Trump’s mounting legal troubles intensify with rough week in court

Former President Trump endured a series of legal setbacks in recent days, underscoring the mounting risks he faces as his various legal cases intensify. 

Trump took the stand in New York this week, sworn in as a witness for unexpected testimony in his financial fraud case to respond to allegations he violated a gag order by making a comment about the judge’s clerk while complaining about the ongoing trial.

In Georgia, Trump’s former attorney Jenna Ellis pleaded guilty in a case revolving around efforts to overturn the election. She’s the fourth of Trump’s co-defendants in the sprawling racketeering and election case to do so.

And in the federal case that Trump sought to overturn the election, reporting this week indicates Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows was granted immunity to testify before grand jurors, a sign of the wealth of evidence prosecutors may have gathered in the case.

Together, the developments showcase the mounting pressure on Trump as he faces five cases probing his business dealings, post-2020 efforts to stay in power and his mishandling of classified records.

“Between the Meadows news and Jenna Ellis striking a plea deal, it definitely was a bad day for Trump but a good day for democracy,” said Sarah Matthews, a former Trump aide who testified at a hearing for the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riots, in an interview.

In a sign of the legal pileup Trump is facing, he addressed reporters at the Manhattan courthouse where his fraud trial is taking place multiple times during the week to speak about developments in other cases and the reports Meadows agreed to cooperate.

“I’ve spoken to Mark Meadows many, many times over the years. And he strongly believed the election was rigged,” Trump said pushing back on reports Meadows told investigators he told the then-president he had lost the 2020 election.

The news appeared to alarm Trump, who turned to social media to muse that surely Meadows would not have done such a thing — even as he expressed some doubt.

“Some people would make that deal, but they are weaklings and cowards, and so bad for the future [of] our Failing Nation,” Trump wrote. “I don’t think that Mark Meadows is one of them, but who really knows?”

In another bad turn for Trump, a judge in New York ruled Friday that Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, will have to testify about her father’s business dealings. While Ivanka Trump could still appeal the decision, it would be yet another loss for the former president in the case as his attorneys challenged efforts to secure her testimony.

It hasn’t been all bad news for Trump in recent weeks. One bright spot for the former president was in Florida, where a federal judge allowed his two co-defendants in the Mar-a-Lago classified records case to remain represented by attorneys paid for by Trump despite conflict of interest concerns raised by the government.

And in Washington, there was a flurry of activity in his federal election interference case this week as Trump’s team filed a series of pretrial motions designed to stymy the case, including a long-shot bid to have the charges dismissed.

But a battle over the gag order issued in the election interference case — which barred Trump from speech that would “target” witnesses and special counsel Jack Smith’s team — showed the interconnectedness of the former president’s many legal battles and the extent his remarks will come under the microscope of a series of judges.

The Justice Department this week zeroed in on Trump’s conduct in the New York case, noting his difficulties in complying with the gag order in New York were all the more reason to keep the one in his federal election interference case in place. 

Washington-based Judge Tanya Chutkan agreed to a limited stay of her order as Trump appeals her decision, a decision Smith’s team urged her to reverse.

Federal prosecutors focused in on Trump’s comments about the New York case, including a denial that his comment that the judge had “a person who’s very partisan alongside him” was not about the court clerk.

“After the defendant claimed unconvincingly under oath that he had not been commenting on the court’s clerk, the judge found the defendant not to be credible and fined him $10,000,” DOJ noted.

The DOJ also focused on Trump’s call out to Meadows — something it viewed as a form of contacting a witness, which would violate the former president’s conditions of release.

Smith not only asked Chutkan to reinstate the gag order as Trump’s appeal continues but to clarify the restrictions prohibiting communication with witnesses include “indirect messages to witnesses made publicly on social media or in speeches.”

Matthews suggested it could be particularly problematic for Trump if Meadows in fact agreed to cooperate with prosecutors given his central role in the White House and in the events leading up to the Jan. 6 riots.

“Meadows was a part of every meeting and fielding phone calls from folks on the Hill,” Matthews said. “He was Trump’s right hand. When people turn on [Trump], we see him say something like ‘I don’t really know them,’ but how do you make that argument with your chief of staff?”

Trump made such a remark after Sidney Powell, another in his roster of prior attorneys, pleaded guilty in Georgia, telling his followers she was “never” his lawyer.

Meadows’s testimony before the grand jury does not necessarily signal cooperation.

“It appears that Meadows obtained ‘use immunity.’ So his testimony (and evidence derived from that testimony) can’t be used against him, but it does *not* bar charges against him,” Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, wrote on X, formerly Twitter. 

“It also means he is not a flipper/cooperator.”

The busy week in court could become the norm for the former president, who remains the front-runner for the GOP’s presidential nomination in 2024, as well as his legal team. 

Trump is facing March court dates both in the election interference trial and another New York case examining how he concealed his hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, which would coincide with a ramp-up in the presidential primary schedule.

And his classified documents case is thus far slated for May.

Trump himself is slated to appear in his civil fraud case in New York in early November.

While the former president routinely posts about his legal troubles on his social media platform, on Friday he focused on the election, sharing some 15 posts about his campaign polling.