There are so many crimes that Trump committed in office that it would take years to sift through them all.
That's not fair! Trump also committed crimes before and after he was president too!!
Lets take a look at Trump's crime spree, shall we?
Trump's main business practices.These tend to be done through the Trump Organization, of which Trump is the main owner and one in charge.
We know with certainty (thanks to a conviction) that the Trump organization engaged in Tax fraud. But there are other potential crimes that Trump may have engaged in (some of which will be the subject of the Leticia James lawsuit). These include increasing the value of properties when applying for bank loans and lowering them for taxation purposes. (So both tax and bank fraud). There is also the possibility that he has engaged in money laundring, although the evidence for this is less defined as for Bank/tax fraud.
Why Trump wasn't charged:The U.S. has a poor record of prosecuting white collar crimes.... The crimes are often overlooked, and when they are found, convictions can be difficult because of the complexity. (Madoff ran a scam for years before he was caught.) Before Trump entered politics, his crimes were probably overlooked because the police and investigators just didn't have the resources or interest to investigate. Then when Trump was elected, Trump was protected by a DoJ policy that stated a sitting president could not be indicted (not to mention the fact that Bill Barr did his best to run interference for him). Now that he's out of office, the investigations can finally proceed.
Now, Bragg had the opportunity to charge Trump crimally for the things Leticia James is going after him for in civil court, but Bragg decided not to proceed (over the objections of some of his staff.) But that doesn't mean the case is dead... they can always reopen the case, as new evidence comes up.
Trump's side hustlesThis includes things like the Trump Foundation, Trump university, and the Trump Network (multi-level marketing scam).
Trump ended up having to pay out millions over his Trump University scam. And because of his actions runnig the Trump Foundation, the courts put restrictions on him getting involved in any other charities. Let that sink in: The previous "leader of the free world" , was deemed unfit to run a charity.
As for the Trump network: I am not sure where exactly this sits, but Trump and his spawn were deposed over it last year.
Why Trump wasn't charged.All these cases were handled as civil cases. (Of course that doesn't mean "trump is innocent")
Trump and the 2016 campaign:During the 2016 election, Russia aided the Trump campaign. (Even the republicans in the senate admitted as much.) This lead to various actions that would be considered illegal, including:
- Firing of Comey (obstruction of justice 18 U.S.C. 1503)
- Trying to influence Flynn (obstruction of justice and witness tampering 8 U.S.C. §§ 1503, 1505, 1512; 1512)
Mueller found multiple instances where Trump could have been charged, but did not proceed.
He also engaged in campaign finance violations, for his role in payouts to Stormy McDaniiels and McDougal. (The payouts should have been considered campaign contributions but were not recorded. (52 U.S.C. 30109, 30116, 30118, 30104; 18 U.S.C. 2). Add to that the possibility that he might have falsified business records (by falsely claiming the payouts as 'legal expenses', NY penal code 175.10) and engaged in tax fraud (if he tried to claim a deduction for the 'business expenses.) The latest is his attempt to intimidate Bragg (the DA handling the investigation) by posting a picture of Trump standing behind him with a baseball bat, which might be consdidered harassment or menacing (NYPL 240.25/NYLP 120.14)
Why wasn't Trump charged:As with so many of his other crimes, he was protected by the DoJ policy of not indicting a sitting president. (And the statute of limitations may be running out on some of his crimes, and it is unknown how the courts will handle it if they attempted to indict now.)
Of course there is the investigation into the stormy daniels payout, which may yet see him indicted and convicted. But, it does take time to build a case.
Miscellaneous crimes during his presidency.While he was president, Trump was likely engaging in the following crimes:
- Violation of the presidential records act: He had a reputation for ripping up/burning/flushing various documents (18 U.S.C. 1361 2071)
- Emoluments, over him renting out hotel rooms at his hotels to foreign interests. (Technically "emoluments" is the term in the constitution, but the closest criminal charge is probably bribery.)
- Sharpiegate, from when he drew on a weather map the path of a hurricane (which is technically a crime, since it would be considered issuing a false weather report)
- Attempts to blackmail Ukraine into launching a bogus investigation into Hunter Biden, which would be considered Misappropriation of federal funds (18 USC 641), obstruciton of justice over his attempt to hide the crime (18 usc 1505, 1512) and a violation of the Hatch act (18 USC 595)
- Failure to declare several 'gifts' that were received by Trump while in office (more on that later)
Why wasn't Trump charged:Again, the DoJ doesn't indict sitting presidents. And once Trump was out of office, there were likly bigger crimes to deal with.
There was a civil court case over the emoluments issue, but Trump managed to delay things until he was out of office, at which point it became moot.
Crimes related to the 2020 election.Trump's crimes are all over here... His attempts to get Georgia to overturn their election results might violate both federal law (conspiracy against rights 18 USC 241) and Georgia law (influencing government officials to alter records, criminal solicitation, GA. Code Ann. 16 10-93, 16-4-7). Georgia may also throw in some racketeering charges (Ga. Code Ann. 16-14)
His attempts to distrupt the vote counting on January by sending protestors would be considered Obstruction of an Official proceeding (18 USC 1512), and the fact that he was dealing with others to do so would make it a conspiracy (18 USC 371, 372) And the riot itself would be classsifed as an 'insurection' (18 USC 2383).
Why wasn't trump chargedMuch of this occurred after the 2020 election. It takes time to build a case. However, investigations are continuing and Trump might yet be indicted/convicted over it.
Trump's post-presidency crimesThe big crime here is his theft of government documents. His possession of national defense information falls under 18 USC 793. More generally, his removal of ANY government documents would fall under 18 USC 2071. And his failure to return them whn subpoenaed would be obstruction of justice (18 USC 1591).
But that is not the only crime Trump has engaged in post-presidency. He may have engaged in Wire fraud (18 USC 1343), over his collection of money for his "Save America" PAC (which was not used for the stated purpose of dealing with the non-existent election fraud)
Then there is the case of several gifts received by Trump while in office. Technically those gifts (including a golden golf club and a painting of Trump himself) are the property of the U.S. government. But many of those gifts seem to have disappeared. If it is found that Trump is in possession of them, that would be considered theft of government property.
Why wasn't Trump chargedAgain, it takes time to build a solid legal case. He may yet be charged over these crimes.
See:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-storm-dorian-trump-idUKKCN1VQ00Hhttps://ca.news.yahoo.com/anger-trump-posts-picture-himself-012321053.htmlhttps://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/president-trumps-staggering-record-of-uncharged-crimes/https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-russia-ukraine-donald-trump-presidential-campaigns-4ce3a13c3fe27255210adc0c83a80da1https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/3-755-gold-golf-club-160515514.html