The Manhattan District Attorney’s history-making decision to indict former President Trump last week only marks the first possible charges against Trump, who faces myriad ongoing legal challenges.
Since leaving the White House, Trump has been in the center of legal cases related to his time in office, his actions after leaving office, and his business dealings.
Last Thursday, he became the first president — current or former — to be indicted on criminal charges, in relation to his alleged involvement in a hush-money payment made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels to cover up an alleged affair.
Though the exact charges Trump is facing in Manhattan will remain under seal until his arraignment on Tuesday, legal experts have said the case pales in comparison to the other legal challenges the former president is facing.
Here’s where those other cases stand ahead of his arraignment.
Georgia probe into election interference
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis opened an investigation into whether Trump interfered with the 2020 election in early 2021, after it was made public that the former president made a phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to tell him to “find” about 11,000 votes so that Trump could win the state.
“All I want to do is this,” the president said in the phone recording. “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”
The grand jury investigating Trump’s role in the 2020 election submitted their findings in a report in February, parts of which were released to the public. The Georgia grand jury ultimately found that there was no widespread fraud in the election, and encouraged the prosecution of witnesses who may have lied in their testimonies.
It remains unclear who those witnesses are. Ultimately, the decision to pursue charges rests with Willis.
In multiple interviews, jury forewoman Emily Kohrs hinted that Trump and multiple allies of his could face a variety of charges as a result of the investigation. She was criticized by Trump and his lawyers for speaking publicly about the probe.
The former president filed a motion last month to prevent the use of any evidence presented to the grand jury in his investigation. Georgia prosecutors asked to speak with a Trump’s lawyer last month about the case, but the lawyer planned to deny the request.
Justice Department’s investigations into Trump
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Justice Department prosecutor Jack Smith last year to serve as the special counsel in two federal investigations against Trump.
One of the the investigations is focused on whether Trump or his allies unlawfully interfered with the certification of the 2020 election results or tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power.
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and a group of other Trump staffers are being forced to testify before a grand jury hearing evidence in the probe.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who will also be forced to testify in the probe, has said he has “nothing to hide.”
The second federal investigation spearheaded by Smith related to Trump’s handling of hundreds of classified documents found at his private residence in Mar-a-Lago last year. Trump has blasted the FBI for searching his residence and argued he had a right to take the documents.
An appeals court ruled last month that Trump’s attorney Evan Corcoran needs to produce documents related to the probe that his legal team unsuccessfully argued were protected by attorney-client privilege.
In that opinion, D.C. District Court Judge Beryl Howell determined that the Justice Department had presented sufficient evidence that his legal advice may have been in furtherance of a crime
Former Attorney General Bill Barr said Sunday that the classified documents investigation is the “most serious case” brought against Trump.
Dual lawsuits from author E. Jean Carroll
Author E. Jean Carroll, who has accused Trump of raping her in the 1990s, has filed two defamation lawsuits against the former president over comments he made in 2019 and 2022.
The first defamation lawsuit stems from comments from Trump in 2019 accusing the author of lying about the rape allegation and criticizing her appearance. The second lawsuit was filed in 2022 and is based off of a Truth Social post, where Trump said Carroll’s accusation is a “hoax and a lie” and a “complete scam.”
The second lawsuit also includes allegations of battery from the 1990s, when Carroll claims Trump assaulted her, made possible after New York enacted the Adult Survivors Act, which created a one-year time frame for adult survivors of rape and sexual assault to file lawsuits against the alleged perpetrator even after the statute of limitations had expired.
The judge overseeing the case rejected a motion to combine the two cases into one last month, saying that the cases would benefit from having two separate trials. The judge also ruled last month that the author could include the “Access Hollywood” tape and the testimony of two other women who have accused Trump of sexual assault as evidence in her defamation case.
The first trial has been paused indefinitely after it was initially supposed to start on April 10, but the second lawsuit is headed to trial on April 25.
New York state’s civil lawsuit
New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) filed a civil lawsuit against Trump, his three adult children and his business entities in September for allegedly manipulating property values to obtain investments and loan benefits over numerous years.
The state is seeking $250 million in financial penalties and asks the court to ban Trump and his three children – Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump – from serving as an officer or director in any corporation registered or licensed in New York. James also asked the court to bar the former president and his business from acquiring real estate in New York or from applying for loans from any New York financial institution for five years.
Trump decried the lawsuit as “another witch hunt” in September and said that James had “campaigned on a ‘get Trump’ platform.”
The former president asked the court for a roughly six-month delay in the lawsuit case last month, arguing that the current legal schedule infringes on Trump’s “right to a reasonable time to conduct discovery.” If approved, Trump’s motion would push the trial back to the early months of 2024, in the heat of the 2024 primary season.
The trial date is currently set for Oct. 2, 2023.