TRUMP TRIAL. Indicted in four court cases, Donald Trump must be tried in at least three trials in 2024. The first begins on March 4. What are the charges against the former president and what does he risk?
Donald Trump shouts at “election interference”. His federal trial in Washington D-C for the attempt to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election has been set for March 4, 2024, during the campaign he will lead for the presidential election of 2024. A date set on Monday 28 August 2023 by Judge Tanya Chutkan who will preside over the proceedings. On his social network, Truth Social, the billionaire accused the magistrate of “hating” him and announced that he was filing an appeal.
Donald Trump’s trial – the first in a series of four – falls badly, as the former tenant of the White House risks being tried for conspiracy against the United States after the storming of the Capitol organized in January 2021 and in which he holds some responsibility. This passage before American justice could bring down Donald Trump or on the contrary strengthen his popularity with Republican voters, but it will not be without consequences for political life. In the event of an acquittal in this federal case, Donald Trump would become almost unbeatable in the eyes of voters on the American right, according to Whit Ayres, a Republican political consultant, quoted by AFP. But the specialist admits having difficulty predicting what would happen in the event of the billionaire’s conviction: “I don’t know how people would react. We have never experienced a situation that closely or remotely resembles that -this”.
Donald Trump’s first trial, for attempting to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, will begin on March 4, 2024 in Washington D-C. A date that falls during the 2024 presidential campaign in which Donald Trump intends to participate and which does not help him. The real estate magnate’s lawyers have tried to push back the legal deadline by asking for a postponement of the judgment in 2026, i.e. “five years after the facts – the assault on the Capitol, among others -, which presents the real risk that the witnesses are no longer available or that their memories fade,” remarked the judge in charge of the case, Tanya Chutkan. Which refused the defense proposal.
More than just a trial, it’s a legal marathon that awaits Donald Trump in 2024 with at least three trials on his agenda:
A fourth trial is also slated for the Georgia 2020 presidential election manipulation case, but the date has yet to be set.
Donald Trump, who managed to escape prison for his first three charges, was finally detained on Thursday August 24, 2023. A very brief stay behind bars decided by the Atlanta court before which the former tenant of the White House was appearing for attempting to manipulate the result of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.
The incarceration of the 2024 presidential candidate was limited to the time of the fingerprinting, the so-called “mugshot” photo identification and the payment of the bond of 200,000 dollars, an amount that the man had already promised to pay to avoid pre-trial detention. And if Donald Trump denounced a “simulacrum of justice”, he very quickly took advantage of his time in prison by publishing himself the snapshot of his “mugshot” on Twitter embellished with a “Never surrender”. The photo, used as an argument for his electoral campaign, was accompanied by an accusation of electoral interference and a request for a donation addressed to his constituents. A marketing coup that allowed the candidate to raise seven million euros for his campaign in just three days.
The cliché is historic since Donald Trump is the first former American president to have his face registered in the judicial and prison administrative system.
Charged in four separate cases, Donald Trump has a total of 119 charges against him. Among them, at least seven can be punished with a maximum of 20 years in prison each. Not counting the charges in the latest case – the one concerning the manipulation of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia – Donald Trump already faces up to 641 years in prison according to Politico’s calculation.
There is therefore a risk that Donald Trump will be sentenced to prison, but in fact the chances that the septuagenarian will be incarcerated are low. Firstly because the American courts have great latitude as to the sentences handed down, secondly because there is no minimum sentence imposed for the counts retained and finally because the maximum sentences are rarely pronounced against persons free of criminal records, which is – for the moment – the case of the real estate magnate.
The fact remains that in the two federal cases – that of the assault on the Capitol and that of the concealment of classified documents – Donald Trump is accused of crimes which can give rise to heavy sentences. In both cases substantial prison sentences could be requested. The other risk for Donald Trump concerns the consequences of these charges and possible convictions for his candidacy for the presidential election.
This case is the third in which Donald Trump has been charged, on August 3, 2023, but it is above all the one with the most serious charges against Donald Trump. It concerns the former White House tenant’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election result and Joe Biden’s victory. The culmination of this affair is none other than the assault on the Capitol, organized on January 6, 2021, in which the billionaire played a key role. At the indictment four counts were brought against Donald Trump:
Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to all of the leaders and denounced a “political persecution”. In the indictment published by AFP and many American media, it is stated that “despite his defeat, the accused was determined to remain in power. Therefore, for more than two months after the election of 3 November 2020, the defendant spread lies that there had been fraud that altered the result and that he had in fact won”. The indictment then specifies that Donald Trump was well aware that the information he was relaying was lies, “but the defendant repeated them and disseminated them widely despite everything”. The trial will begin on March 4, 2024.
Buying the silence of pornographic actress Stormy Daniels is the first case in which Donald Trump has been indicted, on April 4, 2023. More broadly, the American billionaire was accused of having “orchestrated” the payment of bribes -wine to cover up embarrassing affairs during the 2016 presidential campaign, the one that signed his victory. Among his payments, three are blamed on Donald Trump:
The case gained momentum when the Wall Street Journal revealed the payment made to Stephanie Clifford, real name of porn actress Stormy Daniels, for concealing an alleged sexual relationship she had with the former president in 2006, when the latter had been married to Melanie Trump for a year. But more than the disbursement of these sums which sometimes resulted from an agreement, it is their concealment in “legal fees” from the Trump Tower Organization which constitutes a tort. According to the court, these costs could amount to campaign expenses. Donald Trump was therefore charged with “falsification of accounting records”, detailed in 34 counts. The trial date has been set for March 25, 2024.
When he left the White House in January 2021, Donald Trump took government documents in his luggage, while all these documents must be returned to the National Archives each time there is a change of president, according to a 1978 law. After numerous requests for restitution of the documents, the billionaire handed over 15 boxes which included 184 classified documents. What justify the opening of an investigation and later a search of Donald Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. On the spot the investigators got their hands on 33 other boxes of government documents comprising 11,000 documents, including 103 bearing the seal of confidentiality and 18 classified “top secret”.
Donald Trump was charged in this case on June 13, 2023 before a Florida judge. 37 charges were brought including “unlawful retention of information relating to national security”, “obstructing justice” and “false testimony”. Three counts were then added to the file, in particular for “attempting to erase CCTV images”. This is a federal case like the Capitol assault investigation. The trial is set for May 20, 2024.
This is the last case in which Donald Trump was indicted, on August 23, 2023. It relates to the attempt to manipulate the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. The one who wishes to run for a new term in the White House was brought before an Atlanta court and was, for the first time, placed under arrest before being released on payment of bail of $200,000. With this passage in prison, Donald Trump was photographed for the “mugshot”, the photo of legal identification.
In this case, 41 charges were brought, including “false declarations and false documents, usurpation of public office, forgery and use of forgery”, pressure on witnesses, a series of computer crimes or even perjury. the prosecutor. A fourth trial is scheduled for this case, but the date is yet to be confirmed. The prosecutor said she wanted to see the case judged “within six months”, but it is up to the judge to set a date.