Evidentiary Tier 1
Adjudicated and Legally Resolved
60 entries
Weaponizing Defamation Lawsuits from the Oval Office: The ABC, CBS, Des Moines Register, and Pulitzer Board Cases of 2024 and 2025
Civil Fraud and Business Deception | 2024 - 2026
Beginning in 2024 and continuing into his second term as president, Donald Trump filed or pursued a series of defamation lawsuits against major news organizations, a national pollster, and the Pulitze...
Weisselberg Perjury: Felony Conviction for Lying Under Oath During Civil Fraud Trial
Obstruction of Legal and Investigative Processes | 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...
Witness Intimidation and Gag Order Violations: Social Media Attacks During Active Legal Proceedings
Obstruction of Legal and Investigative Processes | 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...
Attacks on Jurors and Witnesses During Active Trials: Gag Order Violations Across Multiple Jurisdictions
Obstruction of Legal and Investigative Processes | 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...
E. Jean Carroll Defamation Verdict: $83.3 Million Jury Award for 'Remarkably Reprehensible' Conduct
Civil Fraud and Business Deception | 2022 - 2025
On January 26, 2024, a federal jury in Manhattan awarded E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in damages after finding that Donald Trump had defamed her by repeatedly denying her allegation that he sexually ...
Civil Contempt of Court: Trump Fined $110,000 for Failing to Comply with Attorney General Subpoena
Criminal Matters | 2022 - 2023
On April 25, 2022, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron held Donald Trump in civil contempt of court for failing to comply with a subpoena issued by New York Attorney General Letitia James as ...
Contempt of Congress Conviction: Peter Navarro's Refusal to Comply with January 6 Committee Subpoena
Criminal Matters | 2022 - 2024
Peter Navarro, a senior White House trade adviser under Donald Trump, was convicted of two counts of contempt of Congress on September 7, 2023, for defying a subpoena issued by the House Select Commit...
Steve Bannon's Criminal Contempt of Congress: Conviction, Sentencing, and Imprisonment for Defying the January 6 Committee Subpoena
Criminal Matters | 2021 - 2026
Steve Bannon, who served as chief strategist in the Trump White House from January to August 2017 and remained a prominent political ally of Donald Trump, was indicted, convicted, and imprisoned for c...
Executive Privilege Abuse: Claiming Presidential Privilege After Leaving Office to Delay the January 6 Investigation
Obstruction of Legal and Investigative Processes | 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...
Giuliani's $148 Million Defamation Verdict: Consequences for Spreading Trump's Election Fraud Claims Against Georgia Election Workers
Civil Fraud and Business Deception | 2020 - 2024
On December 15, 2023, a federal jury in Washington, D.C. awarded Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea "Shaye" Moss a total of $148,169,000 in compensatory and punitive damages after finding that Rudy...
Attacks on Election Workers: Ruby Freeman, Shaye Moss, and the $148 Million Defamation Verdict
Treatment of Individuals: Cruelty, Defamation, and Degradation | 2020 - 2025
Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea "Shaye" Moss, were Fulton County, Georgia election workers who processed absentee ballots during the 2020 presidential election. Beginning in December 2020, Dona...
Fox News Dominion Voting Systems Settlement: $787.5 Million Resolution Exposing Trump's Election Lies as Source Material
Civil Fraud and Business Deception | 2020 - 2023
On April 18, 2023, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit, the largest publicly known defamation settlement in American media history. While Fox N...
Post-Election Litigation Campaign: 62 Lawsuits Filed to Overturn the 2020 Election Results, Nearly All Dismissed
Civil Fraud and Business Deception | 2020 - 2021
Following the November 3, 2020, presidential election, the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee, and Trump allies filed 62 lawsuits in nine states and the District of Columbia challenging...
Newsmax Defamation Settlements: $40 Million to Smartmatic and $67 Million to Dominion for Amplifying False Election Fraud Claims
Civil Fraud and Business Deception | 2020 - 2025
Newsmax Media, a conservative cable news network that amplified Donald Trump's false claims about the 2020 presidential election, paid a combined $107 million in defamation settlements to two voting t...
From 'Stand Back and Stand By' to Presidential Pardon: The Proud Boys Seditious Conspiracy Arc
Incitement, Endorsement, and Encouragement of Violence | 2020 - 2025
This entry documents a sequence of events spanning from September 2020 to January 2025, connecting Donald Trump's public statements about the Proud Boys, their seditious conspiracy convictions for the...
Illegal Withholding of Ukraine Military Aid: GAO Finding of Impoundment Control Act Violation
Abuse of Official Power | 2019 - 2020
On January 16, 2020, the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan congressional watchdog agency, issued a formal legal decision finding that the Office of Management and Budget had violated the...
Abuse of Emergency Powers: National Emergency Declaration to Fund Border Wall After Congressional Refusal
Democratic Norm Violations | 2019 - 2021
On February 15, 2019, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act to redirect approximately $6.5 billion in funds that Congress had not appropriated for bor...
Diverting $3.6 Billion in Military Construction Funds to Build the Border Wall After Congress Refused Funding
Abuse of Official Power | 2019 - 2020
On February 15, 2019, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border of the United States, invoking powers under the National Emergencies Act and 10 U.S.C. Section 2808 to...
Roger Stone's Obstruction and Trump's Intervention: Conviction, Sentencing Override, Prosecutor Resignations, Commutation, and Full Pardon
Obstruction of Legal and Investigative Processes | 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...
Paul Manafort's Breach of Cooperation: Lying to Mueller's Prosecutors While Sharing Information with Trump's Legal Team Through a Joint Defense Agreement
Obstruction of Legal and Investigative Processes | 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 ...
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman Convictions: Giuliani Associates Convicted of Funneling Foreign Money into U.S. Elections and Trump's Political Orbit
Criminal Matters | 2018 - 2022
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, both Soviet-born businessmen and associates of Rudy Giuliani, were arrested on October 9, 2019, at Dulles International Airport while attempting to board a one-way flight t...
Census Manipulation: Blocked Citizenship Question and Excluded Undocumented Immigrants from Apportionment
Democratic Norm Violations and Institutional Erosion | 2018 - 2021
The Trump administration pursued two distinct but related efforts to alter the composition of the decennial census in ways that critics argued would reduce the political representation of immigrant co...
Paul Manafort Criminal Convictions: Eight Federal Felony Counts and Subsequent Plea Deal, Sentencing, and Presidential Pardon
Criminal Matters | 2017 - 2020
Paul Manafort served as chairman of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign from June to August 2016. On October 30, 2017, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office indicted Manafort on charges relate...
Elliott Broidy Guilty Plea: Top Trump Fundraiser Acted as Unregistered Foreign Agent for Chinese and Malaysian Interests
Criminal Matters | 2017 - 2021
Elliott Broidy, a top Republican fundraiser and former deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, pleaded guilty on October 20, 2020, to a federal charge of conspiring to act as an ...
Muslim Travel Ban: Executive Orders Restricting Entry from Muslim-Majority Countries
Democratic Norm Violations and Institutional Erosion | 2017 - 2021
On January 27, 2017, one week after taking office, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 13769, titled "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States." The order su...
Michael Flynn Guilty Plea, DOJ Motion to Dismiss, and Presidential Pardon: National Security Adviser Convicted of Lying to the FBI
Criminal Matters | 2017 - 2020
Michael Flynn served as National Security Adviser to President Donald Trump for 24 days, from January 20 to February 13, 2017. He resigned after reports revealed that he had misled Vice President Mike...
Presidential Inaugural Committee: $750,000 Settlement for Misuse of Nonprofit Funds and Hotel Overpayments
Charitable and Philanthropic Abuse | 2017 - 2022
The 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee, organized as a nonprofit 501(c)(4), raised a record $107 million in donations for events surrounding Donald Trump's January 20, 2017 inauguration. The DC Att...
Summer Zervos Defamation Lawsuit: Presidential Immunity Challenge and Withdrawal Without Compensation
Civil Fraud and Business Deception | 2017 - 2021
Summer Zervos, a contestant on Season 5 of The Apprentice, accused Donald Trump of sexual assault in October 2016, alleging that Trump groped and kissed her without consent during a 2007 meeting at th...
Rick Gates Guilty Plea: Conspiracy Against the United States and Lying to the FBI
Criminal Matters | 2016 - 2019
On February 23, 2018, Rick Gates, Donald Trump's deputy campaign chairman during the 2016 presidential election, pleaded guilty to two federal charges brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's offic...
George Papadopoulos Guilty Plea: Trump Campaign Adviser Lied to FBI About Russian Contacts
Criminal Matters | 2016 - 2020
George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, pleaded guilty on October 5, 2017, to making materially false statements to FBI agents about his contacts wi...
The Trump Foundation's Final Accounting: Court-Supervised Dissolution, $2 Million in Restitution, and a Complete Record of Self-Dealing
Charitable and Philanthropic Abuse | 2016 - 2019
On November 7, 2019, New York Supreme Court Justice Saliann Scarpulla issued the final judgment in the case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James against the Donald J. Trump Foundation, D...
Felony Conviction: 34 Counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree (New York, 2024)
Criminal Matters | 2016 - 2025
On May 30, 2024, a Manhattan jury unanimously convicted Donald J. Trump of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, making him the first former or sitting U.S. president to...
Trump's Tax Return Battle: Years of Legal Obstruction Followed by Revelations of Minimal Tax Payments and Failed IRS Audits
Financial Fraud and Manipulation | 2015 - 2022
Donald Trump broke a decades-long bipartisan precedent by refusing to release his tax returns during and after the 2016 presidential campaign, then fought a multi-year legal battle to prevent Congress...
Hush Money Conspiracy: Catch-and-Kill Scheme with AMI and Michael Cohen
Obstruction of Legal and Investigative Processes | 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...
The Paint Spot: Small Business Forced to Litigate for $32,535 Owed by Trump National Doral Miami
Labor, Contractor, and Employment Abuses | 2014 - 2017
In 2014, The Paint Spot, a small Miami-based paint supply company owned by Juan Carlos Enriquez, supplied paint and related materials for a renovation of Trump National Doral Miami, a golf resort owne...
Trump International Hotel Las Vegas: Years of Refusing to Bargain with Unionized Workers Despite NLRB Orders
Labor, Contractor, and Employment Abuses | 2014 - 2018
Workers at the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, a 64-story luxury hotel and condominium tower on the Las Vegas Strip, engaged in a multi-year fight for union representation and a collective bargai...
Bondi Donation: $25,000 Trump Foundation Gift to Florida Attorney General While Trump University Investigation Was Under Consideration
Civil Fraud and Business Deception | 2013 - 2019
On September 17, 2013, the Donald J. Trump Foundation made a $25,000 donation to And Justice for All, a political committee supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. The donation was made during ...
New York Civil Fraud: Judicial Finding of Years of Financial Fraud Through Systematic Asset Inflation
Financial Fraud and Manipulation | 2011 - 2025
On February 16, 2024, Justice Arthur Engoron of the New York Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump, his adult sons Donald Jr. and Eric, former CFO Allen Weisselberg, and multiple Trump Organization en...
Two Sets of Books: The Trump Organization's Practice of Maintaining Inflated Financial Statements for Lenders and Deflated Valuations for Tax Authorities
Financial Fraud and Manipulation | 2011 - 2024
A central finding of New York Attorney General Letitia James's civil fraud case against Donald Trump, the Trump Organization, and several individual defendants was that the Trump Organization maintain...
Trump SoHo: Buyer Fraud Settlement and Abandoned Criminal Investigation After Attorney Donations to DA
Civil Fraud and Business Deception | 2008 - 2012
Trump SoHo was a 46-story hotel-condominium tower at 246 Spring Street in Manhattan, developed through a partnership between the Trump Organization and the Bayrock Group. Beginning in 2008, Trump Orga...
Self-Dealing Purchases: Charity Funds Used to Buy Personal Items Including Portraits and a Tim Tebow Helmet
Charitable and Philanthropic Abuse | 2007 - 2019
As part of the broader dissolution case against the Donald J. Trump Foundation, the New York Attorney General documented multiple instances in which Trump used charitable funds to purchase personal it...
Trump University: $25 Million Settlement for Fraud and Misrepresentation
Civil Fraud and Business Deception | 2005 - 2018
Trump University was a for-profit enterprise launched in 2005 that marketed real estate seminars as a path to learning Trump's personal investment strategies. Despite its name, it was not an accredite...
Trump Organization Criminal Tax Fraud: Felony Convictions for 15-Year Off-the-Books Compensation Scheme
Criminal Matters | 2005 - 2023
On December 6, 2022, a Manhattan jury found The Trump Corporation and The Trump Payroll Corp. guilty on all 17 felony counts for their role in a 15-year scheme to defraud federal, New York State, and ...
Allen Weisselberg Tax Fraud Guilty Plea: 15 Felony Counts for a 15-Year Scheme at the Trump Organization
Criminal Matters | 2005 - 2023
On August 18, 2022, Allen Weisselberg, the longtime chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, pleaded guilty to 15 felony counts in a New York State case arising from a 15-year tax fraud sche...
Trump Organization Criminal Tax Fraud: Fifteen-Year Scheme of Unreported Executive Compensation
Financial Fraud and Manipulation | 2005 - 2023
On July 1, 2021, the Manhattan District Attorney's office indicted Allen Weisselberg, the longtime Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization, along with two Trump Organization corporate entiti...
Trump University Instructor Qualifications Fraud: Scripted Deception, Fabricated Credentials, and the 'Hand-Picked' Marketing Claim
Financial Fraud and Manipulation | 2005 - 2016
Trump University, the for-profit real estate seminar program that operated from 2005 to 2010, marketed its instructors as experts "hand-picked" by Donald Trump who would share his personal real estate...
Trump Taj Mahal: $10 Million FinCEN Penalty for Willful Anti-Money Laundering Violations
Financial Fraud and Manipulation | 1998 - 2015
On January 27, 2015, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, imposed a $10 million civil money penalty against Trump Taj Mahal Associates LL...
E. Jean Carroll Verdict: Civil Liability for Sexual Abuse and Defamation ($88.3 Million in Total Damages)
Treatment of Individuals: Cruelty, Defamation, and Degradation | 1996 - 2025
In May 2023, a federal jury in the Southern District of New York found Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing writer and advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and for defaming her in 202...
Attempted Eminent Domain Seizure of a Widow's Home: Trump Tried to Take Vera Coking's Property for a Casino Parking Lot
Labor, Contractor, and Employment Abuses | 1993 - 1998
In the early 1990s, Donald Trump attempted to use the power of government eminent domain to seize the home of Vera Coking, an elderly widow in Atlantic City, New Jersey, so that he could demolish it a...
Casino Bankruptcies: Six Chapter 11 Filings, $82 Million in Personal Compensation While Investors Lost Billions
Financial Fraud and Manipulation | 1991 - 2014
Between 1991 and 2014, entities controlled or chaired by Donald Trump filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection six times across four distinct reorganization cycles. In every case the filing entities...
Atlantic City Casino Regulatory Violations: Fines, Discrimination Citations, and Anti-Money Laundering Failures
Civil Fraud and Business Deception | 1990 - 2015
Donald Trump's Atlantic City casino operations accumulated a significant record of regulatory violations, fines, and citations from the New Jersey Casino Control Commission and federal regulators over...
Trump Foundation: Court-Ordered Dissolution for Illegal Self-Dealing and Campaign Finance Violations
Charitable and Philanthropic Abuse | 1988 - 2019
The Donald J. Trump Foundation, a tax-exempt private foundation incorporated in 1988, was dissolved by court order in December 2018 after the New York Attorney General's office established a pattern o...
USFL v. NFL: $1 Antitrust Verdict After Trump-Led Strategy Collapsed the League
Civil Fraud and Business Deception | 1984 - 1990
Donald Trump purchased a majority stake in the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League in August 1983. The USFL had been founded in 1982 as a spring professional football league and i...
USFL v. NFL: Trump's Role in the Fall Schedule Gamble That Destroyed a Professional Football League
Civil Fraud and Business Deception | 1984 - 1986
The United States Football League was founded in 1982 as a spring professional football league designed to avoid direct competition with the NFL. The league launched its first season in March 1983 wit...
Frivolous Litigation as Intimidation: Trump's Pattern of Using Defamation Lawsuits to Silence Critics and Journalists
Civil Fraud and Business Deception | 1984 - 2024
Over a period spanning four decades, Donald Trump has filed or threatened lawsuits against journalists, authors, media organizations, and critics who published unflattering information about his wealt...
100 Central Park South: Tenant Harassment Campaign and Federal RICO Dismissal
Treatment of Individuals: Cruelty, Defamation, and Degradation | 1981 - 1998
In 1981, Donald Trump purchased 100 Central Park South, a 14-story residential building, alongside the adjacent 38-story Barbizon Plaza Hotel for approximately $65 million. His stated goal was to demo...
Polish Workers Lawsuit: Undocumented Demolition Workers Underpaid and Denied Union Benefits During Trump Tower Construction (Diduck v. Kaszycki & Sons)
Labor, Contractor, and Employment Abuses | 1980 - 1999
In early 1980, Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization contracted with Kaszycki & Sons Contractors, Inc. to demolish the Bonwit Teller department store at 725 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, clearing th...
Unpaid Contractors: Decades of Documented Non-Payment Across Hundreds of Vendors and Workers
Labor, Contractor, and Employment Abuses | 1980 - 2024
A pattern of non-payment to contractors, vendors, and workers by Donald Trump and the Trump Organization has been documented across multiple decades and projects. The most comprehensive examination wa...
Wage Theft and Labor Exploitation at Trump Properties: Documented Cases of Unpaid Overtime, Tip Confiscation, and Subminimum Wages
Labor, Contractor, and Employment Abuses | 1980 - 2019
Across multiple decades, workers at Trump-branded properties have alleged, and in some cases proven through legal settlements and government investigations, that they were denied proper wages, forced ...
DOJ Housing Discrimination: Federal Consent Decree for Systematic Racial Bias in Rental Properties
Labor, Contractor, and Employment Abuses | 1973 - 1978
On October 15, 1973, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil rights suit in the Eastern District of New York against Fred C. Trump, Donald J. Trump, and Trump Management, Inc. The suit alleged sy...