(Reuters) – A congressional panel investigating Donald Trump and his supporters’ role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress issued its final report this week, urging federal prosecutors to charge the former president with four crimes, including obstruction and insurrection.
Additionally, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee this week said some of Trump’s tax records showed his income and tax liability fluctuated dramatically in recent years, raising questions about the legitimacy of some of his deductions and about the Internal Revenue Services’ presidential audit program.
The moves add to the host of legal threats facing Trump, who last month announced he will seek the White House again in 2024.
Below are some of the ongoing investigations and lawsuits:
U.S. CAPITOL ATTACK
A special House of Representatives committee investigating the deadly 2021 assault by Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol called on the Department of Justice to charge Trump with corruption of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement and inciting or aiding an insurrection.
Its request, which is non-binding, came as it also released its final 845-page report on Thursday concluding its nearly 18-month-long probe into the actions taken to try to overturn Trump’s 2020 election defeat, including when rioters sought to block Congress from certifying Trump’s loss.
Trump has called the panel’s investigation a politically motivated sham.
He also faces separate civil lawsuits over the riot.
Only the Justice Department can decide whether to chargeTrump with federal crimes but the lawmakers’ referral may increase pressure on prosecutors to bring a criminal case against Trump and some of his allies.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland last month appointed former war crimes prosecutor Jack Smith to oversee the department’s investigation.
MISSING GOVERNMENT RECORDS
Smith has also been tasked with overseeing the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of Trump for retaining government records, including some marked as classified, after leaving office in January 2021.
The FBI seized 11,000 documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lagoestate in Florida in a court-approved Aug. 8 search. About 100documents were marked as classified, and some were designatedtop secret, the highest level of classification.
Trump, a Republican, has accused the Justice Department ofengaging in a partisan witch hunt.
An independent arbiter had been tapped to review the seized documents to determine whether any are protected by executive privilege, as Trump has claimed, but a federal appeals court reversed the appointment in a Dec. 1 ruling backing the Justice Department’s challenge to the so-called special master.
Executive privilege is a legal doctrine under which apresident can keep certain documents or information secret, but the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision restored federal authorities’ access to unclassified materialstaken in the search.
Trump did not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL CIVIL LAWSUIT
New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a civillawsuit filed in September that her office uncovered more than200 examples of misleading asset valuations by Trump and theTrump Organization between 2011 and 2021.
James, a Democrat, accused Trump of inflating his net worthby billions of dollars to obtain lower interest rates on loansand get better insurance coverage.
A New York judge ordered that an independent monitor beappointed to oversee the Trump Organization before the case goesto trial in October 2023.
James is seeking to permanently bar Trump and his childrenDonald Jr., Eric and Ivanka Trump from running companies in NewYork state, and to prevent them and his company from buying newproperties and taking out new loans in the state for five years.
James also wants the defendants to hand over about $250million that she says was obtained through fraud.
Trump has called the attorney general’s lawsuit a witchhunt. A lawyer for Trump has called James’ claims meritless.
James said her probe also uncovered evidence of criminalwrongdoing, which she referred to federal prosecutors and theInternal Revenue Service for investigation.
DEFAMATION CASE
E. Jean Carroll, a former Elle magazine writer, sued Trumpfor defamation in 2019 after he denied her allegation that heraped her in the 1990s in a New York City department store.Trump accused her of lying to drum up sales for a book.
Trump appeared for a deposition in the case on Oct. 19,according to his and Carroll’s lawyers, with the trial scheduled to start April 10, 2023.
Trump has argued that he is shielded from Carroll’s lawsuitby a federal law that immunizes government employees fromdefamation claims.
The Manhattan-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals inSeptember said Trump was a federal employee when he calledCarroll a liar, but left open the question of whether he wasacting as president when he made the statement.
A Washington appeals court will separately consider that question in oral arguments scheduled for Jan. 10, 2023.
Carroll in November also sued Trump for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress under New York state law. That case would continue even if the defamation lawsuit is dismissed, although Carroll has requested one trial combining the lawsuits. Trump is also seeking to have the battery case tossed out of court.
GEORGIA ELECTION TAMPERING PROBE
A special grand jury was empanelled in May for a Georgiaprosecutor’s inquiry into Trump’s alleged efforts to influencethat state’s 2020 election results.
The investigation focuses in part on a phone call Trump madeto Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican,on Jan. 2, 2021. Trump asked Raffensperger to “find” enoughvotes needed to overturn Trump’s election loss in Georgia.
Legal experts said Trump may have violated at least threeGeorgia criminal election laws: conspiracy to commit electionfraud, criminal solicitation to commit election fraud andintentional interference with performance of election duties.
Trump could argue that his discussions were constitutionallyprotected free speech.
In a separate lawsuit, a California federal judge said onOct. 19 that Trump knowingly made false voter fraud claims in aGeorgia election lawsuit, citing emails the judge reviewed.
NEW YORK CRIMINAL PROBE
While Trump was not charged with wrongdoing, his real estate company was found guilty of tax fraud in New York state and now faces up to $1.6 million in fines.
In a Dec. 6 decision, jurors convicted the Trump Organization, which operates hotels, golf courses and other real estate around the world, on three tax fraud charges and six other counts in the criminal case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
A Trump Organization lawyer has said it would appeal the decision, while Trump has defended his company’s operations.
Allen Weisselberg, the company’s former chief financialofficer, pleaded guilty and was required to testify againstthe Trump Organization as part of his plea agreement. He is alsoa defendant in James’ civil lawsuit.
Bragg also announced in December that he has hired a former senior Justice Department official who has investigated Trump to now investigate financial crimes for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, which has been conducting a criminal probe into whether the Trump Organization inflated its assets.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York and Jacqueline Thomsen and Susan Heavey in Washington; Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
