Former President Donald Trump’s legal problems continue to multiply. It’s unclear at this point whether the Department of Justice is seriously considering criminal charges against him for his actions on and surrounding Jan. 6, 2021. But we do know that the House select committee investigating those events seems to be approaching the assignment as if they were prosecutors (which, alas, probably explains why they still haven’t held or even scheduled their long-promised hearings). That committee may anticipate writing a report that makes the case for indictments. And that’s hardly the only trouble Trump is in. Historian Matt Dallek explains:
Bank and tax fraud charges are under consideration in Manhattan. In Fulton County, Ga., a special grand jury is investigating Trump’s interference in the 2020 election. In a Washington courtroom, U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta told a convicted Jan. 6 Capitol rioter that he was a pawn in a scheme by more powerful people, and the legal community is debating whether Trump’s seeming incitement of the insurrection has opened him up to criminal charges. The National Archives requested that the Justice Department open an investigation into Trump’s mishandling of top-secret documents that the government recently retrieved from his Florida estate. Trump still faces legal jeopardy for obstructing justice during Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election (remember that one?). During the 2016 campaign, Trump allegedly orchestrated hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels (the charges that landed his handler Michael Cohen in prison referred to Trump as Individual #1). This list is hardly exhaustive and omits the dozen-plus civil lawsuits and civil investigations Trump faces.