Very Bad

James George

Political Science

3 June 2024

Is It As Bad As It Seems?

When I read the polls and see that Biden and Trump are in a dead heat, it disturbs me. Here are the facts about Trump. What do many Americans, especially Republicans, not understand?

“From the 1970s until he was elected president in 2016, Donald Trump and his businesses were involved in over 4,000 legal cases in United States federal and state courts, including battles with casino patrons, million-dollar real estate lawsuits, personal defamation lawsuits, and over 100 business tax disputes.” Wikipedia

“Between October 2021 and July 2022 alone, the Republican National Committee paid more than US $2 million to attorneys representing Trump in his presidential, personal, and business capacities. The New York Times published an overview of his legal involvements as of September 2022. In January 2023, a federal judge fined Trump and his attorney nearly $1 million, characterizing him as "a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries.”

On December 6, 2022, the parent company of Trump's many businesses, The Trump Organisation, was convicted on 17 criminal charges.

On May 9, 2023, regarding E. Jean Carroll's claims of defamation and sexual assault, an anonymous jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation but was found not liable for rape according to the New York state definition. Presiding Judge Lewis A. Kaplan later stated that the jury had ruled that Trump had committed rape according to the common definition of the word. Trump was ordered to pay Carroll $5 million in damages. On January 26, 2024, Trump was ordered to pay Carroll an additional $83.3 million in damages in a second defamation lawsuit.

In June 2023, Trump was indicted on federal criminal charges relating to his handling of classified documents and was arraigned in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami. Pretrial deadlines for Trump’s alleged violations of the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) are set for June and July 2024.

On August 14, 2023, Trump was criminally indicted by a grand jury in Georgia on state election-related charges. Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney Fani Willis investigated his efforts to overturn that state's 2020 presidential election results.

On September 26, 2023, in New York v. Trump, a judge issued a summary judgment finding Trump and his two adult sons liable for fraud regarding fraudulent overvaluation of The Trump Organisation's assets and Trump's net worth.[20] On February 16, 2024, following a three-month trial, Trump, The Trump Organisation, his sons, and the former chief financial officer were fined $364 million.[21] A week later, the court finalised that Trump must also pay $100 million in interest. On March 25, 2024, the required bond payment was reduced to $175 million on appeal, which Trump paid on April 1, 2024, thus averting the seizure of his properties and assets. The original judgment (plus interest) against the defendants still stands.

On January 12, 2024, a case regarding an alleged pyramid scheme was dismissed from federal court, with plaintiffs recommended to file cases in state courts.

In People v. Trump, on May 30, 2024, Trump was convicted on 34 New York state felony criminal counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments to an adult film actress before his election to the presidency. A grand jury in Manhattan indicted him on March 30, 2023. He was arraigned on April 4, 2023, and pleaded not guilty to all counts. The trial began on April 15, 2024, and ended with his conviction.