After emerging largely unscathed from an assassination attempt and getting his classified documents case thrown out, a defiant Donald Trump dug his heels in Monday on claims of a Democratic-led conspiracy in the courts by calling for all his remaining legal battles to be dismissed.
In a Truth Social post reacting to Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision to toss the federal case in Florida alleging he hoarded and hid sensitive government documents after leaving office — finding that special counsel Jack Smith’s appointment was unlawful — Trump wrote that it “should be just the first step.”
Trump said he next wanted judges to dismiss his Manhattan criminal case, state and federal charges alleging he plotted to subvert the results of the 2020 election in Fulton County, Ga., and Washington, D.C., and the judgments issued in his biggest civil cases, including the determination he owes New York around half a billion dollars for committing crimes to boost profits for his real estate empire.
U.S. Senate via AP
In this image from video provided by the U.S. Senate, Aileen M. Cannon speaks remotely during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight nomination hearing to be U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on July 29, 2020, in Washington. (U.S. Senate via AP)
The former president, who’s slated to officially become the Republican nominee in November’s election on Thursday and is leading President Biden in crucial swing states in most major polls, also referenced his litigation with E. Jean Carroll, repeating false allegations about the writer he was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming and ordered to pay almost $90 million.
“The Democrat Justice Department coordinated ALL of these Political Attacks, which are an Election Interference conspiracy against Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, ME,” Trump wrote after claiming Sunday that he wanted to unite divisions between the political left and right in America following the Saturday attempt on his life at a Pennsylvania rally. There is no evidence of any such coordination.
The Supreme Court’s immunity ruling is expected to pare down the D.C. case against Trump significantly, and it’s unlikely to make it to trial if he wins the election. Trump’s Georgia case has been stalled, with an appeals court yet to decide whether District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified for dating a special prosecutor. It’s unclear how it will proceed if Trump wins a second term.
Justice Department via AP
This image, contained in the indictment against former President Donald Trump, shows boxes of records stored in a bathroom and shower in the Lake Room at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. Trump is facing 37 felony charges related to the mishandling of classified documents according to an indictment unsealed Friday, June 9, 2023. (Justice Department via AP)
The delays and dismissal of the classified documents case, whose appeal could take years to resolve, mean Trump’s New York cases may be the only ones that actually proceed in the foreseeable future. He lost all of them during the past 14 months.
On Thursday, he asked Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to undo a jury’s May 30 verdict finding him guilty of 34 felonies for falsifying business records in a conspiracy to hide information from the 2016 electorate.
Arguing that any evidence presented relating to his time in the White House was inadmissible, Trump’s defense team cited the recent ruling by the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority — half of whom he appointed — which found presidents above the law for most “official acts.” Prosecutors are expected to oppose his request by July 24, and Merchan said he’ll sentence him Sept. 18 “if such is still necessary.”
If the sentencing goes forward, Trump has said he will appeal. He still faces the possibility of prison time for the conviction, which he can’t pardon himself for if he wins the White House as it’s a state and not a federal case.
One of Carroll’s lawsuits against Trump concluded in May 2023 with a civil jury finding he sexually assaulted her in a Midtown dressing room in the mid-1990s and defamed her as a “complete con job” in 2022, awarding her $5 million. A judge later decided he also defamed her during his presidency, for which another jury determined he should pay an additional $83.3 million.
Trump is appealing both outcomes. The first has been fully briefed, but a federal appeals court has not yet set a date to hear arguments. Trump has not yet submitted written arguments appealing the damages verdict.
“It is extremely disappointing that at a time when many (including Donald Trump and President Biden) are calling for national unity, Donald Trump continues to make defamatory statements about E Jean Carroll that are similar if not identical to prior statements that two separate juries in federal court considered to be so defamatory that they assessed damages totaling $88 million,” Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan told The News of Trump’s Monday remarks, which described Carroll as “a woman I never met” with “Fake Claims.”
“As I have said repeatedly and will say again today, all options remain on the table.”
Trump has deposited $175 million toward the mammoth $464 million judgment rendered by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron in February, which found that he and his top executives at the Trump Organization engaged in widespread fraud for years by brazenly lying to financial institutions about the value of his properties.
Trump is expected to file briefs in his appeal by next Monday. The attorney general’s office will respond by late August, and a midlevel appellate court is slated to hear arguments in the last week of September.
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