The new investigations add to the list of legal issues facing the ex-president that could threaten his finances and possibly his freedom.
Out of office and without the protections the presidency gave him, Trump now faces several criminal investigations, marital status investigations and defamation lawsuits by two women who accuse him of sexual assault.
In the three weeks since Trump left the White House, the multiple legal threats he faces have increased and become more imminent.
Georgia election results
Georgia officials have announced that the former president faces two new investigations into calls he made to election officials in an attempt to overturn the results of state elections.
A source familiar with the Georgia Secretary of State’s investigation confirmed that they are investigating two calls, including one made by Trump to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
“This is not an easy case, but it is not a case that you should give up investigating,” said Bret Williams, a former federal prosecutor in New York and Atlanta. “It will be difficult to show that he intended to ask Raffensperger to commit electoral fraud, but he may have done so.”
Trump’s senior adviser Jason Miller said in a statement to CNN that there was nothing “inappropriate or unpleasant” about the scheduled connection between Trump and Raffensperger.
“If Raffensperger didn’t want to get calls about the election, he shouldn’t have run for secretary of state,” Miller said in the statement.
The second investigation in Georgia is being conducted by the Fulton County district attorney’s office, which announced on Wednesday that it also opened a criminal investigation into Trump for his “attempts to influence the administration of the 2020 general election in Georgia”.
The first jury in Fulton County is due to meet in March, and the prosecutor’s office may request subpoenas from the grand jury as needed at that time.
“I believe the laws were broken because I think it was a clear effort by a president of the United States at the time, which I think at the time also exercised a certain amount of power to influence the secretary of state to do something wrong,” said Michael J. Moore, a former US attorney for the Central District of Georgia during the Obama administration.
“I think that’s what the statute says, and if these things happened, it’s a violation of the law,” he said.
New York Business
Trump also faces a criminal investigation in New York, where the Manhattan district attorney’s office is investigating whether the Trump Organization violated state laws, such as insurance fraud, tax fraud or other fraud schemes. The scope of the investigation is broad, with prosecutors investigating, among other things, whether the Trump Organization misled financial institutions by applying for loans or violated tax laws by donating a conservation easement on its property called Seven Springs and deducting fees paid to consultants .
Prosecutors are awaiting a U.S. Supreme Court decision on whether to continue to delay the execution of an eight-year subpoena of Trump’s personal and business tax returns and related records from his accounting firm.
If the Supreme Court allows the subpoena to be executed, it will give the investigation a significant boost.
New York State Attorney General’s office Letitia James is conducting a civil investigation to see whether the Trump Organization has inflated its asset values to ensure favorable loans and insurance coverage.
The Washington, DC Uprising
In Washington, federal prosecutors investigating the January 6 uprising on the United States Capitol signaled that no one is above the law, including Trump, and emphasized that nothing is out of the question when asked if they were looking at the role of the former president in inciting violence.
Freed from the protection of the presidency
No longer in office, Trump cannot count on several defenses he made as president.
“Things are going to accelerate. He no longer has the excuse of being the incumbent president,” said Jennifer Rodgers, a former federal prosecutor and legal analyst at CNN. “I really think people who expect that we will see serious action in civil cases sooner will be disappointed because civil litigation is going very slowly anyway.”
But, Rodgers added, there is no reason to delay these civil suits any longer now that he is out of office.
These lawsuits include one from Racine’s office, which alleges that the Trump Organization and the Presidential Inaugural Committee abused more than $ 1 million in opening funds by “overpaying” to use the event space at the Trump’s Washington, DC hotel, for its opening in 2017.
Trump also faces defamation lawsuits that were largely postponed while he was in office.
Carroll is trying to depose Trump and get a sample of his DNA. The case was progressing until the Trump Justice Department tried to intervene in the case.
A federal judge denied the attempt and lawyers for Trump and the Justice Department appealed the decision. It is not clear whether the Biden government will continue the appeal.
Last week, Zervos’ lawyers filed a motion asking the appeals court to dismiss the appeal “as debatable” and allow the case to go ahead.
Trump denied wrongdoing in both cases.
A legal issue that comes closer to home is whether Trump can continue to live full-time in Mar-a-Lago.
Neighbors at the Palm Beach resort argued that Trump broke a deal with the city by moving full-time last month. The city’s zoning laws allow him to live there full-time if he is considered a “bona fide employee” of the club.
“There is no prohibition on the owner using the owner’s suite,” said attorney John Marion. “This guy (Trump), while wandering around the property, is like the mayor of Mar-a-Lago, if you will.”
After a meeting on Tuesday, the city council made no decision, but is expected to look into the matter in the spring.