For 40 years, former President Donald Trump has conducted countless legal investigations without ever facing criminal charges. That record may be coming to an end.
Trump could be indicted by a Manhattan grand jury as soon as this week, potentially accusing him of falsifying business records linked to payments during the 2016 campaign to women who have accused him of having sexual relations.
It is one of a growing number of investigations as Trump runs for his third presidential term. He denied wrongdoing and accused prosecutors of conducting a politically motivated “witch hunt” to damage his campaign.
The indictment in New York would mark an extraordinary turn in American history, making Trump the first former president to face criminal charges. And it will carry tremendous weight for Trump himself, threatening his long-standing ability to avoid repercussions despite a dizzying array of cases.
The impeachment, says biographer Michael D’Antonio, will be “a terrible event, because of the fact that the former president is being charged for the first time, but also because he is one of the most slippery people at the highest level of business, who is devoted to the abuse of the established system, they are caught.
“Throughout his life, he has done things that could be investigated and potentially prosecuted and he learned from that experience that he can act with impunity,” he said.
Trump first faced legal scrutiny in the 1970s when the Justice Department brought a racial discrimination case against his family’s real estate business.
Trump and his father fiercely fought the lawsuit, which accused him of refusing to rent apartments to black tenants in a predominantly white building. Testimony showed that applications submitted by prospective black tenants were marked with a “C” for “colored.” Trump counter-sued for $ 100 million, accusing the government of defamation.
The case ended in a settlement that cleared the way for some black tenants but did not force the Trumps to unequivocally admit that they “failed and neglected” to comply with the Fair Housing Act.
Since then, Trump and his business have been the subject of thousands of civil lawsuits and numerous investigations. There are investigations into casinos and real estate dealings, allegations of improper bribery and lobbying, allegations of fraud against the now-defunct Trump University and the charitable Trump Foundation and an investigation by the Manhattan district attorney into sales at Trump’s SoHo hotel-condominium in Lower Manhattan.
Indeed, according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a government watchdog group abbreviated as CREW, as of November 2022, Trump has been accused of committing at least 56 criminal offenses since he launched his campaign in 2015, not including allegations of fraudulent business. But he was never formally charged.
Trump is a master of delaying tactics, “finding ways to delay indefinitely in the hope that the investigation and the trial will go away. And he has been incredibly successful,” said CREW president Noah Bookbinder, a former federal corruption prosecutor.
“This makes accountability really important because we cannot have people in a democracy operating in positions of power with total impunity where they can commit crimes and never face any consequences,” he said.
Trump’s response to his strong talk: He didn’t commit a crime, so the consequences aren’t fair.
As president, Trump continues to face legal scrutiny. For two years, the Justice Department has been investigating the 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia. While special counsel Robert Mueller never found direct evidence of collusion, the report eventually provided evidence for obstruction. He noted that, because of a department opinion barring the indictment of a sitting president, he could not recommend that Trump be criminally charged, even in secret.
Since Trump left office, the investigation has drawn closer.
In January, a company named after him was fined $1.6 million for tax crimes, including conspiracy and falsifying business records. The company’s long-time executive, Allen Weisselberg, is currently in prison as punishment for tax evasion on work benefits.
Additional cases are ongoing. In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has investigated whether Trump and his allies illegally interfered in the 2020 election. Foreperson of the special grand jury, which heard from dozens of witnesses. said last month that the panel has recommended that many people will be indicted, and hinted that Trump could be among them. It was ultimately up to Willis to decide whether to move forward.
In Washington, Trump is under scrutiny from special counsel Jack Smith for handling – allegedly false – secret documents after leaving office, as well as for his publicized efforts to stay in power, despite losing the 2020 election. Justice Department lawyers in the document investigation said they had collected evidence of potential crimes related to Trump’s retention of national defense information as well as potential efforts to obstruct his work.
Some legal experts have questioned the wisdom of letting the Manhattan case be the first to be brought against Trump, when more serious charges may lie ahead. Trump is expected to be charged with falsifying business records, a misdemeanor unless prosecutors can prove it was done to hide another crime.
The case involves payments made by Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who was jailed after pleading guilty in 2018 to federal charges, to porn actor Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal. Cohen was reimbursed by Trump, whose company listed the reimbursement as “legal fees.”
Politically, Trump’s allies believe the case will benefit the former president in the short term by strengthening his base in the competitive Republican base, and will give him another boost if he ultimately fails to win confidence.
“The prosecutors in New York have done more to help get Donald Trump elected,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, echoing other GOP officials, who also denied the investigation would help Trump in the short term.
The indictment will not stop Trump from continuing his campaign. There are no restrictions on running when facing criminal charges – or even following a conviction. Indeed, convicted criminals have been presidents before, including from behind bars.
“It boggles the mind to think that we have a former president that night who is accused of still being the frontrunner for the Republican Party in 2024,” said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley. “You would think (potentially) being arrested would be an inappropriate factor in presidential politics. But Trump continues to surprise people with his sly and inappropriate behavior that turns him into a victim of a witch hunt.