প্রকাশ: 10/08/2022
Former US President
Donald Trump said on Monday that FBI agents raided his Mar-a-Lago estate in
Palm Beach, Florida. Law enforcement officials did not immediately respond to
requests for comment on Trump's claims.
The focus of the investigation was not immediately clear.
Here is a look at some of the probes and lawsuits that Trump faces.
MISSING NATIONAL RECORDS
The US National Archives and Records Administration in
February notified Congress that it had recovered about 15 boxes of White House
documents from Trump's Florida home, some of which contained classified
materials.
The US House of Representatives Oversight Committee at that
time said it was expanding an investigation into Trump's actions and asked the
Archives to turn over additional information. Trump previously confirmed that
he had agreed to return certain records to the Archives, calling it "an
ordinary and routine process."
JAN 6 ATTACK ON THE US CAPITOL
A congressional panel probing January 6, 2021, assault by
Trump supporters on the US Capitol is working to build a case that he broke the
law in trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
Vice chair Liz Cheney has said the committee could make
multiple referrals to the Justice Department seeking criminal charges against
Trump, who accuses the panel of conducting a sham investigation.
In a March 2 court filing, the committee detailed Trump's
efforts to persuade then-Vice President Mike Pence to either reject slates of
electors for Democrat Joe Biden, who won the election, or delay a congressional
count of those votes.
Trump's efforts likely violated a federal law making it
illegal to "corruptly" obstruct any official proceeding, or attempt
to do so, said David Carter, the California federal judge overseeing the casE
In the March 2 filing, the committee said it was likely that
Trump and others conspired to defraud the United States. That law criminalizes
any effort by two or more people to interfere with governmental functions
"by deceit, craft or trickery."
In addition to Trump's efforts to pressure Pence, the
committee cited his attempts to convince state election officials, the public
and members of Congress that the 2020 election was stolen, even though several
allies told him there was no evidence of fraud.
The committee cannot charge Trump with federal crimes. That
decision must be made by the Justice Department, led by Attorney General
Merrick Garland.
If the Justice Department brings charges, prosecutors' main
challenge will be proving that Trump acted with corrupt intent, experts
said.
Trump could defend himself by arguing he sincerely believed
that he won the election and that his well-documented efforts to pressure Pence
and state election officials were not meant to obstruct Congress or defraud the
United States, but to protect the election's integrity.
Trump also could be charged with "seditious
conspiracy," a rarely used statute that makes it illegal to overthrow the
US government by force to prove this, prosecutors would need to show Trump
conspired with others to use force, said Barbara McQuade, a law professor at
the University of Michigan and a former federal prosecutor.
Multiple participants in the January 6 assault on the
Capitol have been charged with seditious conspiracy.
WIRE FRAUD
Democrats said in a June hearing of the January 6 committee
that Trump, a Republican, raised some $250 million from supporters to advance
fraudulent claims in court that he won the election, but steered much of the
money elsewherE
This raises the possibility that he could be charged with
wire fraud, which prohibits obtaining money on "false or fraudulent
pretenses," legal experts said.
GEORGIA ELECTION TAMPERING PROBE
A special grand jury was selected in May to consider
evidence in a Georgia prosecutor's inquiry into Trump's alleged efforts to
influence the state's 2020 election results.
The investigation focuses in part on a phone call Trump made
to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, on January 2,
2021.
Trump asked Raffensperger to "find" the votes
needed to overturn Trump's election loss, according to an audio recording
obtained by the Washington Post.
Legal experts said Trump may have violated at least three
Georgia criminal election laws: conspiracy to commit election fraud, criminal
solicitation to commit election fraud, and intentional interference with
performance of election duties.
Trump could argue he was engaging in free speech and did not
intend to influence the election.
NEW YORK CRIMINAL PROBE
Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, has been
investigating whether Trump's family real estate company misrepresented the
values of its properties to get favourable bank loans and lower tax bills.
Two top lawyers who had been leading the investigation
resigned in February, throwing the probe's future into question, but Bragg's
office has said it is ongoing.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and said the probe is
politically motivated. Bragg is a Democrat.
DOES A PRESIDENTIAL RUN MEAN TRUMP CAN'T BE PROSECUTED?
No. While the Justice Department has a decades-old policy
that a sitting president cannot be indicted, there is no such protection for
presidential candidates. Prosecuting a candidate could nonetheless have
political implications, said Brian Kalt, a law professor at Michigan State
University.
"I'm not aware of any constitutional reason why a
presidential candidate would have any kind of criminal immunity."
NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL CIVIL PROBE
New York State Attorney General Letitia James is conducting
a civil investigation examining whether the Trump Organization inflated real
estate values. Trump and two of his adult children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka
Trump, agreed to testify in the probe starting on July 15.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and called the investigation
politically motivated. James is a Democrat.
E JEAN CARROLL'S DEFAMATION CASE
E Jean Carroll, a former Elle magazine writer, sued Trump
for defamation in 2019 after the then-president denied her allegation that he
raped her in the 1990s in a New York City department storE He accused her of
lying to drum up sales for a book.
The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan is poised
to rule on whether Carroll's lawsuit should be dismissed.
A lawyer for Trump has argued that he is protected by a
federal law that makes government employees immune from defamation claims.
- Reuters
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