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Business and personal 45th and 47th President of the United States Incumbent Tenure
Impeachments Civil and criminal prosecutions ![]() | ||
The following is a list of notable lawsuits involving United States president Donald Trump. The list excludes cases that only name Trump as a legal formality in his capacity as president, such as habeas corpus requests.
On August 1, 2023, Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury on four criminal conspiracy and obstruction charges related to attempts to overturn the 2020 election. [1]
On August 14, 2023, he was indicted by a state grand jury in Georgia on 13 criminal charges also related to attempts to obstruct the 2020 election. [2]
On March 24, 2022, Trump sued Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and 26 others, [29] alleging that they "maliciously conspired to weave a false narrative that their Republican opponent, Donald J Trump, was colluding with a hostile foreign sovereignty [Russia]" during the 2016 presidential election, and that Trump had lost at least $24 million as a result. [30] In the RICO lawsuit, he asked for a jury trial and $72 million in damages. [30] [31] [32] [33]
In September, U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks dismissed the suit, stating that it "ignored existing laws, U.S. Supreme Court precedent, and basic legal theory". The judge also wrote in a footnote that Trump had the lawsuit filed in the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida, which has only one federal judge, district judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee. [34] [35] Trump appealed the decision on October 11. [36]
On November 2, Clinton and the other defendants filed a motion in the district court asking for sanctions against Trump's attorneys and to make Trump pay their legal bills of more than $1 million. [37] On January 19, 2023, judge Middlebrooks sanctioned Trump and his attorney, Alina Habba, $938,000 to cover the legal costs for the 31 defendants Trump cited in the suit. Middlebrooks wrote, in part:
Here, we are confronted with a lawsuit that should never have been filed, which was completely frivolous, both factually and legally, and which was brought in bad faith for an improper purpose. Mr. Trump is a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries. He is the mastermind of strategic abuse of the judicial process, and he cannot be seen as a litigant blindly following the advice of a lawyer. [38]
On February 3, 2023, Trump offered to post a $1.03 million bond to appeal the judgment. [39] On February 27, 2024, Trump filed an appeal with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, asking to remove the sanctions and reinstate the original lawsuit. [40]
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Trump and his team filed dozens of lawsuits regarding the procedures in the 2020 presidential election and Joe Biden's victory. Georgia Cobb County and DeKalb County filed lawsuits to recover costs associated with what DeKalb County called "unsubstantiated and frivolous claims." [106]
In November 2020, the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization along with three black voters filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump and his presidential campaign for allegedly disenfranchising black voters in Michigan. [107] The following month, the NAACP filed an amendment complaint, this time adding the Republican National Committee as a defendant, in which the civil rights organization accused Trump, his presidential campaign and the RNC of coordinated conspiracy to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters in targeted cities with large black populations, such as Atlanta, Milwaukee and Philadelphia. [108] On October 5, 2023, the trial was reassigned to Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, the judge who is also overseeing Donald Trump's federal election obstruction prosecution. [109]
In February 2021, U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers for conspiring to attack the Capitol. [110] In February 2022, a federal judge ruled that the lawsuit could proceed. [111]
In March 2021, U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani and U.S. Representative Mo Brooks (R-AL) for their actions on the day the U.S. Capitol was stormed. [112] In February 2022, a federal judge ruled that the lawsuit could proceed. [111]
In March 2021, two Capitol Police officers filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump. [113] In February 2022, a federal judge ruled that the lawsuit could proceed. [111]
In January 2022, two Metropolitan and one Capitol Police officer filed separate suits against Trump, highlighting alleged wrongful conduct by Trump in inciting a riot during the January 6 riot. [114]
In November 2021, James Savage, a voting machine warehouse custodian in Delaware County, filed a 60-page defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and Jenna Ellis. [115]
Some civil lawsuits have attempted to hold Trump accountable for the attack on the U.S. Capitol. On December 1, 2023, a federal appeals court in Washington, DC ruled that these lawsuits may proceed. Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan wrote the opinion; Greg Katsas concurred; Judge Judith Rogers partly concurred.
The decision specifically referred to three lawsuits by Capitol police officers and members of Congress:
Federal law prohibits conspiracy to prevent someone from holding federal office. The lawsuits are based on this law. [116] [117]
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Trump dropped that lawsuit ... after a federal judge in Florida ... accused him of a "pattern of abuse of the courts" for filing frivolous lawsuits for political purposes