Written by: Chiara Espinal
Edited by: Michael Shalonov
In the weeks and months following former President Donald J. Trump’s tumultuous departure from office, a slew of legal allegations came against him in response to a series of offenses committed both during and following his time in office. Former President Trump’s run-ins with the law date back to late 1990, when he was sued for over 2 million dollars by a business analyst for a defamation scandal. In the case of this particular lawsuit, Trump was able to settle out of court – an outcome that would later transform into a predictable trend. While it is true that the former president did engage in several questionable pursuits during his time in office, it is difficult to determine whether any of these actions will result in any concrete legal consequences. Trump has been indicted for his role in several scandals, namely the insurrection of January 6, 2021, but none have resulted in any formal charges being brought against Trump, which leads us to two important considerations – how has Trump managed to evade legal trouble for as long as he has, and how do the higher powers of the United States government plan to hold Trump accountable?
Trump currently faces an extensive set of lawsuits ranging from civil misconduct to serious criminal offenses, yet his denial of his participation in any illegal activities has been a topic of public discourse since the origins of his career as a television personality. While a significant portion of Trump’s civil suits is the product of his “pre-presidential business dealings” (Keneally), there are several considerably more distressing claims that have been brought against Trump by at least 18 different women who all maintain similar stories pertaining to his alleged sexual misconduct, and a total of 26 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct which dates back to the 1970s. Of the 26 women that have come forward, a total of 16 brought sexual misconduct claims against Trump during his presidential campaign. Each woman’s claim of sexual misconduct ranges anywhere from workplace harassment to outright sexual assault, yet in spite of mountains and evidence and grueling testimonials from his victims, Trump continued to petition for his innocence and would later go on to secure the presidency, thus solidifying his ability to emerge from legal strife unscathed. Trump’s adamant denial of the allegations effectively convinced a significant percentage of the United States voting population of his innocence, but Trump’s rally of supporters appeared to be more easily swayed into obeying his commands in the moments following his loss in the 2020 presidential race.
The unprecedented Capitol Riots on January 6, 2021, became one of the several defining moments of Trump's unorthodox reign over the White House. Trump’s intense rhetoric, combined with his allegations that the election had been “stolen” from him, sent a herd of supporters banging at the doors of the United States Capitol Building, demanding entry. The mob of angry rioters that would forcibly enter the building and endanger the lives of hundreds of politicians was indisputably emboldened by Trump’s claims that his defeat in the 2020 presidential election was unjust. And yet, in the hours and days following the riots, Trump insisted that he played no discernible role in the insurrection.
As of today, there are four separate Capitol Police suits that have been brought against Trump, all of which involve Capitol police officers who maintain that they were “physically and emotionally injured by attackers that Trump instigated, and that Trump and his co-defendants conspired to disrupt congressional business in the certification of electoral votes'' (Mihm et al.). But the Capitol Riots are not the only source of contention that has followed Trump since his quest for re-election. Another of Trump’s latest lawsuits is an investigation being led by the National Archives, which has reportedly requested that The Department of Justice examine whether Trump mishandled classified White House records in violation of the Presidential Records Act during his time in office (Mihm et al.). On May 12, 2022, the New York Times reported that the Justice Department began an investigation into whether the documents that were found at Trump’s Florida residence were mishandled. The grand jury has since issued at least one subpoena to the National Archives to obtain the classified documents in question. FBI Agents issued a search of Trump’s home with the approval of Attorney General Merrick Garland on August 12th, 2022. However, the search – in a similar fashion to the previous legal inquiries that came before it – yielded no substantial evidence that would put the former president in a position where legal action could be taken.
Despite the consistent stream of allegations, evidence, and lawsuits that have been brought against Trump, he has yet to face any serious legal consequences – a reality that may be attributable to a number of causes. Firstly, it goes without saying that Trump’s army of supporters has blindly backed the former President since the days before his election and well into the moments following the incumbent's election, but perhaps even more damning are the members of Trump’s interpersonal sphere, like his former personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, who remained tight-lipped about his political and economic proceedings for months while indictments and allegations against Trump continued to roll in.
If the defamation cases and instances of morally corrupt business practices were not enough to keep Trump out of office, is it really any surprise that Trump has yet to be held accountable? Trump’s unreasonable personal wealth has made it all the more easy for him to evade legal consequences, as the majority of the defamation and business-related suits brought against Trump were either closed or settled by Trump and his supporting parties. But in the event that Trump is brought to stand before a grand jury to answer for the transgressions committed during and following his time in office, will his money or army of supporters be enough to evade even the powers of the legal system within the United States? And in the event that Trump is able to do so, what impression will this leave on the future leaders of our nation?
[The views expressed in this article are those of the author and the author alone; they do not necessarily represent the views of all members of the RULR Editorial Board and Rutgers University]
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