A Nation Divided: The Legal Controversies of Donald Trump
A Nation Divided: The Legal Controversies of Donald Trump
Miranda Finney
Image Courtesy of Politico
It is no secret that Donald Trump is considered one of the most controversial political figures in modern-day society. While the states of America are intended to be “United”, the current presidential election seems to be dividing the country further and further into civil unrest. The vast majority of Americans have an extremely strong opinion regarding Donald Trump, whether positive or negative, and even citizens of other countries frequently express their own beliefs regarding Trump’s capabilities as a political leader. However, while it is clear that Donald Trump is hugely contentious, it can be difficult to recognize what has caused this drastic separation between Trump supporters and opponents. While this is a hugely complicated subject, two major legal topics have contributed heavily to the disconnection between Americans.
Legal Claims made against Donald Trump
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Trump is the first past president in the history of the United States of America to be criminally convicted. The innumerable legal claims that have been made against Donald Trump have generated both support from Republicans, and opposition from Democrats. While Donald Trump is facing a number of legal challenges, he has been criminally indicted in four major cases.
2020 Election Sabotage Case
Trump has been claimed to conspire to invalidate his 2020 election defeat to Democratic candidate Joe Biden. It has been stated that Trump pressured officials to overturn the results, circulate lies regarding election fraud, and reap the benefits of the Capitol riot of the 6th of January 2021 in order to delay the affirmation of Joe Biden’s victory and remain in power. Trump has subsequently been charged with four criminal counts, consisting of “conspiracy to defraud the US” and “conspiracy against the rights of citizens”. Trump has openly claimed that the Biden administration is controlling the prosecution.
Hush Money Case
Trump has been claimed to have made a payment to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 election. Stormy Daniels received $130,000 to remain silent and deny the claim that she slept with Donald Trump. As paying “hush money” is not illegal, the case was concentrated on the fact that Trump’s previous lawyer illegally recorded the hush money payments as legal fees in Trump’s accounts, to the full knowledge of Donald Trump himself. Trump was consequently found guilty of thirty-four counts of fraud under campaign finance laws, each of which individually could result in four years in jail.
Georgia Election Intervention Case
Trump has been legally accused of conspiring to overturn the Georgia election in 2020. Trump was defeated by a small margin in the state of Georgia, and the investigation was initiated due to a leaked phone call in which Trump requested that the state’s top election official, Fani Willis, “find 11,780 votes”. As a result, Trump was charged with thirteen criminal counts, later decreased to ten. The racketeering charge will result in 20 years maximum jail time if Trump is proven guilty, and the claim of Trump making untrue statements would result in 1 to 5 years of jail time.
Mishandling Classified Documents Case
Trump has also been declared to have mishandled classified documents by transporting them from the White House to his private residence after he left office. Furthermore, Trump attempted to block the FBI from retrieving the documents. Most of the counts against Trump are for “the willful retention of national defense information,” which is related to the Espionage Act. Moreover, eight further counts have included “conspiracy to obstruct justice” and “withholding a document or recording and making false statements”. If Trump is found guilty, various counts will result in between ten and twenty years of prison time for each count.
The primary divide from these legal claims has stemmed from the Republican belief that the Democratic party and supporters are creating false claims towards Trump in order to portray him as an inappropriate President. Trump has frequently stated that the legal cases are untrue – a claim that the Republican party has largely rallied around. However, there is significant evidence to confirm Trump’s involvement in these crimes. Contrastingly, the Democrats believe that Donald Trump is an entirely unsuitable candidate due to Donald Trump’s legal charges, stating that a convicted felon should not be allowed in office, though no US law prohibits it.
Conflict Resulting from Biased Laws and False Claims
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Donald Trump has spread countless baseless lies throughout his career in order to portray himself in a better light. This has caused many Republicans to strongly support him. The trouble is that Trump supporters often do not take the time to research his claims, instead they believe that whatever he states is an unquestionable truth. Donald Trump has used this to his advantage, particularly in the current election.
It is almost instinctual for Donald Trump to dispute election defeats. In 2016, Trump stated that he placed second in Iowa due to the fact that Ted Cruz, the senator from Texas who placed first, had managed to manipulate the proceedings through some unknown method. Furthermore, he publicly stated that he would only be defeated in the general election by Hillary Clinton through fraud. More recently, even though direct claims have been made against Trump for attempting to overthrow the election in 2020, he has never acknowledged that he was defeated.
Donald Trump embraces this habitual behaviour. This year, specifically through social media he has accused Democrats of “Cheating and Skulduggery” and stated more recently, “WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law”. In his rallies, he has continued to declare that the only way to beat him in this election is through cheating. Republican supporters continue to regurgitate these accusations, therefore allowing Trump’s lies to be accepted throughout the Republican party.
Modifications to the Law
Due to Donald Trump’s claims that previous elections have been stolen, Republican-controlled state legislatures have been tightening and reinforcing voting rules to prevent this. For example, Arizona’s legislature has created a new law ordering that envelopes in which postal ballots arrive be hand-counted instead of ordered by machinery. In Georgia, supporters of the claim that Trump was previously cheated have passed a law taking the secretary of state (Brad Raffensperger) off of the state board of elections, which contributes to creating election rules. In order to maintain “election integrity”, the board then passed a rule permitting local officials to “reasonably inquire” into fraud claims prior to verifying results from each country. It is a growing concern that Republican officials will utilize these new rules in order to refuse the validity of unwelcome results.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) has contributed to over 100 lawsuits regarding election rules across the USA. Claire Zunk, a spokeswoman for its election-integrity unit stated recently: “Should the Democrats choose to continue their attacks on election safeguards through Election Day, we will be prepared to litigate and ensure that the election is fair, transparent, legal, and accurate.” In particular, the RNC recently introduced an initiative named “Protect the Vote”, with the primary goal of training 100,000 poll-watchers and attorneys in swing states “to beat Democrats at their own game”; over 175,000 individuals have volunteered to date.
Unfortunately, poll workers are the subject of violent crimes due to the false notion of Democratic dishonesty: “There’s a lot of bad actors out there, a lot of people just trying to work the system somehow to their advantage.” Mr Raffensperger stated. Election offices have been required to have antidotes to opioid overdoses after receiving a letter laced with lethal amounts of fentanyl.
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Trump’s continuous claims of election fraud in the Democratic party are concerning as new laws are being introduced to substantiate his lies, and widespread support is increasing from Republicans believing his unproven statements. Overall, the major divide between Democrats and Republicans in the USA today stems from Donald Trump’s efforts to twist the previous events of elections and criminal cases to portray the Democratic party as manipulative and cheating. This has resulted in Republicans becoming strongly opposed to Democratic party members and officials, causing a major disconnect between the two major political sides of the country.