The Ledger

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Domain 06

Obstruction of Legal and Investigative Processes

Obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and interference with investigations.

20 entries

OBSTR-003Tier 1Resolved

Weisselberg Perjury: Felony Conviction for Lying Under Oath During Civil Fraud Trial

2023 - 2024

Allen Weisselberg, the longtime Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization, pleaded guilty on March 4, 2024 to two felony counts of perjury in the first degree for lying under oath during the N...

OBSTR-005Tier 1Documented

Witness Intimidation and Gag Order Violations: Social Media Attacks During Active Legal Proceedings

2023 - 2024

During multiple simultaneous legal proceedings in 2023 and 2024, Donald Trump used social media platforms, primarily Truth Social, to publicly attack witnesses, prosecutors, judges, and court staff in...

OBSTR-010Tier 1Adjudicated

Attacks on Jurors and Witnesses During Active Trials: Gag Order Violations Across Multiple Jurisdictions

2023 - 2024

Across multiple civil and criminal proceedings in 2023 and 2024, Donald Trump repeatedly attacked jurors, witnesses, prosecutors, judges, and their family members on social media and in public stateme...

OBSTR-011Tier 1Resolved

Executive Privilege Abuse: Claiming Presidential Privilege After Leaving Office to Delay the January 6 Investigation

2021 - 2022

In October 2021, former President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit to prevent the National Archives and Records Administration from complying with requests by the House Select Committee to Investigate the...

OBSTR-013Tier 3Unresolved

The Seven-Hour Gap: Missing White House Phone Records from January 6, 2021

2021 - 2022

White House records turned over to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol revealed a gap of seven hours and 37 minutes in the official log of calls pl...

OBSTR-016Tier 3Documented

Destroyed Phone Records: Secret Service Texts from January 5-6, 2021, Deleted During 'Device Migration' After Watchdog Requested Them

2021 - 2022

Text messages sent and received by U.S. Secret Service agents on January 5 and 6, 2021, the two days surrounding the attack on the U.S. Capitol, were deleted as part of what the agency described as a ...

OBSTR-018Tier 3Resolved

Mark Meadows's Text Messages: Communications Revealing Coordination on January 6 and His Refusal to Cooperate with the Congressional Investigation

2020 - 2022

Mark Meadows served as White House Chief of Staff during the final year of the Trump presidency. The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol obtained ...

OBSTR-007Tier 3Documented

Removal of SDNY U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman: Premature Resignation Announcement and Firing During Active Investigation of Trump Allies

2020 - 2020

On the evening of June 19, 2020, Attorney General William Barr issued a press release announcing that Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, was "stepping down" from...

OBSTR-009Tier 3Documented

Blanket Defiance of Congressional Oversight: Refusal to Comply with Impeachment Subpoenas, Blocked Witnesses, Withheld Documents, and the Rejected 'Absolute Immunity' Claim

2019 - 2021

During the House of Representatives' first impeachment inquiry in 2019 and throughout his presidency, Donald Trump pursued an unprecedented strategy of blanket defiance of congressional oversight, ref...

OBSTR-019Tier 3Documented

The White House Counsel's Role in the Ukraine Cover-Up: Moving the Call Transcript to a Classified Server and Resisting Congressional Oversight

2019 - 2022

On July 25, 2019, President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a call that would become the basis for his first impeachment. During the call, Trump asked Zelens...

OBSTR-008Tier 1Resolved

Roger Stone's Obstruction and Trump's Intervention: Conviction, Sentencing Override, Prosecutor Resignations, Commutation, and Full Pardon

2019 - 2020

Roger Stone, a longtime political adviser and self-described confidant of Donald Trump, was indicted on January 25, 2019, by a federal grand jury on seven counts: one count of obstruction of an offici...

OBSTR-012Tier 1Resolved

Paul Manafort's Breach of Cooperation: Lying to Mueller's Prosecutors While Sharing Information with Trump's Legal Team Through a Joint Defense Agreement

2018 - 2020

Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign chairman, entered into a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office on September 14, 2018, as part of a guilty plea to ...

OBSTR-015Tier 3Documented

Hope Hicks and the Misleading Trump Tower Meeting Statement: Crafting a False Narrative Aboard Air Force One

2017 - 2019

On July 8, 2017, the New York Times reported that Donald Trump Jr. had met with a Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016, after being promised damaging information about...

OBSTR-001Tier 3Investigated, Not Prosecuted

Attempts to Fire Special Counsel Mueller and Obstruct the Russia Investigation (2017-2019)

2017 - 2019

Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III was appointed on May 17, 2017, to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and any related matters, including potential obstruction of j...

OBSTR-002Tier 3Investigated, Not Prosecuted

Firing of FBI Director James Comey During Active Russia Investigation (May 2017)

2017 - 2017

On May 9, 2017, President Donald J. Trump terminated FBI Director James B. Comey by delivering a dismissal letter to FBI headquarters while Comey was in Los Angeles. Comey learned he had been fired fr...

OBSTR-014Tier 3Documented

Firing of Acting Attorney General Sally Yates: Dismissed After Refusing to Defend the Travel Ban and Warning About Michael Flynn

2017 - 2017

On January 30, 2017, President Donald Trump fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, ten days into his presidency. The firing occurred less than two hours after Yates issued a letter instructing Dep...

OBSTR-006Tier 2Documented

Michael Cohen Testimony: Allegations That Trump Directed False Statements to Congress and Signed Reimbursement Checks in Office

2017 - 2019

Michael Cohen, who served as Donald Trump's personal attorney for over a decade, provided testimony to Congress and to the Special Counsel's office alleging that Trump was directly involved in efforts...

OBSTR-020Tier 3Documented

Destroying Evidence Under Investigation: Allegations of Document Shredding, Phone Wiping, and Server Deletion by Trump and His Employees

2017 - 2023

Across multiple investigations and legal proceedings, Trump and employees of his organizations were accused of destroying, concealing, or attempting to destroy evidence relevant to pending investigati...

OBSTR-017Tier 2Acquitted at Trial

Tom Barrack Prosecution: Trump's Inaugural Committee Chairman Charged with Acting as an Unregistered Foreign Agent for the UAE

2016 - 2022

Tom Barrack, a billionaire real estate investor and one of Donald Trump's closest personal friends, was indicted on July 20, 2021, on federal charges of acting as an unregistered agent of the United A...

OBSTR-004Tier 1Resolved

Hush Money Conspiracy: Catch-and-Kill Scheme with AMI and Michael Cohen

2015 - 2018

Beginning in the summer of 2015, Donald Trump, his personal attorney Michael Cohen, and David Pecker, then chairman and CEO of American Media Inc. (AMI, publisher of the National Enquirer), entered in...