A short guide to Donald Trump's many legal woes

Status: Indicted

Case type: Civil

Next: Trial starts Oct. 2, 2023
Parties: NY AG Leticia James; Trump and family, Trump Org.
Judge: Arthur Engoron
Stakes: $250 million, Trump Org.'s business license

New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron left no room for misinterpretation when he green-lit New York Attorney General Letitia James' civil suit against the Trump family's multi-billion-dollar real estate empire. The trial, he said, would start on Oct. 2, 2023 "come hell or high water."

And James, a Democrat, appears ready to rumble. Her three-year investigation into the Trump Organization yielded a 220-page report. In it, James said her office uncovered decades worth of fraud committed by Trump and his family, through the Trump Organization's real estate and golf resort holdings. James' report claims to have caught the Trump Organization passing off more than 200 fudged asset evaluations between 2011 and 2021, in a scheme cooked up to inflate Trump's net worth by billions so he could get cheaper loans and insurance. By James' tally, Trump ultimately swindled New York banks out of $250 million — and she wants Trump to pay up. Trump, for his part, calls it a "witch hunt."

But James doesn't just want Trump to pacify the state with a payoff. She wants to torch the Trump Organization's New York business charter, and ban Trump and his heirs — previous company executives Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric — from ever having a New York business in their names again. 

Status: Indictments recommended by jury

Case type: Criminal

Next: DA charges expected July 11 to Sept. 1

Parties: Fulton Co. DA Fani Willis, Trump, GOP associates
Judge: Robert McBurney 
Stakes: Potential felony charges yet unseen

Facing defeat, Trump made a Jan. 2, 2021 call to Georgia Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger and told him to "find" the votes he needed to beat President Joe Biden. Raffensperger more-or-less told Trump to kick rocks, and Trump then tried -- and failed -- to primary him with Jody Hice (who went on to win this year's primary, and the office). But Vice President Mike Pence refused to accept the "alternate" votes during the fateful Jan. 6, 2021 election certification. Eight of the 16 "alternate" state electors who cast their votes for Trump in 2020 despite a clear Biden win in Georgia recently got immunity deals from the Fulton County District Attorney's office in exchange for testimony in this case.

On Jan. 7, 2021 Trump campaign attorney Sidney Powell was on hand in a Georgia elections office to greet the data-processing firm SullivanStrickler, which he'd hired, when they showed up to copy confidential data from state voting machines, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That data's still being investigated. After eight months of meetings and the testimony of more than 75 witnesses, a 23-member Fulton County special grand jury recommended indicting Trump and 12 others. Witnesses included not only Georgia's local election and "alternate" electors, but former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Rudy Guliani and South Carolina's Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney previously ruled that only a redacted version of the jury's report would be released for now. Most recently, Trump's lawyers filed a motion to quash the report, and Willis' office has a limited window of time to respond. In an Apr. 24 letter, Willis also said she expects to reveal the nature of her charges between July 11 and Sept. 1 -- but they're likely to be significant state felony charges. 

Status: Indicted

Case type: Criminal

Next: January 2024 trial requested
Parties: NY DA Alvin Bragg, Trump 
Judge: Juan Merchan
Stakes: 34 felony charges

The core of the case is about whether or not Trump used campaign funds as hush money when he paid adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their sexual affair during his 2016 presidential campaign. But New York prosecutors' jurisdiction limited Bragg to tackling the case by hitting Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

The records in question cover the payments Trump made through a "catch and kill" scheme facilitated by the National Enquirer -- including $130,000 in hush money to Daniels, another $150,000 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal for similar reasons, and $30,000 to a Trump Tower doorman who allegedly has a story about an illegitimate Trump baby. After his Mar. 30 indictment, Trump was placed under arrest on Apr. 4. The judge's family has been deluged by violent threats from Trump supporters, including inflammatory online attacks from Trump's own son. Merchan's had to keep a tight leash on Trump, barring him from posting evidence on social media. 

Status: Trump's appeal pending

Case type: Criminal

Next: Appeals court ruling TBD

Parties: DOJ Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, 2 Capitol officers and House Democrats, Trump
Judge: Amit Mehtma
Stakes: Up to 20 years in prison, fines up to $250,000, financial restitution for victims. 

On Mar. 8, Mehtma -- a U.S. District Court judge for the District of Columbia, and Barack Obama appointee -- denied Trump's motion to dismiss the case, and said Trump had to turn over any evidence to prosecutors. Mehtma said Trump's Jan. 6 speech (in which he told supporters to "fight like hell" to overturn election results) was "likely to incite imminent lawless action."

On Mar. 29, Trump's lawyers filed an appeal in the D.C. Circuit, claiming it was an "overreach" and the evidence and documents are protected by attorney-client privilege. The three-judge appeals panel -- Cornelia Pillard, Michelle Childs, Florence Pan (appointed by Obama, then two by Biden respectively) -- haven't said when they'll rule on the appeal. Some have speculated that the ruling could come in the next few months, but its not enough to hang your hat on. And if kicked back to the lower court, the case could take years to resolve. 

Meanwhile, four members of the Proud Boys neo-fascist group who participated in the riots were convicted in May, raising the stakes for the case. 

Case type: Criminal

Next: Smith reveals charges TBD
Parties: DOJ Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, Trump
Judge: Amit Mehtma

Stakes: Up to 5 years for mishandling classified information, up to 20 for obstruction

The DOJ is ramping up its evidence-gathering as it tried to determine whether Trump ordered Mar-a-Lago staff to shuffle around boxes of classified document to hide them from government officials last year. Notably, the surveillance footage related to this incident can't be found. Most recently, Smith has issued a wave of new subpoenas -- including some to the Trump Organization -- and gotten the confidential cooperation of a witness who worked at Mar-a-Lago.

"The witness is said to have provided investigators with a picture of the storage room where the material had been held," according to the New York Times.

Not much else is known about that witness, but at least five others from the resort have been subpoenaed and two people told the Times that "nearly everyone who works at Mar-a-Lago has been subpoenaed, and that some who serve in fairly obscure jobs have been asked back by investigators." In a related line of Smith's inquiry, prosecutors are looking into how Trump's aides helped hire and pay for some of the witnesses' lawyers.

The sticking point right now for Smith is a potential key witness, Trump's valet, Walt Nauta. The DOJ needs to find out whether Trump had Nauta or other staff move the boxes. As reported, the DOJ came down a bit too hard on Nauta and spooked his lawyers, who then cut off talks with the government (prompting some high-rankers to catch heat in the DOJ for the flub).