Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's historic felony charges against former President Donald Trump marked the beginning of a "tsunami of legal challenges" he'll face in his bid to regain the Oval Office.
Trump became the first former president to be indicted and was arraigned Tuesday on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Trump told the court he was "not guilty."
DONALD TRUMP ARREST: HOW STRONG IS BRAGG'S HUSH MONEY CASE AGAINST THE FORMER PRESIDENT?
.@EricTrump: They want a tsunami of legal challenges to weigh over the president...My father will never ever give up. He’s gonna fight and I promise you, mark my words...he is going to win in 2024. Americans see through this charade." pic.twitter.com/VzKV9lYLnS
— MAGA War Room (@MAGAIncWarRoom) April 5, 2023
"They want a tsunami of legal challenges to weigh over the president," his son, Eric Trump, told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday evening. "They think he'll give up. My father will never ever give up."
Legal experts on both sides of the aisle have cast doubt on the strength of Bragg's case against Trump on falsifying records related to hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels, Playboy model Karen McDougal, and a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed to know a story about a child Trump allegedly had out of wedlock.
"But Bragg did not charge Trump with any of those underlying crimes. There is no conspiracy charge, no campaign finance charge, and no tax evasion charge," liberal legal analyst Elie Mystal wrote for the Nation.
Bragg said that falsifying business records is the "bread and butter" of his office's work. But Mystal characterized falsification of records charges as claims prosecutors bring against you "when they don't have anything else. It's the speeding ticket of financial crimes."
More conservative legal experts, such as Trump-era Attorney General Bill Barr, have slammed the Manhattan criminal investigation, with Barr telling Fox News Sunday that Bragg's investigation is "pathetically weak."
"I think the document case is the most serious case," Barr said, referring to the FBI's discovery of classified records at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. "I don't think they went after those documents to get Trump. I think they actually wanted the documents back."
Trump is not expected to be back in court for charges related to the hush money case until December. Here are the next legal landmines the former president will be subjected to in the near future.
E. JEAN CARROLL DEFAMATION CASES
E. Jean Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, filed two lawsuits accusing Trump of defaming her when, as sitting president, he denied raping her in a New York Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in late 1995 or early 1996.
The second lawsuit, filed in October 2022, includes a battery claim under New York's Adult Survivors Act, which gives adults a one-year window to sue their alleged attackers even after the expiration of the statute of limitations.
A judge has indefinitely postponed the trial of her first lawsuit filed while Trump was president in 2019. A trial for the second lawsuit could begin on April 25 after a U.S. judge in January called Trump's bid to dismiss it "absurd."
MISSING FEDERAL RECORDS
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed special counsel Jack Smith to investigate whether Trump improperly held on to classified records at his Palm Beach, Florida, home after leaving office in 2021. Justice Department and FBI officials are looking into fresh evidence that Trump may have committed obstruction of the investigation.
The DOJ head has also tasked former U.S. Attorney Robert Hur to investigate the removal of classified records in President Joe Biden's possession from his time as a vice president.
Trump's documents investigation began in November and is further along than Biden's classified records inquiry. The FBI seized 13,000 documents from Mar-a-Lago in an Aug. 8 raid, and around 100 documents were marked as classified, with some marked as top secret.
"What's at issue in that case is not the taking of the documents," Barr said. "It's what he did after the government sought them and subpoenaed them, and whether there was any obstruction."
Several Secret Service agents connected to Trump have been subpoenaed and are slated to testify before a Washington grand jury likely on Friday, according to multiple reports.
JAN. 6 RIOT
Smith is also investigating whether Trump's efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election outcome resulted in the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Under Democratic House leadership, the special committee investigating the riot urged the DOJ last winter to charge Trump with corruption of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement, and inciting or aiding an insurrection.
Some reports suggested Smith's investigation pertaining to the riot could be in its final stages. Last month, Trump attorney Evan Corcoran testified before a grand jury about his conversations with Trump. Prosecutors were able to get Corcoran to testify by invoking a "crime-fraud exception," which is done when conversations involve the commission of a crime.
LETITIA JAMES'S CIVIL LAWSUIT AGAINST TRUMP ORGANIZATION
New York Attorney General Letitia James initiated civil litigation against Trump and his company last September for fraud. James claimed her office uncovered more than 200 examples of misleading asset valuations between 2011 and 2021 and that Trump artificially inflated his net worth by billions of dollars.
James said the alleged scheme was created to help Trump gain lower interest rates on loans and obtain better insurance. She also said her investigation uncovered criminal wrongdoing and referred the matter to federal prosecutors and the IRS.
A New York judge imposed an independent monitor to oversee the Trump Organization ahead of a scheduled October 2023 trial.
FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S INVESTIGATION
For nearly two years, Atlanta-based prosecutors have conducted a criminal investigation into interference in the 2020 presidential election.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis initially requested for a special grand jury to look into a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call Trump had with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which Trump asked him to "find" enough votes for him to win the state.
The special grand jury enlisted to assist in the inquiry reportedly recommended multiple indictments that could be related to conspiracy and racketeering charges, though no defendants have been named.
Trump's counsel requested on March 20 for a partially concealed report that may contain recommendations for specific charges related to the inquiry be quashed.
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A judge presiding over the special grand jury ordered Willis to respond to Trump's motion to quash the report by May 1.
In all of the cases and investigations levied against him, Trump has denied wrongdoing, often referring to investigations against him as a "witch hunt" while decrying both Biden's DOJ and lambasting Democratic prosecutors probing him.