Breaking down Donald Trump’s 4 criminal cases
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Editor’s note: This story was originally published on Aug. 7. It has been updated.
Former President Donald Trump currently faces 91 felony counts related to four criminal cases: Two separate cases (one federal case, one case in Georgia) involving his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election, another involving his handling of classified documents, and another over allegedly falsifying business records. He has denied wrongdoing in each case.
In May, Trump was found liable for sexual assault and defamation in a civil case.
Here is a breakdown of the charges Trump faces.
Trump faces 91 charges across 4 criminal cases
Former President Donald Trump is facing 91 charges across four separate criminal cases. The charges include 44 federal charges and 47 state charges, all felonies. He has also been found liable for sexual assault and defamation in a civil case.
Trump’s charges are broken down below.
Federal
4 charges: 2020 election case.
40 charges: Classified documents case.
State
34 charges: Falsifying business records case in Manhattan.
13 charges: 2020 election case in Fulton County, Georgia.
Civil
2 charges: Sexual assault case.
Trump faces 13 charges in Fulton County, Georgia
On Monday evening, a grand jury returned a total of 41 counts against 19 people. Trump was charged with 13 counts by a Georgia county prosecutor.
These charges are related to alleged criminal activity in connection with the 2020 election in the state of Georgia.
“One of the states he lost was Georgia. Trump and the other Defendants charged in this Indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump,” the 97-page indictment reads.
Trump’s campaign released a statement about the charges.
“The timing of this latest coordinated strike by a biased prosecutor in an overwhelmingly Democrat jurisdiction not only betrays the trust of the American people, but also exposes true motivation driving their fabricated accusations. They could have brought this two and half years ago, yet they chose to do this for election interference reasons in the middle of President Trump’s successful campaign,” the statement said, according to CNN.
1 count: Violating Georgia RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act.
3 counts: Solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer.
1 count: Conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer.
2 counts: Conspiracy to commit false statements and writings.
1 count: Conspiracy to commit filing false documents.
1 count: Filing false documents.
2 counts: Making false statements and writings.
“Prosecutors accused Trump and his allies of attempting to overturn the election results by, among other things, encouraging state officials to violate their oaths of office, devising a plan to submit a false slate of pro-Trump electors, intimidating an election worker and unlawfully breaching voting equipment,” The Hill reported.
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Trump faces 4 charges in the Jan. 6 case
Federal prosecutors are investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, as well as alleged efforts from Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Trump received an indictment from a grand jury in early August. The indictment levies the following federal charges (per The Washington Post):
1 count: Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government.
1 count: Conspiracy against civil rights.
2 counts: Obstruction.
“Despite having lost, the Defendant was determined to remain in power,” the indictment says, per Politico. “So for more than two months following election day on November 3, 2020, the Defendant spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won. These claims were false, and the Defendant knew that they were false.”
The 45-page indictment alleges that Trump “and co-conspirators exploited the disruption by redoubling efforts to levy false claims of election fraud and convince Members of Congress to further delay the certification based on those claims,” per CNN.
Trump appeared at a Washington, D.C., district court on Thursday, Aug. 3. He pled not guilty to all counts, per NBC News.
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Trump faces 40 charges in the classified documents case
Trump faces 40 charges as part of the classified documents case, which alleges that Trump illegally kept classified documents after he left the White House, per CNBC.
The former president currently faces the following federal charges:
32 counts: Willful retention of national defense information.
6 counts: Withholding or altering documents.
2 counts: False statements.
Each of the first 32 counts relates to a specific classified document prosecutors claim Trump illegally possessed after leaving the White House, or, “willfully retaining national defense information under the Espionage Act,” per Politico. The remaining eight charges relate to his alleged efforts to hide documents from investigators and delete Mar-a-Lago security footage, per The Washington Post.
Trump faces 34 charges in the falsifying business records case
Trump faces 34 charges of falsifying business records connected to an investigation into alleged hush money paid to adult actress Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election, per The Washington Post.
Under Article 175 of New York Penal Law, Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. In New York, falsifying business records is a felony when there is “intent to defraud” as well as “an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof.”
Trump found liable for sexual assault and defamation
In May 2023, a jury in a civil case found Trump liable of sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll. The jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million in damages.
Carroll accused Trump of raping her nearly 30 years ago inside a dressing room of a Manhattan Bergdorf Goodman department store, per The New York Times. Due to statute of limitations, no criminal charges could be filed in the case, so Carroll filed a civil suit.
“Jurors notably did not find Trump liable for rape, the most serious allegation Carroll made in a lawsuit filed last year,” per CNBC. “But their verdict that he sexually abused and forcibly touched her without her consent ... substantiated her civil claim of battery.”
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