Once again, Trump appears to evade a legal trap

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Donald Trump has been involved in more than 4,000 lawsuits — or had been, as of about five years ago. That was the tally from USA Today, including all manner of legal disputes, from workers’ compensation claims at his properties to lawsuits involving the 2016 campaign. That’s about the point at which the paper stopped counting, incidentally; its total is certainly too low.

To some extent, this is a reflection of his association with a business named after himself. To some extent, it’s also a reflection of his approach to that business: being willing to use legal threats as a tool to get what he wanted and often gambling that he could weather or settle legal claims brought against him.

In other words, Trump is unusually experienced at leveraging the legal system. That’s no doubt useful now, when he faces some of the most significant legal threats of his life. But his track record also involves no small amount of luck — and that, too, appears at this point to be regularly coming into play.

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On Wednesday afternoon, we learned that the prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office who were leading the investigation into the Trump Organization had resigned from their positions. This appears to be downstream from skepticism expressed by the new head of that office, Alvin Bragg, who was elected last November and assumed the position in January. Those resignations don’t mean the probe is dead, but they certainly suggest that the investigation might want to make sure its will is in order.

The Manhattan investigation was also moving forward in coordination with an investigation at the state level, helmed by Attorney General Letitia James (D). When a Trump Organization accountant, Allen Weisselberg, was indicted last year, James and then-Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance marched proudly into the courtroom in front of a phalanx of cameras. Vance is gone, apparently kneecapping New York County’s involvement in the effort, but it’s not clear that the state probe will follow the same trajectory. In fact, last week, a judge ordered that Trump be deposed as part of the state’s investigation.


Video: Trump heads into 2022 with $122 million on hand (The Washington Post)


It’s useful to review the recent history of some investigations into and lawsuits facing Trump.

For example, he announced his candidacy in 2015 while facing a fraud lawsuit brought by the state of New York centered on his short-lived real estate program called Trump University. That suit and a few related ones were settled shortly after Trump won the 2016 election. (He did not admit wrongdoing.) While he was president, New York began another probe, looking at activity related to his nonprofit organization, the Trump Foundation. (That probe stemmed in large part from Washington Post reporting.) Ultimately, Trump was fined and the foundation ordered to shut down.

Much of his presidency was centered on a different, more dramatic investigation: the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. That began in late July 2016, with the opening of an FBI investigation called Crossfire Hurricane. When Trump fired the director of the FBI in May 2017, the investigation was handed over to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. His work concluded in early 2019, resulting in a number of indictments against associates of Trump and Russian actors — but no charges against Trump himself. (Later in Trump’s presidency, his attorney general, William P. Barr, appointed another special prosecutor, John Durham, to investigate the origins of the Russia probe itself.)

Once again, Trump appears to evade a legal trap
Once again, Trump appears to evade a legal trap
As president, Trump’s power was twice threatened by impeachments brought by the Democrat-led House. The first centered on his efforts to leverage federal power in an effort to get Ukraine to announce an investigation into Joe Biden. The second, which lasted only a few weeks, was a response to his role in the violence that erupted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. In both cases, Republicans in the Senate declined to convict him on the charges passed by the House.

You’ll see a pattern emerging here: investigations launched, repercussions limited. It’s in that context that we continue on.

There are a number of open probes into Trump’s behavior and actions at this point, including the two in New York centered on his private business. There’s also the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, which could lead to referrals to the Justice Department for criminal charges. But it’s not clear what the Justice Department might already be investigating. Attorney General Merrick Garland has kept his cards close to his chest, though there is reason to think his office may be building some sort of case. (And jumping off points to do so keep arising.) Trump faces a number of civil lawsuits brought by members of Congress and police officers who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Last week, a judge ruled that the suits against Trump could move forward.

There are two other investigations worth mentioning. After Trump pressured election officials to overturn the results of the 2020 election, the district attorney in Fulton County, Ga., opened a probe considering whether he’d broken the law in doing so. In January, she empaneled a grand jury in the case. There’s also the investigation by D.C.'s district attorney that began last year considering the Trump inaugural committee’s fundraising and spending. It’s expected to go to trial in the fall.

Even without the Manhattan case, then, there are still a number of threats to Trump and the Trump Organization. But Trump has some reason to feel confident: He’s faced a lot of dire threats over the past few years and weathered them all. Announcements of investigations that result in little to nothing affecting Trump have been far more common than conclusions of investigations that caused him significant hardship.