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Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States of America (USA or United States), is on a path to ask for another chance in the presidential elections to be held at the end of 2024 after a period away from the administration. Trump, who finalised his name as the Republican presidential candidate in the current days, drew attention with his unique personality in his previous term. He said ‘America First’ in domestic politics and acted with the motto of ‘Principled Realism’ in foreign policy. From the day He assumed the presidency until 2021, when handed over the administration, his unique characteristics changed the world at a pace never seen before.
Trump is walking on eggshells as he prepares to make America great again. The events leading up to his presidency in 2017 and their aftermath have brought him before the American judiciary. The Republican candidate is currently on trial in four cases, two federal and two state level. It is difficult to say when these proceedings to be concluded. In this article, we are to describe the subject matter of the ongoing trials, examine their eligibility under American law, and analyse the outcomes that Donald Trump may derive from these trials in terms of cost/benefit- which also summarises his political approach. However, ‘Impeachment’ processes conducted by the American parliaments, which are similar to the Supreme Court proceedings in Türkiye, is not included in this analysis due to their different legal and political background.
1. Trump Lawsuits: History and Reasons for Filing
1.1. Hush Money Case
The first judicial action against Trump was the indictment announced in March 2023 by the Manhattan District Attorney. The 16-page indictment, prepared for violations of the Election Campaign Act related to the $130,000 “Hush Money” payment to adult film star Daniels during the 2016 presidential election period and falsifying workplace records within the scope of this payment, brought 34 charges against Trump for violating New York state law. With this lawsuit filed against Trump after four years of his four-year term as US President, Trump became the first US President to appear before a judge due to the first charge against him in US history. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg stated that after Trump appeared before a judge in New York on 4 April 2023, they concluded that he “committed 34 felony offences related to falsifying business records”.
Daniels had argued that she signed an agreement in 2016 in exchange for a payment of 130 thousand dollars to keep silent about her alleged sexual relationship with Trump, but that it was invalid because it was not signed by Trump.
1.2. “Mar-o-Lago Papers” Case
The second indictment was announced on 9 June, with former Attorney General Jack Smith appointed as a special master, leading the “Secret Documents” and “January 6 United States Capitol Attack” investigations into Trump. The forty-page indictment includes forty charges that Trump took government “classified documents” with him when he left the White House in January 2021 and obstructed federal investigations.
Among the charges in the indictment are allegations that Trump instructed to delete security camera footage of classified documents from his Mar-a-Lago mansion, encouraged others to do so, and shared a classified national security document with people who were not authorised to do so. Trump appeared before a judge in Miami on 13 June on the indictment and made history as “the first US President to appear before a judge for the second time under federal investigation”. However, he did not accept the charges in the case. The trial process of the Mar-a-Lago documents case to begin on 20 May 2024.
It was claimed that among the 15 boxes of documents seized in “Mar-a-Lago”, Trump’s mansion in Florida in February 2022, it was revealed that there were documents stamped “classified information”, mostly involving national security issues.
1.3. ‘January 6 United States Capitol Attack’ Trial
The third lawsuit, announced with a 45-page indictment submitted to the Washington DC District Court, was filed against Trump on 1 August 2023. In the indictment prepared within the scope of the ” January 6 United States Capitol Attack” investigations into the attempt to change the 2020 presidential election results in his favour, Trump was charged with 4 new charges. The charges included “conspiracy to mislead the United States”, “conspiracy to obstruct an official investigation”, “attempting to obstruct an official investigation” and “conspiracy to prevent voters from exercising their constitutional rights”. While January 2024 was proposed for the first hearing date of the case, Trump stated that he wanted to postpone the trial until after the 2024 elections.
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