Despite leaving office in January 2021, Donald Trump just can’t seem to leave the White House behind him, with his quest for 2024 presidency and his constant undermining of the Republican party in the lead up to midterms.
However, nor can the reminisce of his term leave him as countless criminal investigations are underway.
Despite the agreeable frightening four years of his presidency and what has followed since then, the Republican party just can’t seem to get enough of him.
In an October 22 Civiqs poll, 81% of Republicans still had a favourable opinion of Trump.
He hasn’t outright stated he is running for the party’s presidential nomination yet, but has hinted many times, and going by the polls, he could most certainly win.
But is he still able to run for President with the FBI criminal investigation, the New York Attorney General Lawsuit and January 6th Committee?
Let’s take a deep dive into what these all mean for Donald Trump and his quest for 2024 presidency.
January 6th Committee
The January 6th committee – A select committee established by the House of Representatives to investigate the January 6 insurrection on the Capitol building.
Thousands of rioters embarked on Congress that day, all of who believed Trump had won the 2020 election, despite Biden officially winning it.
The committee has conducted many hearings about why the attack occurred, with many staffers and witnesses coming forward and pointing the finger at Trump.
The evidence provided for his involvement led to the committee dealing the former President a subpoena on October 21 for him to testify on November 14.
Additionally, it also means he must provide any documents, including all text messages and phone calls made to congress members on January 6.
Any communication between himself and far-right groups such as the Oath-Keepers and Proud Boys, the main instigators in the attack, must be handed over too.
Whatever will come out from this will certainly damage his credibility, but as far as criminal charges, that remains unknown.
The committee cannot implement a criminal charge against Trump, but can refer the case to the Department of Justice.
It is up to Attorney General Merrick Garland to decide whether to prosecute him or not.
FBI Criminal Investigation
On 8 August FBI Agents searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida in regards to classified documents.
Trump reportedly stole these documents upon his exit from the White House in January 2021.
During their raid, over 33 boxes of documents were seized, with 103 being marked classified.
Trump, however, refuted this by stating on his social media platform Truth that ‘It was all declassified’ and that he ‘declassified them himself’ – which was not the case.
It is a crime to remove or destroy federal records, or to mishandle classified documents.
One law that could come into action from the search is: ‘the wilful concealment, removal or mutilation of government records’, which ‘threatens a punishment disqualification from ever holding any office in the United States’.
In response to this, Trump requested a Special Master.
A Special Master is typically a retired lawyer or judge hired by a court to look over FBI-seized documents that might be beyond the powers of the search warrant.
The issue was taken to the Supreme Court, where it was rejected on 13 October.
Where the case will go from here is unknown, but it could have serious ramifications, but the FBI is being very thorough over what they are discovering.
The New York Attorney General’s lawsuit
On September 21, New York Attorney General Leticia James sued Donald Trump.
The Lawsuit also included his three eldest children and the Trump organisation after a years-long investigation into practices of the business.
James alleges that they have committed years of tax, bank and insurance fraud.
However, this doesn’t come as a surprise to a lot of people.
In 2020, the New York Times uncovered he only paid $750 in federal income tax in 2016 and during his first year in the White House.
So far the Attorney General has filed court papers to stop the organisation from transferring their assets to a new company.
The organisation created the new company with the same name, just a different location, in the state of Delaware.
So far, not much is known about the case, but it could cause serious damage for his organisation.
Penalties include impediments on Trump’s ability to do business in New York for many years, and could include a referral for a federal prosecution.
These cases are seriously hurting his reputation and ego, but to what extent?
It is evident the country is still willing to vote for him to have a second non-consecutive term in office, but will criminal investigations disrupt that?
His organisation is certainly taking a big hit from the lawsuit, but whether the FBI investigation and January 6th committee will injure his political career lies on him announcing his presidential run, which is still unknown.
Featured Image Credit: January 6th Comittee via Twitter
BA(Hons) International Politics and Languages
Politics and Music journalist
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