Former President Donald Trump may still face criminal charges, despite having been acquitted by an impeachment article, Chief Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands said on Tuesday.
Trump, the only U.S. president to be charged twice, faced an impeachment trial in the Senate for allegedly inciting violence against the U.S. government. Democrats pointed to Trump’s repeated claims that electoral fraud was a factor in President Joe Biden’s victory, helping to create the environment that caused Trump supporters to start a riot at the U.S. Capitol building in January.
If Trump had been convicted, he would have been banned from holding public office in the future. Plaskett, who served as impeachment manager in the House, said on Tuesday that Trump could still be charged.
“Hopefully, the many jurisdictions in the United States that are bringing charges against the president – District of Columbia for inciting violence, Georgia for adulteration and electoral intimidation, New York going back to finance – have never been able to discover issues related to Clause violations of Emoluments while the President was in office, “Plaskett said in an interview with MSNBC. “All of these things will continue to move forward.”
Although no charges have been made against Trump as a citizen in the state cases referenced by Plaskett, investigations are ongoing.
Washington, DC Attorney General Karl Racine said in January that he was considering accusing Trump of a misdemeanor in connection with the Capitol riot. Trump commented on a Stop the Steal actually in DC before the riot broke out, which many critics saw as an aid to incite the violence that followed. Racine told MSNBC that Trump’s conduct “before the mob invaded the Capitol is relevant. I think his conduct during that time and immediately after that is also relevant.”
During his comments, Trump told the crowd of his supporters: “If we don’t fight like hell, we won’t have a country anymore.”
Getty / Pete Marovich
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis of Georgia said on Thursday that she was investigating Trump for his request that Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, “find” enough votes to overturn the state election results in Trump’s favor.
“All I want to do is just find 11,780 votes, which is one more than us,” Trump reportedly told Raffensperger during a phone call in January. “Because we won the state, Brad.”
Willis told the WSB on Thursday that she was approaching Trump’s investigation with “an open mind” and that the charges would be made if the facts showed that Trump violated certain statutes.
“Anyone who violates the law will be prosecuted, no matter what their social stature, no matter what their economy, no matter their race or gender,” said Willis. “We are not going to treat anyone any differently.”
The Trump Organization, the Trump group that comprises about 500 companies, is also under investigation in New York by the Attorney General’s Office for inflating the value of some of its assets in order to obtain tax incentives. In January, a New York State Supreme Court judge ordered a law firm representing the Trump Organization to provide documents to the State Prosecutor’s Office in connection with the civil investigation.
“Our investigation is ongoing,” New York State Attorney Letitia James told NY1 in January.
According to Reuters, Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance is investigating the Trump Organization for allegations of tax and insurance fraud. Vance’s office has subpoenaed Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, for 8 years of Trump’s tax records in 2019. Trump’s legal team has moved to block the subpoena. The United States Supreme Court is expected to rule on the case in 2021.
In 2019, Democrats filed a lawsuit against Trump for allegedly violating the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause by allowing foreign entities to do business with properties owned by the Trump Organization. Judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed the lawsuit in February 2020.
Newsweek he contacted the offices of the Attorney General in Washington, DC, the Attorney General of the State of New York and the Trump Organization for comment.