For the first time in our nation’s history, a president is being indicted in court. The president in question, Donald Trump, now faces four separate criminal charges in the middle of his presidential campaign.
While these criminal charges are the first in Trump’s lengthy career, the former president is no stranger to civil suits. In fact, last year in May, he was accused of raping writer E. Jean Caroll over 30 years ago when she was still working in a department store. Trump denied the accusation leading Caroll to sue the former president of defamation and battery, and the court found Trump guilty of all charges, awarding Caroll with $5 million dollars.
Over the past few weeks, President Trump has been in court for the most prominent of his criminal charges: falsifying hush money payouts to porn stars and adult workers Stormi Daniels and Karen McDougal via his lawyer Michael Cohen. The payments, which were disguised as legal expenses, amounted up to $420,000 dollars while President Trump was running for election in 2016. While hush money payments are generally legal, the fact that Trump covered up the payments as legal fees to his lawyer make them punishable in court. The trial started on April 15 and is still ongoing, and as of right now, Trump’s legal team has just delivered their closing statement.
Joe Biden has yet to say anything regarding the charges and has instead chosen to focus on the Israel-Palestine situation. Meanwhile, Trump has chosen to accuse the government of conspiracy, claiming, “What’s happened here, sir, is a fraud on me. They want to make sure that I don’t win again, and this is partially election interference.”
Trump’s second case revolves around his involvement in the January 6, riots and he is being accused of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, a federal crime. The trial is currently on hold while a judge is reviewing Trump’s appeal. The former president’s third case revolves around his supposed conspiracy to overturn his defeat in Georgia in the 2020 presidential election. Like his second criminal case, it too is also currently on hold while a judge is reviewing the appeal. In response to both classes, Trump has made unsubstantiated claims that the charges are false accusations led by the Biden Administration.
Trump’s final case is centered around his breach of presidential contract and his mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-A-Lago residence. Trump has received numerous counts of withholding national defense information from the government which breaches the Espionage Act. For such a crime, if the charges are proved in court, the former president may face up to 10 years prison for each charge.
Of course, America is run upon an innocent till proven guilty ideology that may prevent Trump’s reputation to completely spiral. However, the charges being brought up do put the former president’s reputation in jeopardy. While the justice system has yet to find the former president guilty of any of his charges, this whole legal process comes at quite an important junction for American politics. If Trump should be found guilty of any of these criminal charges, that would put the entire Republican Party in jeopardy. While Trump would not be banned from running even if he is convicted, according to a poll by Reuters, around 25% of republican voters and 60% of independents would not vote for Trump should he be convicted.
