A $250m ‘art of the steal’ in New York
New York attorney general Letitia James sued Mr Trump, his three eldest children and their family company, the Trump Organization, in September 2022, alleging they had produced fraudulent valuations of properties and of Mr Trump’s personal finances to extract lending and insurance benefits.
The bombshell suit, which Ms James said is an attempt to hold Mr Trump accountable for perfecting the “art of the steal”, seeks a $250m penalty and sanctions that would effectively bar the Trump Organization from doing business in New York ever again.
The corporation itself, as well as Donald and his sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, all deny wrongdoing.
Final testimony was heard on 13 December and lawyers from both parties will now file their final briefs to the court by 5 January 2024 before closing arguments are heard on 11 January.
New York County Supreme Court judge Arthur Engoron has then said he plans to issue a final ruling before the end of the month.
Incitement, confidentiality and a pyramid scheme
In January 2023, a case went to trial in a suit accusing Mr Trump and his eldest children of promoting a multi-level marketing scam called “The Celebrity Apprentice”.
Then in March, the Justice Department argued in federal appeals court that Mr Trump is not immune from a lawsuit by members of Congress and US Capitol Police officers accusing him of inciting the Capitol riot of January 6.
That led to DC District Court Judge Amit Mehta ruling on 2 January 2024 that a civil lawsuit filed against Mr Trump by the partner of a Capitol police officer who died in the aftermath of the failed insurrection could proceed, but only in part.
Judge Mehta dismissed wrongful death and negligence counts against the former president in the case brought by Sandra Garza, partner of the late Brian Sicknick, but allowed her to continue with claims against him under Washington DC’s Survival Act.
Her lawyer said Ms Garza was pleased with the outcome and was considering next steps.
On the same day, four anonymous plaintiffs brought a new civil case against the Republican, his adult children and the Trump Organization for allegedly duping investors into putting money into a failed video phone.
A trial was provisionally scheduled for 29 January 2024.
Another suit that remains ongoing is one brought by Mr Trump against his own niece, Mary Trump.
The former president has accused Ms Trump of breaching the confidentiality of a family estate settlement by collaborating with The New York Times on an expose into the former president’s taxes.
In May 2023, a judge dropped the newspaper from the suit, leaving Ms Trump to answer it alone.
One case that has concluded, however, is Mr Cohen’s case against Mr Trump alleging that he was arbitrarily sent back to prison from home confinement for speaking to the press and planning a tell-all book.
The case brought by the Republican’s former fixer was dismissed in November and rejected again by the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on 2 January 2024.
Crossed off the ballot in Colorado and Maine
As if all of the above were not bad enough for Mr Trump, Colorado’s Supreme Court ruled on 19 December that the former commander-in-chief must be disqualified from the 2024 ballot in the state – an unprecedented order finding him constitutionally ineligible from holding office over his engagement in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, enacted in the aftermath of the American Civil War, prohibits anyone who has sworn an oath to uphold the US Constitution and “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from holding public office.
The historic ruling from Colorado’s highest court was the first among any state supreme courts to consider the question of his or any other candidate’s eligibility. Three justices on the seven-member panel dissented with the narrow majority verdict.
The state’s ruling is now paused until 4 January 2024, the day before the Colorado secretary of state’s deadline to certify the contents of the 2024 ballots, to allow for an appeal, which Mr Trump’s team was quick to say it intended to file as a matter of urgency.
Immediately after Christmas 2023, Maine secretary of state Shenna Bellows announced that the Pine Tree State would be following suit, writing in her ruling: “I am mindful that no secretary of state has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment.
“I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection.”
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Thanks for sharing. This, and the criminal cases, add up to the most incredible set of charges against Trump. Fraudulent business practices, maligning people and attempting to overthrow a democratic vote. In any other country with any other person they would hide somewhere for a long time after issuing a full apology. But this is Trump’s maga America. He just claimed that the huge surge in jobs, stock market and US GDP are all due an expectation that he will be the next president. Nothing to do with Biden’s policies. And he said that with a straight face.