Trump Investigation Guide: Impeachment, Inquiries, Lawsuits
The investigations and lawsuits began even before Donald Trump took office. Now he is surrounded by them: Congressional inquiries that could lead to his impeachment and legal challenges that could force him to reveal his tax returns, pay damages or face criminal charges after he leaves office. Lawmakers and prosecutors are looking at whether he abused the powers of the presidency, obstructed an investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign, engaged in fraudulent business practices, violated the emoluments clauses of the Constitution and defamed women by saying they lied about alleged sexual assaults. Here’s a guide to the biggest issues under investigation, or being fought out in federal and state courts.
Ukraine Quid Pro Quo
Democrats are focusing on a push by President Trump—and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani—to get Ukraine to launch investigations tied to former Vice President Joe Biden at the same time the Trump administration had put a hold on almost $400 million in military aid. There’s also evidence that Trump’s aides told Ukraine such an investigation was a prerequisite for a coveted Oval Office visit for the country’s new president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The House Intelligence committee heard testimony in November from the former ambassador to Ukraine, the ambassador to the European Union, members of the National Security Council and other diplomats. It issued a report Dec. 3 saying that Trump abused his office by pressuring Ukraine to deliver a political favor. The House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines Dec. 13 to adopt two articles of impeachment, charging the president with abuse of power and obstructing the lawmakers’ ability to investigate potential high crimes and misdemeanors. A vote by the entire House is expected by Dec. 20, and an impeachment trial in the Senate could take place early next year.
Obstruction of Justice
Special Counsel Robert Mueller found multiple instances of potential obstruction of justice by the president in his long-running Russia investigation. Mueller cited Justice Department policy that a president can’t be charged while in office but added that if he had confidence “that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state.”
The House Judiciary Committee is fighting in the courts to get testimony from witnesses including former White House Counsel Donald McGahn, who told Mueller that Trump directed him to have Mueller removed and then asked him to write a memo falsely saying he had not ordered him to do so. Several committees have also requested documents that the Trump administration has not turned over, including material sought by the Intelligence Committee in its impeachment probe.
Porn-Star Payoff
The president’s role in hush-money payments to adult-film star Stormy Daniels has long been a focus of the committee’s Democrats. His former lawyer Michael Cohen is sitting in a federal prison in part for lying to Congress and violating campaign-finance laws by orchestrating illegal payments shortly before the 2016 election to Daniels and another woman claiming to have had sex with Trump. Trump later reimbursed Cohen.
Conflicts of Interest
Four House committees are seeking Trump’s financial records, including his tax returns, for evidence of wrongdoing or conflicts of interest. Trump is resisting and legal fights are working their way through federal courts. Democrats want to know about any foreign actors who might hold financial leverage over Trump or Trump family members.
Emoluments Violations
Three House committees are probing potential violations of the emoluments clauses of the Constitution and other potential abuses by Trump. The probe now includes Vice President Mike Pence’s stay at the Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg, Ireland, and Trump’s aborted plan to hold next year’s Group of Seven summit at his Doral golf resort in Miami.
The Constitution bars the president from taking money from foreign governments without getting permission from Congress. Another clause says the president can’t benefit from the federal or state governments in excess of his salary, regardless of congressional approval. There are also three separate legal challenges based on whether the president is violating the emoluments clauses.
A federal appeals court in Washington heard arguments Dec. 9 on a case brought by 215 congressional Democrats, and another appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, considered arguments Dec. 12 brought by the attorneys general of Maryland and Washington claiming that Trump’s luxury hotel a few blocks from the White House is drawing business away from other restaurants, hotels and convention centers.
Trump’s Finances
The House Oversight Committee is battling in court for documents from accounting firm Mazars USA as part of an investigation into whether to change ethics-in-government laws. Among other things, it is looking to see if Trump inflated the value of his assets and liabilities on financial statements.
The accounting firm was subpoenaed in April, and Trump sued to block the request, saying the committee had no legitimate legislative reason to seek his records. An appeals court upheld the subpoena in October, and on Nov. 13 an 11-judge panel of the court rejected the president’s request that it reconsider the ruling. The Supreme Court agreed on Dec. 13 to consider an appeal in this case and a similar one brought by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.
Foreign Influence
The House Financial Services and Intelligence committees on Dec. 3 won a three-judge federal appeals court ruling giving them access to Trump-related records from Deutsche Bank AG, Capital One Financial Corp. and other banks. Democrats want to know about any foreign actors who might hold financial leverage over Trump or Trump family members. Only the U.S. Supreme Court or a full appellate panel reversal now stand between the lawmakers and the president’s financial records.
Campaign Finance
In October, federal prosecutors in New York charged two associates of Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, with campaign-finance violations. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman are accused of laundering more than $300,000 that went to political groups backing Trump initiatives and to a Republican congressman, who they pressed to help in removing the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine at the time, Marie Yovanovitch. Parnas and Fruman have both pleaded not guilty, and no trial date has been set.
The case could reveal more about Trump’s effort to dig up dirt in Ukraine on Democratic challenger Joe Biden and his son Hunter. And it could imperil Giuliani, who is under scrutiny in the ongoing investigation by the same office he once headed. Parnas and Fruman have also been drawn into the impeachment inquiry. They refused earlier requests to testify and turn over documents, saying their work for the president’s lawyer was protected by privilege. Parnas now says he’s willing to cooperate, though the criminal case hanging over him may limit what he’s able to say.
The same U.S. attorney’s office also prosecuted Trump’s previous personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who’s now in prison for lying to Congress. Cohen has cooperated with prosecutors in their investigations into alleged financial wrongdoing by Trump’s real estate company, campaign and inaugural committee.
Hush Money
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. is investigating Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, for possible infractions of the state’s books and records statutes. Vance’s probe picks up where the federal investigation into hush-money payments by Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, left off. In that case, Cohen pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws by paying $130,000 to Stephanie Clifford, an adult-film actress known as Stormy Daniels, to buy her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump years before. Cohen paid the money days before the 2016 election. Instead of recording Cohen’s reimbursement as a campaign expense, the Trump Organization repaid Cohen by putting him on a retainer for 2017.
Vance’s office has asked Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, to turn over eight years of tax returns. Trump’s lawyers have fought the measure in federal court, arguing that Vance should not be allowed to investigate the president. A federal district judge and the 2nd circuit court of appeals have ruled in Vance’s favor. The Supreme Court agreed on Dec. 13 to consider an appeal. The court will hear arguments, probably in late March or early April, and rule by the end of June.
Illegal Profits
The Maryland and District of Columbia attorneys general sued Trump in June 2017, claiming he illegally profited from properties he owns, including the Trump International Hotel in Washington, patronized by many foreign officials and office-holders in the U.S. While the states prevailed against Trump’s early challenges that they didn’t have the right to challenge his continued role with the Trump Organization, a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, threw out the case in July. The states will ask the full panel of appeals court judges in Virginia to reverse that decision at a hearing scheduled for Dec. 12.
Should Trump ultimately lose, the judge could order him to repay the value of the emoluments earned or order him to fully divest himself from the Trump Organization. He resisted doing that or putting his assets into a blind trust when taking office. Instead he resigned and turned over management to his two eldest sons and an official from the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, to which he is the sole beneficiary. He also promised to send any profits earned from foreign governments to the U.S. Treasury.
- Maryland, D.C. Sue Trump for Using White House to Add Wealth
- Trump Wins Dismissal of Emoluments Case by Maryland and D.C.
- Trump Answers Emolument Suit by Saying He Knows Very Little
- Maryland and D.C. Seek Trump’s Trust, Business Tax Returns
- Trump Emoluments Challenge to Get Rehearing in Appeals Court
Unfair Competition
A Washington-based good government group sued Trump in federal court in the first days of his administration, saying he was violating the Constitution’s ban on accepting payment from foreign or domestic governments by refusing to divest himself from the Trump Organization. They were joined months later by a trade group representing restaurant workers, as well as a Washington event planner and Eric Goode, who owns nightclubs, restaurants and hotels. They argued that their businesses suffered because Trump’s properties draw customers eager to curry favor with the president.
A New York-based federal appeals court in September reinstated the case after it was thrown out by a lower court judge. Trump has since asked the entire appeals court to review that decision.
The suit was thrown out when a lower court judge ruled that they hadn’t shown they had been harmed and that the issue was for Congress to decide. A federal appeals court reinstated the case in September, ruling Goode and the restaurant group had proven they compete directly with Trump establishments and therefore had standing. The original group of scholars and ethics lawyers is no longer involved.
Bank Fraud
New York Attorney General Letitia James has been probing Trump’s business dealings since at least March, when she subpoenaed Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank in New Jersey over loans for Trump real estate projects and a failed bid to buy the National Football League’s Buffalo Bills. James took action after testimony by Michael Cohen, the president’s former lawyer and fixer, who told the House Oversight Committee that the Trump Organization had sometimes misstated the value of its assets on financial statements to get loans or better rates on insurance.
It isn’t the first time the New York attorney general has gone after Trump. On Nov. 7, 2019, the president was ordered to pay $2 million in restitution for using his charitable foundation to raise money in the 2016 campaign, a case brought by the office that led to the foundation’s closure and Trump being limited in future charity work.
Separately, Trump has sued James to block her from releasing his tax returns after the state legislature passed an act allowing Congress to demand state tax returns for certain federal, state and local government officials. Trump lost in an initial stage when a judge in Washington said the case belonged in New York.
Insurance Fraud
New York’s Department of Financial Services is looking into allegations made by Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, that the Trump Organization defrauded insurers by inflating the value of company assets covered under certain policies. While the state agency has issued subpoenas to the company’s insurance brokers, little else has been made public about the investigation.
Zervos Defamation
Former “The Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos has been a thorn in Trump’s side since she sued him in New York state court for defamation three days before he took office. She claims Trump harmed her reputation by calling her a liar after she accused Trump of sexually assaulting her a decade earlier at the Beverly Hills Hotel in California.
While Trump has been accused of sexual misconduct by a number of women, Zervos’s case has made it the furthest in court. Trump has agreed to be deposed sometime before Jan. 31, 2020. In addition, his phone records around the time of the alleged attack were made public in November. While Zervos says they corroborate her story, Trump’s lawyers dispute that interpretation, saying they show Zervos was pressuring Trump for a job.
Carroll Defamation
E. Jean Carroll, an author and advice columnist, became the latest woman to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct when she wrote a June magazine article claiming Trump raped her more than a decade ago in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room. Trump denied the claim, and earlier this month Carroll sued him for defamation in New York for publicly questioning her honesty. There’s already a twist in the case: Carroll says the Secret Service has blocked her attempts to serve the complaint on Trump at Trump Tower and the White House, a move that gives Trump some breathing room, for now.
Alleged Assault
Human rights activists sued Trump, his campaign and the Trump Organization in New York state court in September 2015, alleging that they were “violently attacked” by his security guards while they were protesting on the sidewalk in front of Trump Tower. Early in the case, before he was elected president, Trump won a protective order to block them from deposing him. A judge in August 2018 ordered the case to proceed toward trial. A date was set to begin on Sept. 26, but it was delayed pending the resolution of whether Trump has to be deposed. That issue is expected to be argued early next year.