney’s office has offered immunity deals to some of the alternate GOP electors who met at the Georgia Capitol and cast phony Electoral College votes for Donald Trump following the 2020 election.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 4/18/23]
Court Filing By The DA’s Office Disclosed That Several Alternate Republican Electors Accused Another Alternate Elector Of “Violations Of Georgia Law.” According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “The Fulton County District Attorney’s office has offered immunity deals to some of the alternate GOP electors who met at the Georgia Capitol and cast phony Electoral College votes for Donald Trump following the 2020 election. In a court motion filed Tuesday, the DA’s office also disclosed that it has been interviewing several of those Republicans in recent weeks, and that some of them accused a fellow elector of committing ‘acts that are violations of Georgia law,’ the motion stated, without revealing specifics.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 4/18/23]
May 5, 2023: At Least Eight Alternate Electors Accepted Immunity Deals With The Fulton County Districts Attorney’s Office. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “At least eight of the Georgia Republicans who served as ‘alternate’ presidential electors in 2020 have accepted immunity deals with the Fulton County District Attorney’s office in exchange for their testimony, according to the lawyer representing the group.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 5/5/23]
May 2023: Lawyers Representing Georgia Republican Party Chair David Shafer Said He Should Not Be Charged In The Attempt To Overturn The 2020 Election Because He Was Just Following Advice Provided By Trump’s Attorneys. According to CNN, “Lawyers representing David Shafer, the embattled chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, are arguing their client should not be charged with any crimes for his actions following the 2020 election because he was following advice provided by attorneys working for former President Donald Trump, according to a letter sent to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis last week. Specifically, Shafer’s attorneys say their client was relying on ‘repeated and detailed advice of legal counsel’ when he organized a group of ‘contingent’ electors from Georgia and served as one himself, thus ‘eliminating any possibility of criminal intent or liability,’ according to a copy of the May 5 letter.” [CNN, 5/8/23]
Fulton County Prosecutors Sought Interview With Christina Bobb. According to ABC News, “Fulton County prosecutors leading the criminal investigation into efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia are now looking to question one of Trump's attorneys as part of the probe, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. Prosecutors in District Attorney Fani Willis' office have requested an interview with Trump's attorney Christina Bobb, according to multiple sources. It is not clear what information prosecutors hope to gain from Bobb, whose role in Trump's handling of classified documents is also being examined by special prosecutor Jack Smith.” [ABC News, 3/20/23]
July 11-September 1, 2023: Letters From Fulton County DA Fani Willis To Local Law Enforcement Officials Included A Timetable In Which She Would Announce Charging Decisions In The 2020 Election Investigation. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Monday said she would announce this summer whether former President Donald Trump and his allies would be charged with crimes related to alleged interference in Georgia’s 2020 election. Willis revealed the timetable in a letter to local law enforcement in which she asked them to be ready for ‘heightened security and preparedness’ because she predicted her announcement ‘may provoke a significant public reaction.’ In the letters, Willis said she will announce possible criminal indictments between July 11 and Sept. 1, sending one of the strongest signals yet that she’s on the verge of trying to obtain an indictment against Trump and his supporters.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 4/23/23]
July 31-August 18, 2023: Fulton County DA Fani Willis Asked Judges Not To Schedule Trials For The First Three Weeks Of August And Announced Remote Work Days For Her Staff During That Time Period. According to the New York Times, “The Georgia prosecutor leading an investigation into former President Donald J. Trump and his allies has taken the unusual step of announcing remote work days for most of her staff during the first three weeks of August, asking judges in a downtown Atlanta courthouse not to schedule trials for part of that time as she prepares to bring charges in the inquiry.” [New York Times, 5/19/23]
State-Civil
Background
April 25, 2022: Judge Engoron Held Trump In Contempt Of Court For Failing To Turn Over Records In New York Civil Probe Into His Business Practices. According to the Washington Post, “Donald Trump was held in contempt of court on Monday for failing to turn over records being sought as part of a civil probe into his business practices — a striking public admonishment of the former president, who remains dominant in the Republican Party and has signaled he will again seek the White House in 2024. Lawyers from the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) did not seek to jail Trump, but asked New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron to penalize him financially for failing to comply with an order to produce the documents by March 31. Engoron agreed to fine Trump $10,000 for each day the failure to comply continues.” [Washington Post, 4/25/22]
September 21, 2022: The New York Attorney General James Filed A Civil Lawsuit Against Trump, Three Of His Children, And His Business Empire For Fraud. According to Politico, “New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed suit against former President Donald Trump, three of his adult children and his business empire, accusing them of large-scale fraudulent financial practices and seeking to bar them from real estate transactions for the next five years. The attorney general’s civil suit alleges more than a decade of deception, including billions of dollars in falsified net worth, as part of an effort by Trump to minimize his companies’ tax bills while winning favorable terms from banks and insurance companies.” [Politico, 9/23/22]
The Suit Sought $250 Million In Damages, A Five-Year Ban On Participating In Real Estate Transactions, And A Permanent Ban On Serving On The Board Of Any New York Business. According to Politico, “It seeks about $250 million in allegedly illegal profits netted from the scheme, as well as a five-year ban on the former president, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump participating in any real estate transactions–a restriction that would spell the end of the Trump real estate empire. In addition, it seeks a permanent ban on the former president and his family members involved in his business enterprises from serving as directors or officers of any New York corporation or business licensed in the state.” [Politico, 9/23/22]
Attorney General James Also Made Criminal Referrals To The IRS And Federal Prosecutors In Manhattan. According to Politico, “James’ suit relies on a special statute for repeat instances of alleged violations of the law, stemming from real estate transactions. She is also filing a criminal referral to federal prosecutors in Manhattan and a separate tax fraud referral to the IRS for the same underlying allegations.” [Politico, 9/23/22]
September 21, 2022: Trump Organization II Was Registered The Same Day The Lawsuit Was Filed. According to Business Insider, “With his business empire, the Trump Organization, in civil and criminal jeopardy in New York, Donald Trump has come up with an apparent solution that has angered state officials: He has formed the Trump Organization II. The new company was registered with the New York Department of State on September 21, public records show — the very day that the state attorney general, Letitia James, filed a 220-page fraud lawsuit against Trump, his family, and the original Trump Organization, the umbrella company for the former president's real-estate and golf-resort holdings.” [Business Insider, 10/13/22]
November 2, 2022: Trump Sued James In Florida State Court. According to The Guardian, “Donald Trump has sued the attorney general of New York state, Letitia James, over what he claims is a ‘relentless, pernicious, public, and unapologetic crusade’ against him, in the shape of her recent civil lawsuit against the former president and three of his adult children, Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric. Filed on Wednesday in a circuit court in Florida, the lawsuit says James’s suit, which she announced in a dramatic press conference in September, will cause ‘great harm’ to the company, brand and reputation of the thrice-married, oft-sued, twice-impeached and extensively legally imperiled former president.” [The Guardian, 11/3/22]
November 3, 2022: Judge Granted New York Attorney General’s Request To Place An Independent Monitor Over The Trump Organization. According to Politico, “A judge Thursday granted the New York attorney general’s request that former President Donald Trump’s business empire be overseen by an independent monitor. New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron issued an order after a daylong hearing, requiring that the Trump Organization’s dealings with banks and sale of major assets be subject to supervision by a third-party expert to be named by the court. One provision in the order requires 14-days notice to the court before Trump can dispose of any ‘non-cash asset’ listed in a financial statement his firm prepared last year.” [Politico, 11/3/22]
November 17, 2022: Trump’s Lawsuit Against James Moved To Federal Court. According to Newsweek, “Former President Donald Trump has been dealt another tough hand that could mar his chances of winning a lawsuit against one of his biggest rivals, New York Attorney General Letitia James. Two weeks ago, Trump's attorneys filed suit in Florida state court, seeking to block James' own civil case in New York against the former president and the Trump Organization. But this week, the case was moved to Florida's federal courts at James' request and the suit fell before Judge Donald Middlebrooks—a Clinton-appointed judge who just fined Trump's lawyers in a different suit days ago.” [Newsweek, 11/17/22]
January 31, 2023: Portions Of Trump’s August 10 Video Deposition With The New York Attorney General’s Office Were Released. According to CBS News, “Newly released video obtained by CBS News provides the first look at former President Donald Trump's deposition last summer in the New York attorney general's civil fraud investigation. Trump sat for questioning under oath on Aug. 10, and the video shows him politely answering the opening questions from state Attorney General Letitia James.” [CBS News, 1/31/23]
Trump Invoked The 5th Amendment Over 400 Times. According to CBS News, “Trump did so more than 400 times during the course of the full interview, according to a New York attorney general court filing. After the deposition concluded, Trump issued a public statement saying that he had exercised his Fifth Amendment right and refused to answer.” [CBS News, 1/31/23]
November 9, 2022: A New York Appellate Court Rejected Trump’s Request To Stay Ruling Requiring An Independent Monitor To Oversee The Trump Organization, But Would Reconsider The Request At A Later Date. According to ABC News, “A New York appellate court has declined, at least for now, to stay a judge's order appointing an independent monitor to oversee former President Donald Trump's family real estate firm. Trump and the New York Attorney General's office were supposed to begin submitting candidates for the monitor job this week.The decision, issued Wednesday, said the Appellate Division's First Department would reconsider the matter at a later time.” [ABC News, 11/9/22]
November 14, 2022: Retired Judge Jones Named As Independent Monitor. According to CNBC, “A New York court Monday appointed retired Judge Barbara Jones to oversee some of the Trump Organization’s financial statements as part of a lawsuit alleging widespread fraud by former President Donald Trump, his businesses and his family members. Both Trump and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who filed the sweeping fraud suit in September, had recommended Jones as their top pick to serve as independent monitor in the case.” [CNBC, 11/14/22]
December 21, 2022: Federal Judge Rejected Trump’s Attempt To Block The New York Attorney General From Seeking Materials From Trump’s Trust. According to CNN, “A federal judge in Florida on Wednesday denied former President Donald Trump’s request to block the New York attorney general’s office from seeking materials from his private trust. Judge Donald Middlebrooks ruled that the attorney general’s office ‘raises four reasons – all of which are likely correct – why Plaintiff has no substantial likelihood of success on the merits.’ Among them, the judge said it is not obvious that Florida’s trust laws were ‘intended to reach government officials lawfully bringing enforcement actions for alleged fraud.’” [CNN, 12/21/22]
January 6, 2023: Trump’s Motion To Throw Out Civil Suit Against Him From New York’s Attorney General Was Denied By A New York Judge. According to the New York Times, “A New York judge declined on Friday to throw out the state attorney general’s civil fraud case against former President Donald J. Trump, increasing the likelihood that he will face a trial this fall. In a sharply worded order, the judge, Justice Arthur F. Engoron of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, denied Mr. Trump’s motion to dismiss the case, granting the attorney general, Letitia James, another victory in the matter. In September, Ms. James filed a lawsuit accusing Mr. Trump, three of his adult children and their family business of overvaluing his assets by billions of dollars. In his written order, Justice Engoron said that some of the arguments repeatedly made by Mr. Trump’s lawyers were ‘frivolous,’ and had been ‘borderline frivolous even the first time defendants made them.’” [New York Times, 1/6/23]
January 20, 2023: Trump Withdrew His Florida Lawsuit Against New York Attorney General James. According to the Daily Beast, “On Friday, Trump withdrew his mind-boggling lawsuit in Florida against New York Attorney General Letitia James, a ploy that was widely regarded by legal scholars as a bald-faced delay tactic. The filing, made in Palm Beach County court, was curt—it merely stated that Trump ‘hereby voluntarily dismisses his claims in this action.’ There was no explanation given.” [Daily Beast, 1/20/23]
January 24, 2023: Trump Withdrew A Second Lawsuit Challenging The New York Attorney General’s Investigation Into The Trump Organization. According to CNN, “Former President Donald Trump has withdrawn a second lawsuit challenging the New York attorney general’s investigation into the Trump Organization, days after dropping a case attempting to block access to his personal trust. In a one-page filing, lawyers for Trump and Attorney General Letitia James said they reached an agreement to dismiss the appeal with prejudice, meaning it could not be revived in the future.” [CNN, 1/24/23]
January 25, 2023: Trump Appealed $110,000 Penalty He Was Ordered To Pay For Being In Contempt Of Court For Not Properly Responding To A Subpoena. According to Bloomberg, “A New York state appeals court is weighing former President Donald Trump’s bid to reverse a $110,000 penalty he was ordered to pay last year for being in contempt of court during the state’s probe of his business. A panel of judges in Manhattan on Wednesday began considering written arguments submitted by Trump and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who issued the subpoena that the former president allegedly flouted. Trump argues the penalty is ‘excessive and unjustified.’ Trump was held in contempt in April and fined $10,000 a day by a judge who concluded Trump hadn’t properly responded to a demand for any corporate documents in his personal possession. Trump had said there were no such documents, but the judge ruled he failed to explain the details of his search or provide a sworn affidavit on the result.” [Bloomberg, 1/26/23]
February 14, 2023: A New York Appeals Court Rejected Trump’s Attempt To Void His $110,000 Contempt Of Court Penalty. According to Bloomberg, “A New York appeals court upheld a $110,000 penalty against former President Donald Trump for being in contempt of court during the state’s probe into allegedly fraudulent asset valuations at his company. The judge who issued the fine last year correctly determined that Trump’s response to the state’s subpoena for records in his personal possession had ‘prejudicially violated the lawful, clear mandate of the court,’ an appellate panel ruled Tuesday in Manhattan.” [Bloomberg, 2/14/23]
Current Status
January 26, 2023: Trump Argued In Court Filing That The Trump Organization Can Not Be Sued Because It Does Not Legally Exist, But Rather Is A Branding Shorthand. According to Business Insider, “Donald Trump, his real-estate company and his three eldest children have filed an extraordinary, nose-thumbing response to the $250 million fraud lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James in September, stating that ‘Trump Organization’ is branding shorthand — not a legal entity — so it can't be sued. ‘To the extent a response is required, Defendant specifically denies the definitions of ‘Trump Organization’ and ‘Defendants,’ reads Donald Trump's response to the lawsuit, one of 16 answers filed late Thursday night. ‘While the shorthand ‘Trump Organization’ is utilized by Defendants for branding and business purposes, no entity as such exists for legal purposes,’ Donald Trump's response continues, using language that is repeated throughout his 300-page filing and throughout the similarly-lengthy 15 filings of his fellow defendants.” [Business Insider, 1/27/23]
February 1, 2023: Trump Given Second Opportunity To Answer Lawsuit From The NY AG’s Office. According to the Daily Beast, “After exhausting a New York judge with incessant lying and legal delay games, the Trump family will get a second chance to answer a lawsuit from the New York Attorney General that threatens to bankrupt the real estate empire that bears the ex-president’s name.” [Daily Beast, 2/1/23]
February 23, 2023: Trump Subpoenaed His Longtime Private Banker, And Former Deutsche Bank Managing Director, Rosemary Vrablic As Well As Mazars Partner Donald Bender. According to Bloomberg, “Former President Donald Trump subpoenaed his longtime private banker for documents and testimony in New York Attorney General Letitia James’s suit accusing him and his real estate company of using false asset valuations to dupe banks and insurers. Rosemary Vrablic, a former Deutsche Bank managing director who arranged hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to Trump’s company, was subpoenaed last week, according to a Wednesday court filing by James. Trump also subpoenaed Donald Bender, a partner at his former accounting firm Mazars.” [Bloomberg, 2/23/23]
Michael Cohen Received A Deposition Subpoena From Trump In The New York Civil Fraud Case. According to Business Insider, “With an October trial looming in the New York attorney general's massive, $250 million fraud lawsuit against the former president and his business empire, Trump's side has sent out a flurry of last-minute deposition subpoenas. Subpoenas were served on as many as 10 people who Trump and his co-defendants may want to call at trial, including Donald Bender, the top Mazars USA accountant who for years prepared Trump's personal and corporate taxes. Rosemary Vrablic, Trump's longtime former banker at Deutsche Bank, also got one, according to court papers. Michael Cohen, Trump's lawyer-turned-very-vocal nemesis, got one of these deposition subpoenas from Trump as well. It was dropped off last week at his front desk, he told Insider. ‘After advisement by counsel, I have decided to challenge the subpoena and intend on making a motion to quash,’ he said. ‘The subpoena was improperly served, I am not a party to this action and the subpoena lacks any specificity as to why I am being called as a non-party witness,’ he added. ‘It's just bad lawyering by team Trump.’” [Business Insider, 3/2/23]
March 2, 2023: Trump Asked To Delay The Trial About Six Months, Moving The Trial Into 2024 If Granted. According to the Hill, “Former President Trump on Friday asked for a roughly six-month delay in New York Attorney General Letitia James’s (D) civil fraud suit against him. Trump’s motion, if granted, would likely push his trial back until the heat of the presidential primary season in the early months of 2024. […] Trump’s motion asks to delay a number of pretrial deadlines, each by roughly six months, which would likely push the new trial date deep into the 2024 campaign season.” [The Hill, 3/3/23]
March 2, 2023: Trump Asked For An Extension To The March 20 Deadline To Conduct Depositions. According to Business Insider, “The deadlines are nothing new. They were agreed to by both sides back in November. Lawyers for Trump and for James had until Tuesday to give each other ‘timely notice’ of who they will be deposing and when. And they all have until March 20 to conduct depositions. Trump's side — or more precisely, the legal teams for Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and a dozen Trump Organization executives and corporate entities, all named as defendants in James' lawsuit — are now asking for additional time to meet that March 20 deadline. ‘The current schedule imposes significant hardship,’ according to a recent letter filed by lawyer Clifford S. Robert on behalf the lawsuit's 16 Trump defendants.” [Business Insider, 3/2/23]
March 2, 2023: Trump Asked To Delay The Trial In The NYAG’s Civil Fraud Lawsuit Because He Needed More Time To Review Evidence And Gather Testimony. According to Bloomberg, “Donald Trump asked a judge to delay the trial in the New York attorney general’s civil fraud suit over his company’s asset valuations, saying the current Oct. 2 date doesn’t give him enough time to craft a defense. Trump attorney Alina Habba said in a court filing late Thursday that the former president needs more time to gather testimony from expert witnesses and review millions of pages of evidence handed over by New York Attorney General Letitia James. ‘While granting such relief ultimately impacts the trial date, there is simply no demonstrable urgency in getting this case to trial,’ Habba said. The current schedule is ‘extraordinarily expedited and unprecedented,’ she said.” [Bloomberg, 3/3/23]
March 21, 2023: Judge Engoron Rejected Trump’s Attempt To Delay Trial, Calling The October 2 Date “Written In Stone.” According to Reuters, “A New York judge on Tuesday rejected former U.S. President Donald Trump's bid to delay the scheduled Oct. 2 trial in state Attorney General Letitia James' civil fraud lawsuit, calling the date ‘written in stone.’ Justice Arthur Engoron in Supreme Court in Manhattan agreed to requests by Trump and other defendants to push back some deadlines for gathering evidence.” [Reuters, 3/21/23]
Judge Engoron Did Allow Some Preliminary Dates To Be Pushed Back. According to Reuters, “‘You can move anything else in between,’ the judge told lawyers at a two-hour hearing, which was delayed by a bomb scare. ‘I don't want to move that trial date.’” [Reuters, 3/21/23]
The NYAG Suggested That They Were Considering Re-Deposing Donald Trump, Eric Trump, And Allen Weisselberg. According to Business Insider, “Yet in their own letter to the judge, James' side suggested the attorney general's office is considering re-deposing Donald Trump, Eric Trump, and Allen Weisselberg, the former Trump Organization chief financial officer now serving a five-month jail term for running a lengthy payroll-tax fraud scheme at the company. Weisselberg's deposition, if it happens, would have to be conducted via video from jail.” [Business Insider, 3/2/23]
March 6, 2023: Ivanka Trump Moved To Separate Herself From The Other Defendants In The NYAG’s Lawsuit Against The Trump Organization. According to Newsweek, “Ivanka Trump is seeking to separate herself from her two brothers, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, in the high-stakes New York state fraud case against the Trump Organization. In a letter filed Monday, Reid Figel, the attorney representing Ivanka in the lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, asked Judge Arthur Engoron to recognize that Donald Trump's eldest daughter left the family company in 2017 and that the allegations made against her are different from the ones made against her brothers, father and their real estate empire. Figel wrote that because there is not ‘a single allegation that Ms. Trump directly or indirectly created, prepared, reviewed, or certified any of her father's financial statements,’ Ivanka's factual and legal defenses are unique.” [Newsweek, 3/7/23]
April 21, 2023: Ivanka Trump Replaced Her Attorneys, Including Two That Were Also Representing Her Brothers Don Jr. And Eric. According to Forbes, “Ivanka Trump replaced the lawyers defending her in a fraud suit against the New York attorney general on Friday. Her former attorneys are still representing her brothers, Don Jr. and Eric. […] Don Jr. and Eric Trump quickly hired Clifford Robert and Michael Farina of Robert & Robert to represent them, according to court records submitted a week after the suit began. The following month, those same attorneys notified the court they were representing Ivanka Trump as well. They were serving as her local counsel working with two Washington, DC-based attorneys whom Ivanka hired independently of her brothers, Reid Figel and Michael Kellogg of Kellogg Hansen.” [Forbes, 4/26/23]
April, 21, 2023: Bennet Moskowitz Of Troutman Pepper Took Over As Ivanka Trump’s Sole Counsel. According to Forbes, “The break became clearer last week. On Tuesday, the attorneys representing just Ivanka, Figel and Kellogg, withdrew from the case. Three days later, Bennet Moskowitz of Troutman Pepper informed the court that he was taking over as Ivanka’s counsel and that Robert and Farina, the attorneys Ivanka shared with her brothers, were no longer representing her. Moskowitz, who previously represented the estate of Jeffrey Epstein, is now Ivanka’s sole attorney on the case.” [Forbes, 4/26/23]
Trump Tried To Use Subpoenas In The New York Civil Fraud Case To Learn Information About Other Investigations Into His Business Dealings. According to the Daily Beast, “As Donald Trump prepares for an indictment that could come any minute now, one of his top lawyers is apparently trying to use another case to siphon information about every possible pending investigation into the former president—including ones that Trump might not even know about yet. That covert effort was revealed this week in a previously unreported letter that the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James (OAG) submitted in state court. James and Trump’s attorneys have battled over subpoenas for weeks as her $250 million fraud suit against the Trump Organization barrels ahead. According to the letter, Trump’s defense team, led by his go-to lawyer Alina Habba, has subpoenaed several companies central to the case—including Deutsche Bank and Trump’s former accounting firm, Mazars—requesting ‘information about other governmental investigations into the Trump Organization in addition to information about the conduct of the OAG investigation.’” [Daily Beast, 3/17/23]
March 16, 2023: The NYAG’s Office Called Subpoena Attempts By Trump “Utterly Irrelevant,” “Improper,” And Asked The Judge To Squash Them. According to the Daily Beast, “The subpoenas, which have not been previously known to the public, will be submitted to the court under seal. The OAG is asking the judge in the case, Arthur F. Engoron, to quash the effort, calling it ‘utterly irrelevant’ and ‘an improper attempt to seek information on separate criminal and regulatory investigations that is not relevant to this proceeding.’” [Daily Beast, 3/17/23]
March 21, 2023: New York Attorney General James Requested That Accounting Firm Whitley Penn LLP Turn Over Documents In Connection To The Civil Fraud Case Against Trump. According to Bloomberg, “New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a state judge to force the accounting firm Whitley Penn LLP to produce documents and testimony in her $250 million lawsuit against Donald Trump.” [Bloomberg, 3/21/23]
Trump Hired Whitley Penn After Mazars Disavowed A Decade Of Financial Statement Made For The Trump Organization. According to Bloomberg, “New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a state judge to force the accounting firm Whitley Penn LLP to produce documents and testimony in her $250 million lawsuit against Donald Trump. Trump hired the firm after cutting ties with longtime accountant Mazars USA LLP, which disavowed nearly a decade of financial statements for the Trump Organization based on findings from James’s investigation.” [Bloomberg, 3/21/23]
April 7, 2023: Trump’s Accounting Firm, Whitley Penn LLP, Agreed To Hand Over Subpoenaed Documents To The New York Attorney General’s Office. According to Bloomberg, “Donald Trump’s new accounting firm struck a deal with the New York attorney general to hand over documents subpoenaed in the state’s $250 million civil suit over the former president’s asset valuations. Whitley Penn LLP, the Texas-based firm Trump hired after he parted ways with longtime accountant Mazars USA LLP, reached the agreement with Trump and New York Attorney General Letitia James last week, according to an April 7 order signed by New York state court Justice Arthur Engoron.” [Bloomberg, 4/10/23]
April 13, 2023: Trump Testified For About 8 Hours In The Civil Fraud Suit Brought Against Him By The New York Attorney General. According to the New York Times, “Donald J. Trump was questioned under oath on Thursday in a civil fraud lawsuit brought by Attorney General Letitia James of New York, the latest in a series of legal predicaments entangling the former president, who also faces a separate 34-count criminal indictment unsealed last week. Ms. James’s civil case, which was filed in September and is expected to go to trial later this year, accuses Mr. Trump, his family business and three of his children of a ‘staggering’ fraud for overvaluing the former president’s assets by billions of dollars. The lawsuit seeks $250 million that Ms. James contends the Trumps reaped through those deceptions, and asks a judge to essentially run the former president out of business in the state if he is found liable at trial. Mr. Trump was questioned for much of the day on Thursday — arriving at Ms. James’s office in Lower Manhattan shortly before 10 a.m. and departing just after 6 p.m. — as part of the discovery phase of the case, in preparation for the trial.” [New York Times, 4/13/23]
Sources, Including Trump Attorney Habba, Said Trump Did Not Invoke His Fifth Amendment Rights And Answered Every Question. According to the New York Times, “While the deposition was held in private, people with knowledge of the proceeding said that Mr. Trump answered questions without asserting his right against self-incrimination. The session was neither overly combative nor polite, they said, but Mr. Trump provided some substantive answers. In a statement Thursday evening, Alina Habba, one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, said that he had answered every question. ‘As we have said from day one, there is no absolutely no case,’ her statement said.” [New York Times, 4/13/23]
April 2023: The New York Attorney General’s Office Accused Trump, The Trump Organization, And Trump’s Three Oldest Children Of Failing To Turn Over Emails And Other Communications. According to Forbes, “Donald Trump, his three eldest children and the Trump Organization failed to turn over emails and other communications in a fraud lawsuit, the New York attorney general’s office claimed in a letter submitted in court last week. The office singled out ‘an unexplained drop-off in emails for Ivanka Trump’ as one of the more significant issues.” [Forbes, 5/3/23]
The NYAG’s Office Said The Defendants Had Not Submitted A Timeline For When They Would Turn Over All The Required Materials, Nor Answered How They Were Collecting The Materials. According to Forbes, “Last week, the attorney general’s office asked Engoron to intervene, saying the Trumps had started turning over documents but have not provided a timeline for when they will hand over everything. According to the attorney general, the Trumps also have not answered questions about how they are collecting the materials.” [Forbes, 5/3/23]
Next Steps
May 12, 2023: Deadline For The Defendants To Turn Over All Outstanding Documents. According to Forbes, “In response to the letter, Engoron granted some of the attorney general’s requests on Monday, requiring all defendants to submit affidavits detailing how they have compiled with discovery and setting a deadline of May 12 for the Trumps to turn over all outstanding documents.” [Forbes, 5/3/23]
October 2, 2023: Trial Date Set. According to the Wall Street Journal, “A New York judge Tuesday scheduled an October 2023 trial in the state attorney general’s civil-fraud case against Donald Trump, his company and three of his adult children, setting up proceedings that would unfold against the backdrop of another Trump run for the White House. State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron scheduled the trial for Oct. 2, 2023, in state court in Manhattan. Alina Habba, a lawyer for the former president and the Trump Organization, told the judge, ‘My clients, they will be here, all of them.’” [Wall Street Journal, 11/22/22]
Civil
Background
February 16, 2021: Representative Bennie Thompson Sued Trump Over Inciting The January 6th Attack On The Capitol. According to the Associated Press, “A Democratic congressman accused Donald Trump in a federal lawsuit on Tuesday of inciting the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and of conspiring with his lawyer and extremist groups to try to prevent the Senate from certifying the results of the presidential election he lost to Joe Biden. The lawsuit from Mississippi's Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is part of an expected wave of litigation over the Jan. 6 riot and is believed to be the first filed by a member of Congress. It seeks unspecified punitive and compensatory damages. The case also names as defendants the Republican former president's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and groups including the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, extremist organizations that had members charged by the Justice Department with taking part in the siege.” [Associated Press, 2/26/21]
March 5, 2021: Representative Eric Swalwell Sued Trump For Violating Civil Rights Laws By Inciting The January 6 Attack On The Capitol. According to NBC News, “A Democratic congressman who helped argue the House impeachment case against former President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against him in federal court Friday, seeking to turn those allegations into a civil case. Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, accused Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Rudolph Giuliani, and Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., of violating federal civil rights laws and local incitement laws. All spoke at a rally near the White House on January 6 before members of the crowd moved on to the Capitol.” [NBC News, 3/5/21]
March 31, 2021: Two Capitol Police Officers, James Blassingame And Sidney Hemby, Sued Trump For Inciting The January 6 Attack On The Capitol. According to NPR, “Two U.S. Capitol police officers are suing former President Donald Trump, for allegedly inciting the riots that took over the Capitol building Jan. 6. Officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby argue in court documents reviewed by NPR that Trump is responsible for the physical and emotional injuries the officers received following the violent riots at the Capitol. The insurrection resulted in the death of five people. The lawsuit details the violence Blassingame and Hemby faced during the Jan. 6 attack, as well as the physical and emotional toll they continue to deal with. Lawyers for the officers argue Trump's repeated false claims over several months that the 2020 presidential election could be stolen or was eventually ‘rigged’ motivated the eventual insurrectionists. Trump ‘inflamed, encouraged, incited, directed, and aided and abetted’ the ‘insurrectionist mob’ to force its way into the Capitol building to stop the certification of the election on Jan. 6. The mob ‘forced its way over and past the plaintiffs and their fellow officers, pursuing and attacking them inside and outside the United States Capitol, and causing the injuries.’” [NPR, 3/31/21]
August 26, 2021: Seven U.S. Capitol Police Officers Sued Trump Over The January 6 Attack On The Capitol. According to CNN, “Seven US Capitol Police officers are suing former President Donald Trump, Stop the Steal rally organizers and members of far-right extremist groups, accusing them of spreading lies, using White supremacist sentiments to attempt to overthrow the 2020 election, and ultimately bearing responsibility for the riot that injured more than 140 officers on January 6. ‘Plaintiffs and their fellow law enforcement officers risked their lives to defend the Capitol from a violent, mass attack — an attack provoked, aided, and joined by Defendants in an unlawful effort to use force, intimidation, and threats to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 Presidential election,’ says the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in US District Court for the District of Columbia.” [CNN, 8/26/21]
January 5, 2022: Three Police Officers Filed Two Lawsuits Against Trump Alleging Wrongful Conduct In Inciting A Riot On January 6. According to CBS News, “Three more law enforcement officers are suing former President Trump in two separate lawsuits over his words and actions leading up to the January 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol. Two Metropolitan Police officers and one Capitol Police officer have filed separate lawsuits, alleging wrongful conduct in inciting a riot as his followers tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Both lawsuits were filed in D.C. federal court Tuesday, two days before the one-year anniversary of the Capitol assault. ‘Trump's words and conduct leading up to and on January 6, 2021, and his ratification through silence when words and action were necessary, and his further ratification by direct praise of the rioters, as set forth herein, demonstrated a willful and wanton disregard for and a reckless indifference to Bobby Tabron and DeDivine K. Carter's safety and that of their fellow officers,’ reads the complaint from Metropolitan Police officers Bobby Tabron and DeDevine Carter.” [CBS News, 1/5/22]
February 18, 2022: Federal Judge Rejected Trump’s Claim Of Absolute Immunity And Said Lawsuits Against Trump Could Continue. According to the Washington Post, “A federal judge on Friday sweepingly rejected former president Donald Trump’s claim of ‘absolute immunity’ from lawsuits accusing him of inciting the violent Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, finding that there was evidence to plausibly suggest that he engaged in a conspiracy with organized groups to intimidate Congress into overturning the results of the 2020 election. In a searing, 112-page opinion that quoted repeatedly and at length from the former president’s own public statements, U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta refused to dismiss three lawsuits against Trump by Democratic House members and police officers seeking damages for physical and emotional injuries they incurred in the assault. The judge did or said he would drop as defendants Donald Trump Jr., attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), who joined Trump in addressing rallygoers at the Ellipse before they marched to the Capitol that day. However, Mehta said Trump’s own words and conduct in falsely alleging a ‘stolen’ election were not immune on separation-of-powers grounds because they served only his personal aim of retaining office, falling beyond the ‘outer perimeter’ of a president’s official responsibilities. ‘The President’s actions here do not relate to his duties of faithfully executing the laws, conducting foreign affairs, commanding the armed forces, or managing the Executive Branch. They entirely concern his efforts to remain in office for a second term. These are unofficial acts,’ Mehta wrote.” [Washington Post, 2/18/22]
Current Status
December 7, 2022: The D.C. Circuit Court Of Appeals Heard Arguments On Whether Trump Could Be Held Liable For Damages Caused By The January 6 Attack On The Capitol. According to the Washington Post, “A federal appeals court on Wednesday debated whether Donald Trump can be forced to pay damages for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol to lawmakers and police officers injured by the mob.” [Washington Post, 12/7/22]
January 26, 2023: Federal Judge Rejected Trump’s Effort To Dismiss Lawsuit Over Liability For January 6. According to Law & Crime, “Former President Donald Trump failed to dismiss another — and more massive — complaint in a growing pile of federal lawsuits seeking to hold him liable for the events of Jan. 6, 2021. ‘What is unique about this case is the number and type of named defendants,’ U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta‘s ruling on Thursday states. ‘The earlier actions focused mainly on former President Donald J. Trump and attempted to hold him liable for the events of January 6th. Those actions included a few individual defendants and some groups.’” [Law & Crime, 1/27/23]
March 2, 2023: The Department Of Justice Concluded Trump Was Not Entitled To Absolute Immunity Resulting From The January 6th Attack On The Capitol. According to Bloomberg, “The Justice Department says Donald Trump is not entitled to absolute immunity against civil lawsuits seeking to hold him liable for the attack on the US Capitol on Jan. 6 because he’s accused of inciting ‘imminent private violence.’” [Bloomberg, 3/2/23]
Background and Current Status
January 5, 2023: The Estate Of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, Who Died The Day After Defending The Capitol During The January 6 Attack, Filed A Wrongful Death Suit Against Trump. According to the Wall Street Journal, “The estate of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died a day after defending the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, sued Donald Trump on Thursday alleging that the officer’s death resulted from the former president’s ‘incendiary’ rhetoric and false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. In a 47-page lawsuit, lawyers for Mr. Sicknick’s estate said Mr. Trump ‘intentionally riled up the crowd and directed and encouraged a mob to attack the U.S. Capitol and attack those who opposed him.’ The lawsuit cited Mr. Trump’s speech at the Ellipse earlier that day, in which he urged a crowd of supporters to ‘fight like hell’ and march to the Capitol. ‘As a direct and foreseeable consequence of Defendant Trump’s false and incendiary allegations of fraud and theft, and in direct response to Defendant Trump’s express calls for violence at the rally, a violent mob attacked the U.S. Capitol,’ the lawsuit said.” [Wall Street Journal, 1/5/23]
Judge Mehta Was Assigned The Case. According to Kyle Cheney of Politico, “The lawsut filed by Brian SICKNICK's partner, Sandra Garza, has been assigned to Judge MEHTA and linked to a series of other lawsuits that are pending currently at the Appeals Court.” [Twitter - @kylecheney, 1/6/23]
Background
March 24, 2022: Trump Sued Hillary Clinton, The Democratic National Committee, And Others For An Alleged Conspiracy Over Russian Collusion With Trump In The 2016 Campaign. According to NPR, “Former President Donald Trump has filed a sweeping RICO lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and others, alleging that they ‘maliciously conspired to weave a false narrative that [Trump] was colluding with a hostile foreign sovereignty [Russia]’ to try and rig the 2016 election. ‘The Defendants, blinded by political ambition, orchestrated a malicious conspiracy to disseminate patently false and injurious information about Donald J. Trump and his campaign, all in the hopes of destroying his life, his political career and rigging the 2016 Election in favor of Hillary Clinton,’ Trump's lawyers say in a 108-page lawsuit filed in Florida. ‘When their gambit failed, and Donald J. Trump was elected, the Defendants' efforts continued unabated, merely shifting their focus to undermining his presidential administration.’ The lawsuit, which contains debunked claims, seeks a jury trial and compensatory damages. It says Trump, as a result of defendants' actions, has sustained losses of at least $24 million ‘and continuing to accrue, as well as the loss of existing and future business opportunities.’” [NPR, 3/24/22]
September 9, 2022: Federal Judge Dismissed Trump’s Suit, Calling It “Unsupported By Any Legal Authority.” According to CNN, “A federal judge has dismissed former President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee, several ex-FBI officials and more than two dozen other people and entities that he claims conspired to undermine his 2016 campaign by trying to vilify him with fabricated information tying him to Russia. US District Judge Donald Middlebrooks dismissed the lawsuit Thursday, saying ‘most of Plaintiff’s claims are not only unsupported by any legal authority but plainly foreclosed by binding precedent.’ ‘What (Trump’s lawsuit) lacks in substance and legal support it seeks to substitute with length, hyperbole, and the settling of scores and grievances,’ Middlebrooks, a Bill Clinton appointee, wrote.” [CNN, 9/9/22]
October 31, 2022: Clinton Requested Trump Pay Her Legal Fees And Impose Sanctions. According to The Hill, “Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is asking a federal court to order former President Trump to pay her legal fees over a suit he filed alleging she and others engaged in a conspiracy to undermine his 2016 campaign with accusations of Russian collusion. In a motion filed on Monday, Clinton’s attorneys cast Trump’s suit — which was dismissed by a federal trial court in September, a move the former president has appealed — as a ‘political stunt’ and argued it met the threshold for the court to impose sanctions. ‘A reasonable attorney would never have filed this suit, let alone continued to prosecute it after multiple Defendants’ motions to dismiss highlighted its fundamental and incurable defects,’ Clinton’s attorneys wrote.” [The Hill, 10/31/22]
November 10, 2022: Trump’s Lawyers Sanctioned $50,000 Plus The Legal Fees For One Of The Defense Attorneys. According to CNBC, “A federal judge Thursday sanctioned attorneys for former President Donald Trump to pay $50,000 as penalty for advancing a ‘frivolous’ lawsuit against a raft of Trump’s political enemies, including Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee. Judge Donald Middlebrooks’ scathing order in Florida federal court suggested Trump’s lawyers had undermined the rule of law by pushing a political narrative in court ‘without factual basis or any cognizable legal theory.’ ‘Additional sanctions may be appropriate,’ the judge noted, after suggesting the lawyers’ behavior may require the ‘attention of the Bar and disciplinary authorities.’ The sanctions — which also require Trump’s lawyers to compensate a defense attorney’s legal fees — came two months after Middlebrooks had tossed out the suit, describing it as a ‘two-hundred-page political manifesto.’” [CNBC, 11/10/22]
Current Status
January 19, 2023: Judge Middlebrooks Ordered Trump And His Attorney Habba To Pay Nearly $1 Million In Sanctions For Filing A Frivolous Lawsuit Against Nearly Three Dozen Entities. According to the New York Times, “In a scathing ruling, a federal judge in Florida on Thursday ordered Donald J. Trump and one of his lawyers together to pay nearly a million dollars in sanctions for filing a frivolous lawsuit against nearly three dozen of Mr. Trump’s perceived political enemies, including Hillary Clinton and the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey. The ruling was a significant rebuke of Mr. Trump, who has rarely faced such consequences in his long history of using the courts as a weapon against business rivals and partners, as well as former employees and reporters. […] The judge said Mr. Trump and the lawyer who filed the case for him, Alina Habba, and her firm, Habba Madaio & Associates, were to pay $937,989.39.” [New York Times, 1/19/23]
February 6, 2023: Trump Appealed Decision Imposing $1 Million In Sanctions On Him And His Attorney Alina Habba. According to CNBC, “Former President Donald Trump and one of his lawyers said Monday they are appealing nearly $1 million in sanctions imposed on them for what a federal judge called their ‘frivolous’ lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and more than two dozen other defendants. The court filing about the appeal came days after a lawyer for Trump and his attorney Alina Habba told the judge in the case they were willing to put up a bond of $1,031,788 to cover the costs of the sanctions while the federal Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit considered the matter.” [CNBC, 2/6/23]
Background
July 7, 2021: Trump Sued Twitter, Facebook, And YouTube In Florida Court. According to the Associated Press, “Former President Donald Trump has filed suit against three of the country’s biggest tech companies, claiming he and other conservatives have been wrongfully censored. But legal experts say the suits are likely doomed to fail, given existing precedent and legal protections. Trump announced the action against Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube, along with the companies’ Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai, at a press conference Wednesday in New Jersey, where he demanded that his accounts be reinstated. Trump has been suspended from the platforms since January, when his followers violently stormed the Capitol building, trying to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential win. The companies cited concerns that Trump would incite further violence and have kept him locked out. All three declined comment Wednesday.” [Associated Press, 7/7/21]
October 27, 2021: Judge Ruled Trump’s Suit Must Be Held In California Due To The Forum Selection Clause. According to the Associated Press, “Former President Donald Trump’s lawsuit to get his Twitter account restored must be heard in a California court, not a Florida one, under a user agreement covering everyone on the social media platform, a federal judge ruled. U.S. District Judge Robert Scola in Miami rejected Trump’s contention that because his Twitter account was suspended during his last days as president the California court requirement did not apply to him. The requirement, known as a forum selection clause, was in force when Trump originally joined Twitter as a private citizen in 2009, Scola wrote in his order issued Wednesday. ‘First, Trump’s former status as the president of the United States does not preclude the application of the forum selection clause. Second, the forum selection clause is valid and mandatory,’ Scola wrote in a 13-page order.” [Associated Press, 10/27/21]
May 6, 2022: Federal Judge Dismissed Trump’s Suit. According to the Washington Post, “A California judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit that Donald Trump filed against Twitter, the latest blow to the former president’s high-profile battles with major tech companies over their decisions to suspend his accounts in the fallout of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The lawsuit, which Trump initially filed last year in Florida along with suits targeting Google and Facebook, was viewed as part of a broader strategy to appeal to conservatives who have long argued that social media companies unfairly censor their viewpoints. The judge’s dismissal comes after Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced his plans to buy Twitter, taking issue over content moderation decisions he views as limiting free speech — and raising speculation that Trump could return to the platform. In the ruling, U.S. District Judge James Donato rejected Trump’s argument that Twitter was operating as a ‘state actor’ when it suspended his account in January 2021, calling it not plausible. Trump had claimed that Twitter was constrained by the First Amendment’s restrictions on government limitations of free speech because it had acted in cooperation with government officials.” [Washington Post, 5/6/22]
Current Status
November 14, 2022: Trump Appealed Decision To The 9th Circuit. According to Reuters, “Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday asked a U.S. appeals court to revive his lawsuit against Twitter Inc challenging his permanent suspension from the platform after his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Lawyers for Trump, a Republican, told the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a filing that the ban from Twitter marked ‘overtly partisan censorship’ and was ‘contrary to First Amendment principles deeply rooted in American history and law.’ His lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages and a court order requiring Twitter to ‘immediately reinstate’ his account that was permanently suspended on Jan. 8, 2021.” [Reuters, 11/14/22]
May 3, 2023: Trump Claimed In A Court Filing That Elon Musk’s Release Of Internal Files Showed That Trump Was Illegally Censored By Twitter. According to Bloomberg, “Donald Trump says Elon Musk’s release of internal files at Twitter Inc. show it was illegal censorship when he was banned on the platform for stoking the Jan. 6 insurrection. The ex-president said in a court filing Wednesday it’s not enough that Twitter, under the new ownership of Musk, welcomed him back onto the platform late last year — an invitation he so far has snubbed. He’s now asking the judge who threw out his legal challenge to the ban to reopen the lawsuit in light of ‘new evidence’ — and validate his claim that he never should have been kicked off two days after his supporters stormed the US Capitol.” [Bloomberg, 5/3/23]
Twitter Said The Dispute Was Moot Since Trump’s Account Was Reinstated. According to Bloomberg, “After Trump appealed Donato’s ruling, Twitter’s lawyers argued to the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the fight is moot because Musk reinstated Trump’s account.” [Bloomberg, 5/3/23]
Background
October 29, 2018: A Class Action Suit Was Filed Against Trump For Fraud For Advertising On Behalf Of ACN. According to CNN, “President Donald Trump, his three eldest children and his company are accused in a class action lawsuit filed Monday in Manhattan federal court of using their brand to make millions by coaxing unsophisticated investors to participate in fraudulent schemes. Filed on behalf of four anonymous individuals, the lawsuit accuses the President and his children Eric, Donald Jr. and Ivanka Trump of promoting what they described as promising business opportunities with three companies in exchange for ‘secret’ payments: ACN Opportunity, a telecommunications marketing company; the Trump Network, a vitamin and health product marketing company; and the Trump Institute, a seminar program that ‘purported to sell Trump’s ‘secrets to success.’’ The suit claims that the Trumps in fact ‘deliberately misled’ consumers about the likely success of their investments. The 160-page lawsuit further claims the Trumps engaged in ‘a pattern of racketeering activity’ and ‘were aware that the vast majority of consumers would lose whatever money they invested in the business opportunities and training programs’ offered by the three companies. None of the three companies is named as a defendant.” [CNN, 10/29/18]
July 24, 2019: Federal Judge Ruled Lawsuit Against Trump And His Children For Promoting Sham Marketing Opportunities Could Proceed. According to Reuters, “A federal judge on Wednesday said U.S. President Donald Trump and his adult children must face part of a lawsuit alleging they used their family name to promote sham marketing opportunities, but dismissed racketeering claims at the center of the case. U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield in Manhattan said the plaintiffs, including investors in a Trump-endorsed business called American Communications Network, could pursue state law-based claims of fraud, false advertising and unfair competition.” [Reuters, 7/24/19]
Current Status
October, 2022: Trump Was Deposed In Lawsuit Concerning Failed Videophone Business. According to Bloomberg, “Lawyers for investors who claim they were defrauded by Donald Trump more than a decade ago finally got a chance to depose the former president about his marketing of a failed videophone venture on ‘Celebrity Apprentice,’ according to a person familiar with the matter. A New York judge had ordered Trump to sit for questions in the videophone case by Oct. 31, after a planned testimony date was derailed by Hurricane Ian and triggered a fierce war of words between lawyers for plaintiffs and Trump. The deposition, which occurred earlier this month, hadn’t been reported. It’s one of several depositions Trump has had to sit for recently. He was deposed in a separate case Wednesday for a defamation suit brought by New York author E. Jean Carroll. She alleges he raped her in a department store dressing room two decades ago and defamed her when he denied it. Trump, his company and his three oldest children were sued in 2018 by four investors who claim they were duped by Trump’s promotions into paying thousands of dollars to become independent sellers with ACN Opportunity LLC, which sold a doomed videophone device that the future US president touted as the next big thing. The clunky devices were made obsolete by smartphones.” [Bloomberg, 10/20/22]
May 19, 2023: Ivanka, Eric, And Donald Jr. Were Dropped As Defendants From The Lawsuit. According to Bloomberg, “Donald Trump won’t be joined by his children when he goes to trial in a civil suit alleging he ripped off viewers of his Celebrity Apprentice TV show for years by pitching investments in a doomed desktop videophone — a device he insisted was the next big thing. Former Trump fans who filed the suit five years ago voluntarily dropped Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump as defendants to streamline the dispute ahead of a trial set for January, according to a stipulation between the parties signed Friday by the judge overseeing the case.” [Bloomberg, 5/19/23]
Next Steps
January 29, 2024: Trial Date Set. According to Law & Crime, “Roughly six years after its initial filing, a federal lawsuit accusing Donald Trump and his family of promoting a pyramid scheme will finally go to trial — right at the start of a presidential election year. U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield formally set a trial date in the case for Jan. 29, 2024, a date earlier than the former president had hoped for but later than his challengers would have wanted.” [Law & Crime, 12/14/22]
Background
November 4, 2019: E. Jean Carroll Sued Trump For Defamation Over His Denial Of Her Accusation That Trump Sexually Assaulted Her In The 1990s. According to UPI, “Advice columnist E. Jean Carroll sued President Donald Trump for defamation, stating his denials of her accusation that he sexually assaulted her more than 20 years ago damaged her reputation. Carroll filed the suit in the New York Supreme Court on Monday alleging Trump made ‘express statements and deliberate implications’ that accused her of lying about the rape in order to increase sales of her memoir -- where she first publicly described the assault -- as well as to carry out a political agenda by advancing a conspiracy with the Democratic Party. She added that Trump's statements ‘inflicted emotional pain and suffering, they damaged her reputation and they caused substantial professional harm.’ ‘Trump knew that these statements were false; at bare minimum he acted with reckless disregard for their truth or falsity,’ the complaint stated. Carroll is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages in the defamation lawsuit.’” [UPI, 11/4/19]
September 27, 2022: Federal Appeals Court Moved Case To D.C. Court To Determine If Trump Was Acting In His Capacity As President When He Made His Statements About Carroll, Which If So Would End The Case. According to the New York Times, “A District of Columbia court will have to determine whether Donald J. Trump was acting in his official capacity as president when he scoffed at the accusations of a woman who said he raped her decades ago, a federal appeals court in New York ruled on Tuesday. The future of the case, involving the writer E. Jean Carroll, depends on the decision. If the court in Washington rules that Mr. Trump was acting in his role as a federal employee — and the United States becomes the defendant, instead of Mr. Trump — Ms. Carroll’s suit cannot proceed, because the federal government cannot be sued for defamation. The 2-to-1 ruling by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York stems from a lawsuit in which Ms. Carroll said Mr. Trump damaged her reputation when he denied attacking her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s and branded her a liar.” [New York Times, 9/27/22]
October 19, 2022: Trump Was Deposed. According to the New York Times, “Three years after the writer E. Jean Carroll sued Donald J. Trump for defamation in New York, the former president submitted to a sworn deposition on Oct. 19 at Mar-a-Lago, his residence and private club in Florida.” [New York Times, 10/19/22]
November 24, 2022: Carroll Sued Trump For Battery And Defamation In New York Court. According to CNN, “Ex-magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll sued former President Donald Trump for battery and defamation under a new New York law that allows adults alleging sexual assault to bring claims years after the attack. Carroll filed the lawsuit Thursday, the first day that civil lawsuits can be brought under the new law, the Adult Survivors Act, which gives adults a one-year window to file a claim. The lawsuit is the second Carroll has brought against Trump, but the first to seek to hold him accountable for battery for allegedly raping Carroll in the dressing room of a New York department store in the mid-1990s. The lawsuit also alleges a new defamation claim based on statements Trump made last month.” [CNN, 11/24/22]
January 10, 2023: D.C. Court Of Appeals Heard Arguments On Whether Trump Acted Within His Job As President When Denying E Jean Carroll’s Allegations That Trump Sexually Assaulted Her, Determining Whether Carroll’s Defamation Lawsuit Can Move Forward. According to the Washington Post, “The D.C. Court of Appeals on Tuesday heard arguments centering on whether Donald Trump was acting within his job as president when he denied a writer’s allegations that he sexually assaulted her in the mid-1990s — a legal question that is key to whether the writer’s defamation lawsuit against Trump can move forward. Lawyers for the New York-based writer E. Jean Carroll argued that Trump acted as a private citizen when he denied raping Carroll, and therefore can be sued like anyone else. Trump’s lawyers and an attorney for the Justice Department countered that his responses were made as part of his job as president — which would effectively end Carroll’s case against him because of protection government employees have from defamation suits. During a 2½-hour hearing, the judges pressed both sides on the boundaries of Trump’s job responsibilities, and some expressed frustration that they had limited information on which to make a decision.” [Washington Post, 1/10/23]
January 13, 2023: Judge Kaplan Ruled That Portions Of Trump’s Deposition Would Be Publicly Released Over Objections Of Trump. According to the Washington Post, “Some portions of Carroll’s deposition in the defamation lawsuit were already part of the public docket. Portions of Trump’s deposition were ordered released in a separate decision Friday by Judge Kaplan, who is not related to Carroll’s attorney. That decision followed a bid by Trump’s attorneys to keep the previously redacted section sealed.” [Washington Post, 1/13/23]
February 10, 2023: Trump Was Listed As The First Potential Witness His Defense Could Call At The Upcoming E. Jean Carroll Trial. According to the New York Daily News, “Donald Trump and writer E. Jean Carroll, who’s accusing the former president of rape, may testify against each other in a sex assault and defamation civil case the scribe brought against the ex-commander-in-chief in Manhattan Federal Court. Both are listed as the first potential witnesses their lawyers will call at the trial starting April 25. Trump’s lawyers also plan to call CNN host Anderson Cooper, New York Magazine editor David Haskell and Carroll’s friends, whom she claims she told about the alleged assault, according to a Thursday court filing. Carroll plans to call many of her closest confidantes and former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, among other witnesses.” [New York Daily News, 2/10/23]
April 13, 2023: DC Court Of Appeals Refused To Rule On Whether Trump Was Shielded From Carroll’s Original Defamation Lawsuit. According to Reuters, “A Washington, D.C., appeals court on Thursday refused to decide whether Donald Trump can be shielded from the first of two defamation lawsuits by E. Jean Carroll, a writer who said the former U.S. president raped her nearly three decades ago.” [Reuters, 4/13/23]
April 18, 2023: Carroll Informed The Court That She Would Attend The Trial. According to the New York Daily News, “Writer E. Jean Carroll on Tuesday said she would attend her civil rape case against Donald Trump going on trial next week in Manhattan — but the former president hasn’t said yet if he’ll be there. In a court filing, Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan said she would be present throughout the trial starting April 25. Trump must tell the court whether he plans to be there by Thursday. Typically, defense lawyers advise defendants to attend their trial as their presence bodes better with jurors.” [New York Daily News, 4/18/23]
April 20, 2023: Judge Kaplan Denied Trump’s Request To Tell The Jury He Was Excused For Attending The Trial. According to Bloomberg, “The judge overseeing E. Jean Carroll’s civil sexual-assault lawsuit against Donald Trump denied the former president’s request that jurors be told he’d been excused from attending the trial next week, saying it was up to Trump to decide if he wants to show up. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan issued his ruling Thursday, dismissing Trump’s claim that his presence would overburden the city with security concerns. The judge said defendants in such cases aren’t required to attend their trials. The former president sought the special jury instruction because he said he didn’t want the jury to think negatively of his absence. The trial starts April 25 in Manhattan.” [Bloomberg, 4/20/23]
April 21, 2023: The 2nd Circuit Court Of Appeals Sent Carroll’s Original Defamation Case Against Trump Back To Judge Kaplan. According to ABC News, “A federal appeals court in New York on Friday returned E. Jean Carroll's initial case against former President Donald Trump to a district court judge who had previously decided Trump did not act within the scope of his employment as president when he denied Carroll's rape claim and allegedly defamed her. Carroll, a former Elle columnist who alleges that Trump attacked her in the dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman luxury department store in the 1990s, claims Trump defamed her in 2019 when, during his presidency, he denied her rape claim by calling her a liar and saying ‘she's not my type.’ Trump, who also denies the accusations, has argued that the Justice Department should be substituted as the defendant in the case because, at the time of his allegedly defamatory statements, he was acting in his official capacity as an employee of the federal government. Friday's decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals remands the case to the district court for further consideration.” [ABC News, 4/21/23]
February 10, 2023: Trump Formally Offered To Provide A DNA Sample, But On The Condition That Carroll Provide “Missing” Pages From Report She Commissioned. According to the New York Times, “A lawyer for Donald J. Trump said on Friday that the former president was willing to provide a DNA sample as part of a lawsuit filed against him by the writer E. Jean Carroll, who has accused Mr. Trump of raping her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. In a motion filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, Joseph Tacopina, Mr. Trump’s lawyer, wrote that the former president would submit the evidence in exchange for the production of what he said were missing pages from a report that Ms. Carroll commissioned about genetic material gathered from a dress she says she was wearing when the incident occurred. The sample, Mr. Tacopina wrote, would be for the ‘sole purpose of comparing it to the DNA found on the dress at issue.’ He added that the filing was ‘not seeking to delay the trial date.’” [New York Times, 2/10/23]
February 14, 2023: Trump’s Lawyers Attempted To Prevent Trump’s Long History Of Misogynist Comments To Be Introduced At Trial. According to the Daily Beast, “Demeaning a beauty queen, boasting about forcing himself on women, then having the gall to deny he’s ever sexually harassed anyone—that’s the side of Donald Trump the former president’s lawyers don’t want New York City jurors to see as they consider whether or not he raped a magazine columnist decades ago. On Monday, a federal judge finalized some key issues in the Bill Cosby-type civil trial where Trump is accused of raping the magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll in a dressing room at a high-end Manhattan department store. Among them is the evidence that’ll be shown. Trump’s lawyers are trying to stop a long list of video clips and photos from being presented at trial, labeling them ‘irrelevant and unduly prejudicial.’ The judge still has not made a final determination about what he will allow at trial.” [Daily Beast, 2/15/23]
March 10, 2023: Judge Kaplan Ruled That The Access Hollywood Tape Could Be Submitted As Evidence. According to Bloomberg, “A federal judge rejected former President Donald Trump’s effort to block the so-called Access Hollywood tape from being played at the upcoming trial in a defamation case brought by E. Jean Carroll, a New York author who claims he raped her in the 1990s. The ruling Friday by US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan also denied Trump’s effort to block Carroll from calling as witnesses two other women who accused him of assaulting them in the years before he got into politics.” [Bloomberg, 3/10/23]
March 10, 2013: Judge Kaplan Ruled Two Other Trump Accusers Can Also Testify. According to CNN, “US District Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected Trump’s request that the judge block the accusers from testifying at trial. Trump also asked the judge to block the Access Hollywood tape from being played at the trial. Carroll, the former magazine columnist who sued Trump for defamation after he denied raping her in the mid-1990s, has indicated that she will call Natasha Stoynoff and Jessica Leeds, two women who came forward with allegations against Trump in 2016, as well as use their videotaped depositions. Stoynoff alleged Trump sexually assaulted her when she was reporting an article about Trump and his wife, Melania, for People magazine. Leeds alleged Trump groped her while they were on an airplane together. Trump has denied both allegations, as well as Carroll’s rape claims.” [CNN, 3/10/23]
March 20, 2023: Kaplan Ruled That His Decisions Allowing The Access Hollywood Tape And Other Trump Accusers In The Defamation Trial Would Carry Over To The Civil Rape Trial. According to the Associated Press, “In an order Monday, Kaplan ruled specifically that he would allow the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape and testimony by two other women who say Trump attacked them sexually to be included in next month’s trial, repeating his rulings from the defamation case. ‘There is no reason, and Mr. Trump has made no persuasive argument, for me to rule differently,’ he wrote.” [Associated Press, 3/20/23]
March 27, 2023: Judge Kaplan Ruled That Neither Side Could Mention, Much Less Use, DNA Evidence At Trial. According to Business Insider, “The judge presiding over E. Jean Carroll's rape and defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump has banned lawyers from even mentioning DNA evidence in front of the jury when the case goes to trial next month. US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ruled Monday that both sides would be ‘precluded from any testimony, argument, commentary or reference concerning DNA evidence’ during the trial, which is scheduled to begin April 25.” [Business Insider, 3/27/23]
April 24, 2023: Judge Kaplan Rejected Trump’s Motion To Block Stoynoff From Testifying. According to Law & Crime, “Donald Trump lost his second attempt to block a People magazine writer from testifying that he groped her, bolstering E. Jean Carroll’s allegations that the former president is a serial sexual abuser. […] Like Carroll, one of those women, Natasha Stoynoff, is a professional scribe who claims that Trump unexpectedly cornered and groped her long before his presidency. Senior U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan found on Monday that Trump made his request far too late. ‘The application is untimely because any motion for reconsideration should have been filed well before this request,’ Kaplan wrote in his single-page ruling.” [Law & Crime, 4/24/23]
December 22, 2022: Trump’s Attorneys Argued In Court Filing That Carroll’s Lawsuit Should Be Thrown Out Because New York’s Adult Survivors Act Is Unconstitutional. According to Business Insider, “Former President Donald Trump's attorney argued in a court filing Wednesday that E. Jean Carroll's most recent lawsuit against Trump should be thrown out on the grounds that a New York law allowing her and many others to sue over sexual assault is unconstitutional, and that Trump saying she lied about the alleged rape didn't defame her because it didn't call her professionalism into question. Trump's main argument was that the New York Adult Survivors Act — which temporarily allows people fo file sexual assault lawsuits in cases where the statute of limitations has expired — unconstitutionally deprives defendants of due process and arbitrarily allows years- or decades-old allegations to be revived. ‘Notwithstanding the sympathies at play, the Adult Survivors Act is a contravention of the New York State Constitution, an invasion of due process, and a clear abuse of legislative power,’ the filing said.” [Business Insider, 12/22/22]
March 20, 2023: Judge Kaplan Rejected Proposed Joint Trial Of The Two Suits Against Trump By E Jean Carroll. According to CNBC, “A New York federal judge on Monday postponed indefinitely the previously scheduled April trial for the first of two lawsuits accusing former President Donald Trump of defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll after she claimed he raped her in the mid-1990s. Judge Lewis Kaplan also denied a joint request by lawyers for Trump and Carroll to consolidate her two pending civil lawsuits against Trump into a single trial. Kaplan in a brief order wrote that the attorneys overestimated the purported benefits of judicial economy and of avoiding potentially inconsistent rulings by combining the cases in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.” [CNBC, 3/20/23]
March 28, 2023: Trump’s Motion For Summary Judgment In The E Jean Carroll Defamation Lawsuit Was Rejected. According to Rolling Stone, “A FEDERAL JUDGE denied President Trump’s request for a summary judgment against writer E. Jean Carroll’s claim of defamation against him. In his Tuesday ruling, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan gave a written lashing to the former President’s legal arguments. Carroll has brought forth two lawsuits against Trump, including a civil rape lawsuit based on allegations that the former president sexually assaulted her in the dressing room of a department store in the Nineties. A separate suit argues that Trump defamed Carroll through statements that Trump publicly made about her in the aftermath of the accusation. It’s this suit that Trump sought to have thrown out by Kaplan. In his ruling, Kaplan skewered an interpretation of a 2022 Truth Social post from the former president bashing Carroll. Trump’s attorneys argued that the post was not an act of defamation, but merely a summary and/or repetition of ‘his denials and affirmative defense in relation to Ms. Carroll’s allegations.’” [Rolling Stone, 3/28/23]
March 23, 2023: Jury In The E Jean Carroll Trial Will Be Anonymous Because Of Possibility Of Becoming Victims Of Trump Supporter Harassment. According to the New York Times, “A Manhattan judge ruled on Thursday that jurors hearing a trial next month involving a rape allegation against former President Donald J. Trump will be kept anonymous because of concern they could become victims of ‘harassment or worse’ by Mr. Trump’s supporters. The judge, Lewis A. Kaplan of Federal District Court, issued his ruling in a lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll, a writer who has accused Mr. Trump of raping her in a dressing room at the luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s.” [New York Times, 3/23/23]
April 10, 2023: Judge Kaplan Rejected Motion To Relax The Confidentially Of The Jurors. According to Law & Crime, “Some weeks after cloaking a jury in complete anonymity to preside over E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit accusing former President Donald Trump of rape, a federal judge refused to relax that ruling even enough to confidentially share their identities with the attorneys. Senior U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said he couldn’t issue such an order in ‘good conscience,’ especially in light of Trump’s continuing attacks on the jurist presiding over the former president’s criminal case.” [Law & Crime, 4/10/23]
April 13, 2023: Judge Kaplan Rejected Trump’s Motion To Know The Identities Of Potential Jurors. According to Reuters, “Donald Trump will not learn the identities of jurors expected to decide at an upcoming civil trial whether the former president defamed the writer E. Jean Carroll, who also claims Trump raped her. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan on Friday rejected Trump's renewed effort to require that prospective jurors provide their names, employment and 38 other pieces of information on written questionnaires. Kaplan said the law was ‘abundantly clear’ it was his choice whether to use questionnaires, and nothing has changed his decision to seat an anonymous jury at the April 25 trial, reflecting the threat of juror harassment.” [Reuters, 4/14/23]
April 2023: Carroll Attempted To Remove Juror 77 After Learning That He Listened To A Hard-Right Podcast From Tim Pool Called “The Culture War.” According to the New York Times, “During the trial of E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit against President Donald J. Trump, lawyers fought a behind-the-scenes battle over whether to dismiss a juror who listened to an extreme right-wing podcast, court papers that were unsealed on Wednesday revealed. The juror, a 31-year-old man who said he had lived in the Bronx for all his life, said during jury selection on April 25 that he tended to avoid news but listened to ‘independent’ podcasts ‘every now and then’ and listed one example. The original transcription inaccurately captured the podcast’s title as ‘Temple.’ But lawyers for Ms. Carroll, the writer who filed the lawsuit accusing Mr. Trump of rape, later learned through news reports that the anonymous juror, identified only as Juror 77, had actually said he listened to Tim Pool. Mr. Pool’s YouTube channel includes dozens of recordings that push hard-right views. His podcast, which has been criticized as a vector for conspiracy theories, is called ‘The Culture War.’” [New York Times, 5/10/23]
May 2, 2023: Trump’s Lawyers Argued That A Juror’s Political Affiliation Is Not Grounds For Dismissal. According to Politico, “‘A juror’s political affiliation is not grounds for dismissal, even in cases involving a political figure,’ said Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina in a May 2 filing that was unsealed by U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan on Wednesday. Kaplan ultimately sided with Tacopina’s argument, leaving the juror in place.” [Politico, 5/10/23]
May 2023: Judge Kaplan Sided With Trump Without Stating His Reason. According to the New York Times, “Ultimately, the judge allowed the juror to stay. The papers that he ordered unsealed on Wednesday did not include his reasons.” [New York Times, 5/10/23]
April 12, 2023: Trump Asked For A Four-Week Delay In The E Jean Carroll Trial. According to Bloomberg, “Donald Trump asked for a four-week delay in the start of a civil trial over his alleged rape of author Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s, citing a ‘deluge’ of publicity from the recent unrelated criminal case brought against him by the Manhattan district attorney.” [Bloomberg, 4/12/23]
April 13, 2023: Trump Lawyer Habba Again Asked For A One Month Delay, This Time To Investigate The Funding Issue Or Alternatively Have The Jury Be Told That Carroll Defied Discovery Obligations. According to Bloomberg, “Habba asked the judge for a one-month delay of the trial, which is set to begin April 25, and to allow her team to investigate the funding issue, or to have the court give the jury an instruction about Carroll’s ‘willful defiance of her discovery obligations.’ The defense this week asked for a trial delay given the ‘deluge’ of publicity over Trump’s recent unrelated criminal indictment on state charges in Manhattan.” [Bloomberg, 4/13/23]
April 13, 2023: Judge Kaplan Rejected Trump’s Request For A Delay. According to the Associated Press, “A federal judge rejected a request Thursday to delay former President Donald Trump’s trial this month on civil claims that he raped a woman in the mid-1990s, but he has granted a request by Trump’s lawyers to gather more evidence about who is paying the accuser’s lawyers.” [Associated Press, 4/13/23]
April 17, 2023: Trump’s Request To Delay The Trial Was Denied. According to Reuters, “A U.S. judge on Monday rejected former President Donald Trump's request to delay a scheduled April 25 trial over whether he defamed former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll by denying he raped her. Last week, Trump's lawyers urged U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan to grant a four-week ‘cooling-off’ period to at least May 23 to give Trump a fair trial, citing a recent ‘deluge of prejudicial media coverage’ of criminal charges against him filed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.” [Reuters, 4/17/23]
Trump’s Request For A Mistrial Denied
May 1, 2023: Judge Denied Trump’s Motion For A Mistrial. According to Reuters, “E. Jean Carroll returned to the witness stand on Monday where a lawyer for Donald Trump sought to disprove her claim the former U.S. president raped her, after the judge denied a defense request for a mistrial. Trump's lawyer Joe Tacopina resumed cross-examination of Carroll about five hours after requesting a mistrial in her rape and defamation civil case, saying the judge made several ‘unfair and prejudicial’ rulings. […] The judge denied the motion for a mistrial before testimony resumed.” [Reuters, 5/1/23]
Trump Asked For A Mistrial Because The Judge Made “Pervasive Unfair And Prejudicial Rulings” Against Him. According to CNN, “Former President Donald Trump has asked the judge to declare a mistrial in his civil battery and defamation trial, arguing the judge has made ‘pervasive unfair and prejudicial rulings’ against him.” [CNN, 5/1/23]
April 25, 2023: Judge Kaplan Asked Attorneys For Both Parties To Advise Their Clients Against “Making Any Statements That Will Incite Violence Or Civil Unrest.” According to Business Insider, “The judge presiding over a rape claim lawsuit against former President Donald Trump on Tuesday made a thinly-veiled attempt to stop Trump from publicly commenting on the case. Opening statements are expected to kick off today in E. Jean Carroll's defamation and rape lawsuit against Trump. Trump has denied her allegations and was absent in the courtroom as the jury was selected on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court. Before potential jurors were brought into the room, US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan asked attorneys for both sides to advise their clients against ‘making any statements that will incite violence or civil unrest.’ Kaplan said the warning was not meant to accuse either side of misconduct, but in order to ‘try to avoid problems down the road.’” [Business Insider, 4/25/23]
April 26, 2023: Trump Called The Lawsuit A Scam, Said Carroll’s Lawyer Was a Political Operative, And Said A Dress Carroll Wore Should Be Admitted Into Evidence. According to the New York Times, ‘Mr. Trump posted twice about the lawsuit, calling it a scam and writing that Ms. Carroll’s lawyer was a ‘political operative.’ He also said that the dress Ms. Carroll wore should be ‘allowed to be part of the case.’” [New York Times, 4/26/23]
Judge Kaplan Called Trump’s Comments “Entirely Inappropriate.” According to the New York Times, “On Wednesday, the judge said Mr. Trump’s out-of-court statements seemed ‘entirely inappropriate’ and suggested Mr. Trump might be trying to influence members of the jury. ‘Your client is basically endeavoring certainly to speak to his quote-unquote public,’ Judge Kaplan said, ‘but more troublesome, to the jury in this case, about stuff that has no business being spoken about.’” [New York Times, 4/26/23]
Judge Kaplan Said Trump “May Or May Not Be Tampering With A New Source Of Potential Liability,” Which Was Thought To Be The Possibility Of A Contempt Sanction. According to the New York Times, “Judge Kaplan responded that he hoped Mr. Tacopina would be successful because ‘we’re getting into an area conceivably in which your client may or may not be tampering with a new source of potential liability — and I think you know what I mean.’ The judge did not elaborate, but he could have been referring to the possibility of a contempt sanction.” [New York Times, 4/26/23]
May 4, 2023: Trump Called The Judge “Extremely Hostile.” According to Reuters, “I have to go back for a woman that made a false accusation about me, and I have a judge who is extremely hostile,’ Trump added.” [Reuters, 5/4/23]
May 10, 2023: Trump Blasted The Judge And Jury For “Allowing Such A Travesty Of Justice To Take Place.” According to The Hill, “Former President Trump on Wednesday lashed out at the New York judge and jury that found him liable for sexual battery and defamation against writer E. Jean Carroll in the civil trial that wrapped up Tuesday. ‘The partisan Judge & Jury on the just concluded Witch Hunt Trial should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for allowing such a travesty of Justice to take place,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.” [The Hill, 5/10/23]
Trump Claimed That Judge Kaplan “Hated President Donald J. Trump More Than Is Humanly Possible.” According to The Hill, “Trump argued in a separate post on the platform that U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, an appointee of former President Clinton, ‘hated President Donald J. Trump more than is humanly possible’ and that ‘this case should never have been allowed to be tried in this completely partisan venue.’” [The Hill, 5/10/23]
Each Side Made Opening Statements
April 25, 2023: Carroll’s Attorney Called Trump’s Alleged Rape A “Brief, Brutal Attack” In Opening Statement To The Jury. According to Politico, “The civil lawsuit from a woman who says Donald Trump raped her decades ago centers on a ‘brief, brutal attack,’ a lawyer for the woman, E. Jean Carroll, told the jury as the trial kicked off in Manhattan federal court Tuesday. Carroll, a magazine columnist, is suing Trump for allegedly attacking her in a dressing room of luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman in the 1990s and sexually assaulting her — a claim Trump denies, saying the incident ‘never happened.’ She also is suing him for defamation for publicly calling her allegations a ‘hoax.’ She is seeking unspecified money damages. Describing how Carroll and Trump bantered playfully before he allegedly assaulted her in the dressing room, Carroll’s lawyer, Shawn Crowley, told the 9-person jury, ‘the moment they went inside, everything changed. Suddenly, nothing was funny.’ ‘Trump was almost twice her size,’ Crowley said to the jury. ‘He held down her arm, pulled down her tights and then he sexually assaulted her.’” [Politico, 4/25/23]
Trump Attorney Joe Tacopina Called Carroll’s Claim As A “Sick Story.” According to Politico, “Trump, who isn’t required to appear at the proceedings, didn’t attend the first day of the trial. His lawyer, Joe Tacopina, sought to portray Carroll’s claim as a ‘sick story’ while also trying to reassure jurors that they could side with his client even if they dislike him.” [Politico, 4/25/23]
Carroll Testified
April 26, 2023: E Jean Carroll Testified That Donald Trump Raped Her. According to Politico, “In blunt and at times emotional testimony, E. Jean Carroll took the stand Wednesday in her civil lawsuit accusing Donald Trump of rape, saying of the alleged incident that ‘my whole reason for being alive in that moment was to get out of that room.’ Carroll, a magazine columnist, has accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a dressing room of luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s. She is suing him for battery and defamation in a trial that began Tuesday in Manhattan federal court. He has denied the allegations, saying the incident ‘never happened’ and that she has perpetrated a ‘hoax.’ ‘I’m here because Donald Trump raped me,’ Carroll told the jury Wednesday. Referring to a book she wrote in which she detailed the alleged incident, she said: ‘And when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen. He lied and shattered my reputation. And I’m here to try to get my life back.’” [Politico, 4/26/23]
April 27, 2023: Carroll Said “He Raped Me Whether I Screamed Or Not” Under Repeated Questioning From Trump Attorney Tacopina. According to CNN, “E. Jean Carroll returned to the stand on Thursday in her civil battery and defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, with the columnist telling the jury about her experience with him in a New York department store in the face of cross-examination from Trump’s attorney. Trump’s defense has focused on why Carroll did not publicly report the alleged rape at the time or get the attention of others in the store. Attorney Joe Tacopina repeatedly asked questions about why Carroll did not scream during the approximately 3-minute alleged attack in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room, or even afterward. ‘I’m not a screamer,’ Carroll testified at the US District Court in Manhattan. ‘I was too much in panic to scream.’ ‘You can’t beat up on me for not screaming,’ she told the defense lawyer. ‘Women who don’t come forward, one of the reasons they don’t come forward is they are asked why they didn’t scream. Some women scream, some women don’t. It keeps women silent.’ Carroll added: ‘I’m telling you, he raped me whether I screamed or not. I don’t need an excuse for not screaming.’” [CNN, 4/27/23]
May 2, 2023: Author Birnbach Testified That Carroll Called Her Minutes After Trump Allegedly Sexually Assaulted Carroll And Described The Incident In Detail. According to Bloomberg, “One of E. Jean Carroll’s friends told a New York jury that the author called her within minutes of allegedly being sexually assaulted by Donald Trump to describe the incident in detail — a potentially crucial piece of evidence in Carroll’s civil lawsuit against the former president. Lisa Birnbach, an author known for her best-selling 1980 tome The Official Preppy Handbook, told jurors on Tuesday that Carroll called from her mobile phone to say Trump had just attacked her in a dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman lingerie department after they decided on a whim to shop together. ‘Lisa, you’re not going to believe what happened to me,’ Birnbach recalled Carroll saying. She described Carroll as ‘breathless, hyperventilating, emotional’ during the phone call. ‘Her voice was doing all kinds of things.’” [Bloomberg, 5/2/23]
May 2, 2023: Jessica Leeds Testified That Trump Sexually Assaulted Her In The Late 1970s. According to CNN, “Jessica Leeds, a woman who has claimed Trump sexually assaulted her while sitting in first class on an airplane in the late 1970’s, also appeared Tuesday to testify. Leeds, now 81, said she found herself seated next to Trump when a stewardess offered her an empty seat in first class. She was ticketed for a seat in coach at the time. When she sat down, the man seated next to the window introduced himself as Donald Trump. The two shook hands, Leeds testified. After they ate the offered meal in first class, it was ‘all of a sudden’ that Trump tried to kiss and grope her, Leeds said. ‘There was no conversation. It was like out of the blue.’ ‘It was like a tussle,’ she said.” [CNN, 5/2/23]
Former People Magazine Reporter Stoynoff Testified That Trump Sexually Assaulted Her At Mar-a-Lago In 2005. According to Bloomberg, “A former People magazine journalist who covered Donald Trump testified that he sexually assaulted her at his Mar-a-Lago estate when she interviewed him for a 2006 story — a claim she first made public just before the 2016 presidential election he went on to win. Natasha Stoynoff recounted the alleged assault Wednesday as a witness in the trial of New York writer E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit accusing Trump of raping her in a department store dressing room in 1996. Stoynoff’s voice wavered as she testified about visiting Mar-a-Lago in December 2005 with a crew of photographers to interview Trump and his family. She broke down in tears as she described how Trump offered to give her a personal tour of the mansion while his wife went to change clothes for another photo shoot, insisting she see one ‘tremendous’ room in particular. ‘I hear the door shut behind me, and by the time I turn around he has his hands on my shoulders and he pushes me against the wall and starts kissing me,’ Stoynoff told the jury.” [Bloomberg, 5/3/23]
May 3, 2023: Psychologist Dr. Lebowitz Testified That Carroll’s Behavior Was Not Inconsistent With The Trauma Carroll Said She Suffered. According to ABC News, “Earlier Wednesday, a psychologist testified that Carroll continued to shop at Bergdorf Goodman after the alleged attack because ‘she didn't feel that Bergdorf Goodman raped her.’ ‘She didn't blame the store. She blamed herself,’ said Dr. Leslie Lebowitz, who evaluated Carroll for the case. The defense suggested the fact that Carroll continued to shop at Bergdorf's, saved the dress she wore the evening of the alleged assault, and watched Trump's reality television show, ‘The Apprentice,’ were behaviors out of step with the deep trauma Carroll said she suffered. Lebowitz pushed back against the inference from the defense that Carroll's rape claim against Trump could not be true because she did not act like it actually happened.” [ABC News, 5/3/23]
Carroll’s Lawyers Played The “Access Hollywood” Tape During Stoynoff’s Testimony. According to the New York Times, “Ms. Stoynoff disclosed what had happened only to a few friends, she said. But more than a decade later, after the disclosure of the ‘Access Hollywood’ recording, in which Mr. Trump boasted in vulgar terms about grabbing women by the genitals, she said she felt ‘a combination of sick to my stomach’ and ‘relief.’ ‘Because I actually for the first time thought to myself, oh, he does this to a lot of women. It’s not just me.’ During Ms. Stoynoff’s appearance, Ms. Carroll’s lawyers played the recording for the jury.” [New York Times, 5/3/23]
May 3, 2023: Carroll’s Lawyers Played For The Jury Excerpts From Trump’s Deposition Video, Where He Called Carroll’s Rape Allegation “The Most Ridiculous, Disgusting Story”. According to the Associated Press, “Donald Trump called a writer’s claims that he raped her at a Manhattan department store ‘the most ridiculous, disgusting story,’ testifying in a deposition shown in court Wednesday that the allegations were ‘made up’ and that the assault never happened. Lawyers for accuser E. Jean Carroll played about 30 minutes of excerpts from the former president’s deposition, including his emphatic denial of the longtime advice columnist’s accusation that he attacked her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room.” [Associated Press, 5/4/23]
In The Deposition, Trump Justified His Statements On The “Access Hollywood” Tape. According to Politico, “In the deposition, conducted at Mar-a-Lago in October, Kaplan asked Trump about the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape, a recording from 2005 in which Trump can be heard saying, ‘When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,’ adding: ‘Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.’ ‘Well, historically that’s true with stars,’ Trump replied after watching a clip of his comments. When Kaplan pressed him on whether he stood by the statement that a star could ‘grab them by the pussy,’ the former president said: ‘Well, I guess if you look over the last million years, that’s been largely true — not always true, but largely true, unfortunately or fortunately.’ ‘And you consider yourself to be a star?’ she asked. ‘I think so, yeah,’ Trump said.” [Politico, 5/4/23]
Trump Told Carroll’s Lawyer That “I Wouldn’t In Any Circumstances Have Any Interest In You.” According to Politico, “During the deposition, Kaplan questioned him about several other women who have accused him of sexual assault, women Trump has characterized as not being his ‘type.’ Growing belligerent, Trump told Kaplan herself that ‘you wouldn’t be a choice of mine, either, to be honest.’ He added: ‘I wouldn’t in any circumstances have any interest in you.’” [Politico, 5/4/23]
May 3, 2023: Trump’s Legal Team Said They Would Not Mount A Defense. According to ABC News, “Former President Donald Trump will not mount a defense in writer E. Jean Carroll's civil defamation and battery case against the former president, Trump's attorney said Wednesday before court resumed for the afternoon. […] Defense attorney Joe Tacopina told the judge he had decided not to call an expert witness that had been expected to testify for the defense. ‘We're not going to move forward,’ Tacopina told Judge Lewis Kaplan.” [ABC News, 5/3/23]
May 4, 2023: Former TV News Anchor Martin Said Carroll Told Her Of Trump’s Attack Shortly After It Happened, But Advised Carroll Not To Go Public. According to USA Today, “Carol Martin, a former television news anchor and a long-time friend of Carroll, testified that she spoke about the attack by Trump with her shortly after it happened. ‘I believed it then, and I believe it today,’ Martin said Martin said she told Carroll not to go public at the time because Trump and his attorneys would ‘bury’ her.” [USA Today, 5/4/23]
Sociologist Humphreys Testified That The Damages To Carroll’s Reputation Were Between $368,000 And $2.76 Million. According to USA Today, “The jury on Thursday also heard from Ashlee Humphreys, a Northwestern University sociologist who estimated that Trump's social media and verbal attacks on Carroll caused between $368,000 and $2.76 million in damages to Carroll’s reputation.” [USA Today, 5/4/23]
Former Editor-In-Chief Of Elle Magazine Myers Testified That Carroll Was A “Truth Teller” And Loved By Her Readers. According to ABC News, “The final witness was Roberta Myers, the former editor-in-chief of Elle magazine, who called Carroll a ‘truth teller’ and spoke to the popularity of her advice column. ‘They loved her. The readers loved her,’ Myers said. Carroll lost her column after going public with her rape claim against Trump in 2019, and testified earlier about what that cost her both financially and emotionally.” [ABC News, 5/4/23]
May 4, 2023: Carroll And Trump Rested Their Cases. According to the Washington Post, “E. Jean Carroll’s lawyers on Thursday rested their case in the civil lawsuit brought against Donald Trump, who she said raped her in a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s. Both sides in the trial rested on Thursday and are expected to deliver their closing arguments early next week, with the case then being put in the nine-member jury’s hands. Carroll sued Trump last year for battery and defamation, and she is seeking unspecified damages in the case. Trump has denied her allegations and called her a liar.” [Washington Post, 5/4/23]
May 7, 2023: Trump Declined Final Opportunity To Testify At Trial. According to the Associated Press, “Former President Donald Trump rejected his last chance Sunday to testify at a civil trial where a longtime advice columnist has accused him of raping her in a luxury department store dressing room in 1996. Trump, a Republican candidate for president in 2024, was given until 5 p.m. Sunday by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to file a request to testify. Nothing was filed.” [Associated Press, 5/7/23]
May 8, 2023: Attorneys Made Closing Arguments In The E Jean Carroll Trial. According to CNN, “E. Jean Carroll’s civil battery and defamation trial against Donald Trump neared a close Monday with closing arguments as her attorney told a federal jury in New York that no one is above the law, while Trump’s lawyer said not to hold any negative feelings about the former president against him.” [CNN, 5/8/23]
May 9, 2023: Trump Was Found Liable For The Sexual Abuse Of E. Jean Carroll. According to the New York Times, “A Manhattan jury on Tuesday has found former President Donald J. Trump liable for the sexual abuse of the magazine writer E. Jean Carroll in a widely watched civil trial that sought to apply the accountability of the #MeToo era to a dominant political figure.” [New York Times, 5/9/23]
The Jury Found That Trump Defamed Carroll. According to the New York Times, “The federal jury of six men and three women also held Mr. Trump, 76, liable for defaming Ms. Carroll when he posted a statement on his Truth Social website in October, calling her case ‘a complete con job’ and ‘a Hoax and a lie.’” [New York Times, 5/9/23]
The Jury Awarded Carroll $5 Million In Damages. According to the New York Times, “The jury awarded Ms. Carroll, 79, a total of $5 million in damages.” [New York Times, 5/9/23]
Next Steps
May 11, 2023: Trump Filed A Notice Of Appeal In The 2nd Circuit Court Of Appeals. According to CNN, “Former President Donald Trump is appealing the $5 million judgment awarded by the Manhattan federal jury that found he sexually abused and defamed former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll. Trump’s lawyers filed the notice of appeal in the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday, hours after federal Judge Lewis Kaplan filed a written ruling endorsing the jury verdict and ordering Trump to pay Carroll the full sum. Kaplan presided over the civil trial in New York.” [CNN, 5/11/23]
Trial On Carroll’s Original Lawsuit Delayed Indefinitely Due To Ongoing Legal Question On Whether Trump Could Be Sued. According to CNN, “The first of two defamation trials scheduled for next month regarding E. Jean Carroll’s claim that Donald Trump raped her will be delayed indefinitely, a federal judge said Monday. […] The trial on her original lawsuit, set to begin on April 10, will now be delayed, the judge said, citing the ongoing legal battle over whether Trump can be sued for comments he made while president.” [CNN, 3/19/23]
Carroll Said She Was Considering Suing Trump A Third Time For Defamation After His Comments At A CNN Town Hall. According to the New York Times, “E. Jean Carroll is weighing whether to file a new defamation lawsuit against former President Donald J. Trump in the wake of his diatribe against her during a CNN town hall Wednesday night, when he said her claim of a decades-old sexual assault was ‘fake’ and a ‘made-up story,’ her lawyer said on Thursday. Mr. Trump’s comments on CNN came one day after a federal jury in Manhattan awarded Ms. Carroll $5 million in damages after finding Mr. Trump liable for sexually abusing her in the mid-1990s and liable for defaming her last year when he described her claim of assault as a ‘complete con job,’ a ‘Hoax and a lie’ in a social media post.” [New York Times, 5/11/23]
May 22, 2023: Carroll Filed A Notification In Federal Court To Seek Additional Damages From Trump After His Comments At A CNN Town Hall. According to the New York Times, “E. Jean Carroll, who this month won $5 million in damages from former President Donald J. Trump, is now seeking a ‘very substantial’ additional amount in response to his insults on a CNN program just a day after she won her sexual abuse and defamation case. Ms. Carroll’s filing Monday in Manhattan federal court seeks to intensify the financial pain for Mr. Trump. The jury in her civil case found him liable on May 9 for sexual abuse and defamation. It ordered him to pay Ms. Carroll, a former advice columnist and fixture in Manhattan’s media circles, $2 million for the sexual abuse and $3 million for the defamation.” [New York Times, 5/22/23]
CNN Defamation Suit
Background And Current Status
October 3, 2022: Trump Sued CNN For $475 Million For Defamation Because Of Their Use Of The Term “Big Lie” Regarding Trump’s Claim Of Election Fraud In 2020. According to PBS, “Former President Donald Trump on Monday sued CNN, seeking $475 million in damages, saying the network had defamed him in an effort to short-circuit any future political campaign. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, focuses primarily on the term ‘The Big Lie’ about Trump’s false claims of widespread fraud that he says cost him the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. There was no immediate comment from CNN. Trump repeatedly attacked CNN as president, which resonated with his conservative followers. He has similarly filed lawsuits against big tech companies with little success. His case against Twitter for knocking him off its platform following the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection was thrown out by a California judge earlier this year.” [PBS, 10/3/22]
Background And Current Status
December 13, 2022: Trump Filed A Lawsuit Against The Pulitzer Prize Board For Defamation For Awarding Prizes To “Now-Debunked” Reporting On Trump’s Ties To Russia. According to Fox News, “Former President Trump filed a defamation lawsuit on Tuesday against the Pulitzer Prize Board over the 2018 National Reporting prizes given to The New York Times and Washington Post for coverage of ‘now-debunked theory’ of alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Trump’s suit, filed Tuesday in Okeechobee County, Florida, was obtained by Fox News Digital. It states that a ‘demonstrably false connection was and remains the stated basis’ for the coverage that received the prestigious award.” [Fox News, 12/13/22]
Background
November 2017: Jessica Denson Sued The 2016 Trump Campaign For Harassment And Defamation. According to Bloomberg, “Denson sued in state court in November 2017 seeking $25 million in damages for the alleged harassment and defamation. The Trump campaign then made a $1.5 million arbitration claim, saying Denson had breached the confidentiality and non-disparagement obligations of the NDA.” [Bloomberg, 7/23/19]
Trump Claimed That Denson Violated A Nondisclosure Agreement And Sought $1.5 Million In Damages. According to Bloomberg, “Denson sued in state court in November 2017 seeking $25 million in damages for the alleged harassment and defamation. The Trump campaign then made a $1.5 million arbitration claim, saying Denson had breached the confidentiality and non-disparagement obligations of the NDA.” [Bloomberg, 7/23/19]
March 26, 2018: Denton Sued To Void Nondisclosure Agreement. According to NBC News, “A Los Angeles woman who worked for President Donald Trump’s campaign has filed a federal lawsuit in Manhattan to void a confidentiality agreement she signed, claiming the agreement has been ‘weaponized’ to silence her allegations of discrimination. Jessica Denson, a journalist and actress, said in court documents filed on March 26 that she was consistently disparaged and sexually and verbally harassed by her supervisor while working for the campaign as a phone bank administrator and later as the Hispanic outreach coordinator.” [NBC News, 4/2/18]
July 23, 2019: Trump 2016 Campaign Awarded $52,230 For Breach Of Nondisclosure Agreement. According to Bloomberg, “Donald Trump’s presidential campaign was awarded $52,230 in a dispute with a former campaign staffer over her breach of a non-disclosure agreement. Jessica Denson, a Los Angeles-based actress who worked on Trump’s campaign in August 2016, sued in federal court to void her NDA in order to pursue a separate state lawsuit in which she claims she was harassed and defamed by her superiors.” [Bloomberg, 7/23/19]
February 6, 2020: New York Appeals Court Overturned Award. According to Bloomberg, “Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign lost a court battle with a former staffer who allegedly violated a non-disclosure agreement by going public with claims she was harassed and defamed by her superiors. A New York appeals court on Thursday overturned an almost $50,000 arbitration award against the former worker, Jessica Denson, for breaching the NDA’s confidentiality and non-disparagement provisions by making her allegations in a lawsuit. Denson, a Los Angeles-based actress who worked on Trump’s campaign in August 2016, argued there was no way for her to challenge the validity of the broadly worded NDA without disclosing some factual allegations about the campaign. The court agreed.” [Bloomberg, 2/6/20]
March 30, 2021: Judge Gardephe Nullified The Nondisclosure Agreement. According to the New York Times, “An effort by former President Donald J. Trump’s campaign to silence a former campaign worker who claimed she was the target of abusive treatment and sexual harassment by another member of Mr. Trump’s campaign was effectively voided on Tuesday by a federal court judge in New York. Judge Paul G. Gardephe nullified a confidentiality agreement signed in 2016 by Jessica Denson, who had worked on Mr. Trump’s campaign that year as a phone bank supervisor and Hispanic outreach coordinator. Judge Gardephe concluded the agreement was ‘invalid and unenforceable.’” [New York Times, 3/30/21]
Current Status
January 24, 2023: Former Trump Campaign Chief Executive Bannon Ordered To Testify. According to Bloomberg, “Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon was ordered to testify under oath in a long-running sex-discrimination lawsuit against the former president’s 2016 campaign by a former staffer, who claims she was harassed by a male colleague who got angry when she was promoted.” [Bloomberg, 1/25/23]
January 30, 2023: Judge Ruled That Trump’s 2016 Campaign Must Disclose How Much They Would Pay To Settle Nondisclosure Agreement Lawsuit With Jessica Denson In Order To Finalize Deal. According to Bloomberg, “Former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign must disclose the amount of money it would pay to settle a long-running court fight with a former staffer over its nondisclosure agreements, if it wants to go ahead with the deal, a judge ruled. Lawyers for the Trump campaign and Jessica Denson reached a deal earlier this month to end the former worker’s challenge to the validity of agreements that staffers, volunteers, and contractors had to sign to work on Trump’s 2016 presidential bid.” [Bloomberg, 1/30/23]
Next Steps
February 24, 2023: Bannon Must Respond To A Subpoena For Documents. According to Bloomberg, “Bannon, who advised Trump during the campaign and in the White House, must respond to a subpoena for documents by Feb. 24 and sit for a virtual deposition by March 31 in the suit brought by Jessica Denson, a Los Angeles-based actor who worked on the campaign, a District of Columbia Superior Court judge ruled this week.” [Bloomberg, 1/25/23]
March 31, 2023: Bannon Must Sit For A Deposition. According to Bloomberg, “Bannon, who advised Trump during the campaign and in the White House, must respond to a subpoena for documents by Feb. 24 and sit for a virtual deposition by March 31 in the suit brought by Jessica Denson, a Los Angeles-based actor who worked on the campaign, a District of Columbia Superior Court judge ruled this week.” [Bloomberg, 1/25/23]
Background
September 24, 2020: Mary Trump Sued Her Uncle, Donald Trump, Alleging That He Conspired To Defraud Her Of Tens Of Millions Of Dollars. According to Bloomberg, “President Donald Trump was sued by his niece Mary for allegedly conspiring with his brother and sister to defraud her of tens of millions of dollars using false documents and bogus loans. The suit filed Thursday by Mary Trump comes two months after the publication of her damning tell-all book about the family, which the president’s late brother, Robert Trump, failed to halt in court. Mary Trump’s suit, which focuses on the settlement of disputed wills, brings to light more potentially damaging allegations less than six weeks before the presidential election.” [Bloomberg, 9/24/20]
November 15, 2022: Mary Trump’s Suit Was Dismissed Because Trump Was Not Required To Be Truthful In 2001 Agreement. According to Bloomberg, “Former President Donald Trump won dismissal of a multi-million dollar fraud lawsuit filed by his niece, Mary, who accused him and his siblings of defrauding her of her minority share of the family business. A 2001 family settlement agreement in which Mary Trump cashed out of her inheritance ‘unambiguously’ waived her right to file any future claims against her famous uncle and aunt, former federal judge Maryanne Trump, according to a ruling Monday by New York Supreme Court Justice Robert Reed. Reed said the accord didn’t mandate the elder Trumps to be truthful. ‘The settlement did not require defendants to make true and correct representations to the plaintiff,’ the judge said. ‘If plaintiff did not wish to forego suing on fraud she might discover in the future, she could have insisted that the releases be conditioned on the truth and accuracy of the financial information provided by defendants.’” [Bloomberg, 11/15/22]
Current Status
December 6, 2022: Mary Trump Asked The New York Court Of Appeals To Reinstate The Lawsuit Because The Judge Wrongfully Ignored Evidence. According to Bloomberg, “Donald Trump’s niece Mary asked a New York appeals court to reinstate a lawsuit that accused the former president and his siblings of cheating her out of her share of the family fortune. Mary Trump’s case was dismissed last month by a Manhattan judge who ruled she had ‘unambiguously’ waived her right to sue by signing a 2001 family settlement agreement to cash out her inheritance. In an appeal brief filed late Monday, she argued that the judge wrongfully ignored evidence that she signed the agreement under threat.” [Bloomberg, 12/6/22]
Next Steps
December 7, 2022: The Case Was Adjourned Until March 2023: According to Document Number 9, a Stipulation, in Mary L. Trump V. Donald J. Trump et al in the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court under index number 2022-05227, , “The above-captioned appeal is adjourned to the March 2023 Term of this Court.” [NY Court System – Case Number 2022-05227 – Document 9, 12/7/22] [NY State Court System, Case Number 2022-05227 – Docket, Accessed 2/3/23]
Background
January 30, 2023: Trump Sued Bob Woodward, Publisher Simon & Schuster, And Schuster’s Parent Company Paramount Global For Almost $50 Million For Releasing An Audiobook Of Interviews Trump Did With Woodward. According to Bloomberg, “Former President Donald Trump is suing journalist Bob Woodward for releasing recordings of interviews that he gave to the journalist in 2019 and 2020, claiming he never agreed to those tapes being shared with the public. In a lawsuit filed Monday against Woodward, Simon & Schuster Inc., and the publisher’s parent company Paramount Global, Trump claimed that although he had given Woodward consent to record their conversations ‘for the sole purpose of a book,’ that didn’t extend to packaging those recordings as an audiobook. ‘This case centers on Mr. Woodward’s systematic usurpation, manipulation, and exploitation of audio of President Trump,’ Trump’s lawyers wrote. The complaint alleges violations of Trump’s copyright interests and accuses Woodward and the publisher of unjustly profiting from the tapes. Trump is seeking just under $50 million in damages, a figure his lawyers calculated assuming Woodward would sell two million copies of the audiobook at a download price of $24.99.” [Bloomberg, 1/30/23]
Current Status
April 3, 2023: Woodward Moved To Dismiss Trump’s Lawsuit. According to Business Insider, “Attorneys for Woodward, his publisher, Simon & Shuster, and parent company Paramount say the case should just be thrown out. In a motion to dismiss, filed Monday, lawyers for the defendants note that the former president never filed his own copyright registration for the works in question. And, they argue, it would not even matter if he did because government employees simply cannot claim ownership of things they said to a journalist while in public office.” [Business Insider, 4/7/23]
Background
November 20, 2020: Trump And His Reelection Campaign Were Sued By A Group Of Michigan Voters Over Mass Voter Suppression. According to Politico, “A group of Michigan voters has sued Donald Trump and his reelection campaign, asserting the president’s legal challenges to the 2020 election violated the rights of Black voters. In a lawsuit filed in D.C. federal court Friday, the group alleged the Trump campaign is attempting mass voter suppression — particularly among Black voters — by pressuring election officials into not certifying the election results in their state.” [Politico, 11/20/20]
December 22, 2020: The Amended Complaint Included Alleging Trump Violated The Ku Klux Klan Act. According to Law & Crime, “Outgoing President Donald Trump’s post-election campaign of ‘intimidation and coercion of election officials and volunteers’ targets Black voters in violation of the Ku Klux Klan Act of the early Jim Crow era, civil right groups claim in a new complaint. Joining a lawsuit originally brought by the Detroit-based Michigan Welfare Rights Organization last month, the NAACP and three Black voters from the Motor City — Maureen Taylor, Nicole L. Hill and Teasha K. Jones — likened Trump and his campaign’s tactics to those of the white supremacist group. The original complaint only went so far as to accuse Trump of violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965.” [Law & Crime, 12/22/20]
April 1, 2022: Judge Sullivan Ruled That Trump Did Not Have To Face Allegations That He Violated The Voting Rights Act, But Withheld Decision On Whether Trump Violated The Ku Klux Klan Act. According to Law & Crime, “Donald Trump and the Republican party do not have to face allegations that they violated the Voting Rights Act in the 2020 presidential election, a federal judge ruled on Friday. The judge withheld ruling on whether Trump and the GOP must face claims that they violated the Ku Klux Klan Act, which for now survives intact. Trump and the RNC lost a separate motion to transfer the remaining litigation away from the Democratic stronghold jurisdiction of Washington, D.C.” [Law & Crime, 4/1/22]
Current Status
November 28, 2022: Judge Sullivan Granted The NAACP’s Motion To Proceed With An Amended Complaint Against Trump. According to the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund, “Yesterday, a federal court ruled in favor of the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) and its clients in Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, et. al. v. Donald J. Trump, et. al., a lawsuit alleging violations of the Voting Rights Act and another federal civil rights statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1985, by former President Trump, the Trump Campaign, and the Republican National Committee. LDF and co-counsel Jenner & Block represent the NAACP and the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization in this case. The Court’s ruling will allow LDF and co-counsel to proceed with filing a second amended complaint on behalf of the Plaintiffs. The Complaint alleges that former President Trump sought to prevent the counting and certification of legally cast ballots in an effort to overturn the will of the voters and ensure that then-President Trump remained in office despite losing the 2020 election. The Complaint further alleges that there is a substantial risk that President Trump, and the other Defendants, will engage in similar election subversion measures in the future, in violation of Plaintiffs’ federal civil rights.” [NAACP Legal Defense Fund, 11/29/22]
Background
March 7, 2019: Former Trump Lawyer Cohen Sued The Trump Organization For $3.8 Million In Legal Fees. According to Reuters, “Michael Cohen, the former personal lawyer of U.S. President Donald Trump, on Thursday sued the Trump Organization, saying it reneged on its obligation to reimburse him for millions of dollars of legal fees and costs related to his work. In a complaint filed in the New York state supreme court in Manhattan, Cohen said the Trump Organization stopped paying him last May after it became clear he would cooperate with various probes into his work. These include Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian influence in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as multiple congressional probes. Cohen said the Trump Organization owes him at least $3.8 million (£2.9 million), and its failure to pay breached a reimbursement agreement that predated his cooperation.” [Reuters, 3/7/19]
November 12, 2021: New York Judge Cohen Dismissed Suit. According to CNN, “In another win for Trump on Friday, New York Judge Joel Cohen granted Trump’s motion to dismiss Michael Cohen’s 2019 lawsuit against his company. ‘Mr. Cohen’s legal fees arise out of his (sometimes unlawful) service to Mr. Trump personally, to Mr. Trump’s campaign, and to the Trump Foundation, but not out of his service to the business of the Trump Organization, which is the only defendant in this case,’ Judge Cohen wrote in his order.” [CNN, 11/12/21]
November 16, 2022: New York Appeals Court Unanimously Overturned The Trial Judge And Allowed Cohen To Sue The Trump Organization. According to ABC News, “Former President Donald Trump's onetime personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen can sue the Trump Organization to cover millions of dollars in legal fees, a New York appeals court ruled Wednesday. The unanimous opinion from the Appellate Division, First Department said the trial judge erred when he dismissed Cohen's lawsuit that sought indemnification for outstanding legal fees Cohen incurred in connection with the special counsel and congressional hearings, New York state attorney general and Manhattan district attorney proceedings, and the proceeding related to FBI search warrants.” [ABC News, 11/16/22]
Current Status
April 13, 2023: Michael Cohen And Trump Were In Settlement Talks Over A Lawsuit Where Cohen Alleged The Trump Organization Failed To Reimburse Cohen’s Legal Bills. According to Forbes, “Donald Trump and his onetime attorney, Michael Cohen, have been at war in public, sparring on social media, on cable news and in court, where the former president recently sued Cohen for $500 million. Out of the public eye, however, their teams have been engaging in settlement talks. They aren’t going to make peace over everything. But they appear to be nearing common ground in a case that has its origins in mid-2017, when Cohen says he entered into an agreement with the Trump Organization for the firm to cover his legal fees in connection with investigations into the 2016 election and lawsuits filed by Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, two women who have claimed they had affairs with Trump. In April 2018, the FBI searched Cohen’s office. Shortly thereafter, he says, the Trump Organization stopped paying his legal bills.” [Forbes, 4/14/23]
July 24, 2023: Trial Date Set For Michael Cohen’s Lawsuit Against The Trump Organization. According to Business Insider, “A Manhattan judge scheduled a July jury trial for Michael Cohen's long-running lawsuit against the Trump Organization, where the former Donald Trump ally alleges he's owed legal fees for the Stormy Daniels saga as well as other investigations related to the former president's conduct. […] The lawsuit has wound its way through the New York state courts, surviving multiple appeals. In a January court proceeding, New York State Supreme Court Judge Joel Cohen indicated he would finally set a trial date, for July. The court docket was updated on Monday to reflect a July 24 trial date.” [Business Insider, 5/16/23]
May 2020: Cohen Was Released From Prison For Home Confinement On A Medical Furlough. According to the New York Times, “Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s onetime lawyer and fixer, was in good spirits on Thursday when he arrived at a Manhattan federal courthouse, where he expected to complete routine paperwork related to his home confinement amid the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Cohen, who was released from prison in May on a medical furlough, was stunned when probation officers asked him to sign a document that would have barred him from speaking to reporters or publishing a book during the rest of his sentence, his legal adviser said. Mr. Cohen, believing the agreement violated his First Amendment rights, refused to sign it, the adviser, Lanny Davis, said. Less than two hours later, federal marshals stepped out of an elevator with handcuffs and took Mr. Cohen back into custody.” [New York Times, 7/9/20]
July 7, 2020: Cohen Was Sent Back To Prison After Refusing To Sign Agreement Banning Him From Speaking To Reporters Or Publishing A Book While Completing His Sentence. According to the New York Times, “Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s onetime lawyer and fixer, was in good spirits on Thursday when he arrived at a Manhattan federal courthouse, where he expected to complete routine paperwork related to his home confinement amid the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Cohen, who was released from prison in May on a medical furlough, was stunned when probation officers asked him to sign a document that would have barred him from speaking to reporters or publishing a book during the rest of his sentence, his legal adviser said. Mr. Cohen, believing the agreement violated his First Amendment rights, refused to sign it, the adviser, Lanny Davis, said. Less than two hours later, federal marshals stepped out of an elevator with handcuffs and took Mr. Cohen back into custody.” [New York Times, 7/9/20]
July 23, 2020: Federal Judge Hellerstein Released Cohen From Prison After Ruling That Authorities Retaliated Against Cohen. According to the Daily Beast, “A Manhattan federal judge on Thursday ordered Michael Cohen to be released from prison this week after finding that authorities ‘retaliated’ against the former Trump lawyer for writing a tell-all book about the president. ‘I make the finding that the purpose of transferring Mr. Cohen from furlough and home confinement to jail is retaliatory,’ U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein stated Thursday, adding that ‘it’s retaliation because of his desire to exercise his First Amendment rights to publish a book and to discuss anything about the book or anything else he wants on social media and with others.’” [Daily Beast, 7/23/20]
December 16, 2021: Cohen Sued Trump. According to the Associated Press, “Michael Cohen claimed in a new lawsuit Thursday that Donald Trump retaliated against him for writing a tell-all memoir, saying his abrupt return to federal prison last year endangered his life and amounted to punishment for criticizing the president.” [Associated Press, 12/16/21]
November 14, 2022: Federal Judge Liman Dismissed Cohen’s Lawsuit. According to CNN, “A federal judge dismissed Michael Cohen’s retaliation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump and others alleging he was sent back to prison because he was outspokenly critical of the ex-president. Judge Lewis Liman was empathetic to Cohen’s position but said Supreme Court precedent bars him from allowing the case to move forward.” [CNN, 11/14/22]
April 24, 2023: Cohen Asked The Second Circuit Court Of Appeals To Revive His Lawsuit Against Trump. According to Reuters, “Michael Cohen on Monday asked a U.S. appeals court to revive his lawsuit against Donald Trump and other government officials, seeking damages for sending him back to prison in retaliation for publishing a tell-all memoir criticizing the former U.S. president. Lawyers for Cohen said in a filing with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan that the judiciary has a responsibility to remediate the harm done by Trump and his subordinates.” [Reuters, 4/24/23]
Background
April 12, 2023: Trump Sued His Former Attorney Michael Cohen For More Than $500 Million. According to Fox News, “Former President Trump is suing his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen for more than $500 million, alleging a breach of his attorney-client relationship, unjust enrichment, and more, Fox News Digital has learned.” [Fox News, 4/12/23]
Trump Demanded “Actual, Compensatory, Incidental, And Punitive Damages” That Were “To Substantially Exceed $500,000,000.” According to Fox News, “Trump is demanding that Cohen pay ‘actual, compensatory, incidental, and punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial, but expected to substantially exceed $500,000,000.’” [Fox News, 4/12/23]
Trump’s Suit Was Filed In The Southern District Of Florida. According to Fox News, “Trump’s legal team filed the more-than 30-page federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Wednesday.” [Fox News, 4/12/23]
Trump Alleged Cohen Violated Attorney-Client Privilege, Confidentially Agreements, And Partook In Misconduct. According to Fox News, “‘This is an action arising from [Cohen’s] multiple breaches of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, conversion and breaches of contract by virtue of [Cohen’s] past service as [Trump’s] employee and attorney,’ the lawsuit states. The lawsuit alleges Cohen breached his attorney-client relationship by ‘spreading falsehoods’ about Trump that were ‘likely to be embarrassing or detrimental, and partook in other misconduct,’ while also breaching contractual terms of a confidentiality agreement he signed as a condition of employment with Trump. The lawsuit alleges Cohen spread falsehoods about Trump ‘with malicious intent and to wholly self-serving ends.’” [Fox News, 4/12/23]
May 8, 2023: Cohen Asked A Federal Judge To Dismiss Trump’s $500 Million Lawsuit. According to Reuters, “Donald Trump's onetime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen asked a court to throw out the former U.S. president's $500 million lawsuit against him, calling it an ‘abusive act of pure retaliation and witness intimidation.’ Cohen's lawyers in a filing late Monday in Miami federal court said the lawsuit combined the ‘worst of Mr. Trump's vindictive impulses,’ and that its timing was no coincidence.” [Reuters, 5/9/23]
Trump Expected To Be Subpoenaed And Have To Give A Deposition In His Lawsuit Against Cohen. According to Fox News, “On the heels of former President Trump's video-taped deposition in the E. Jean Carroll rape case, another proceeding will likely find the former president again answering questions under oath. A discovery hearing is set in federal court in Miami Wednesday in the former president's $500 million lawsuit against his former lawyer, Michael Cohen. Sources say that Trump is expected to be subpoenaed to testify in the case, and that as the plaintiff he cannot legally avoid giving a deposition.” [Fox News, 5/16/23]