Is former president Donald Trump rotting in a jail cell yet? Well not quite. Over the course of 2023, Trump was indicted four times, but what exactly does that mean? An indictment happens when the majority of a grand jury agrees that there is enough evidence to formally charge someone of a crime. With the indictment, the judge from a federal or state court chooses a date for the trial to begin, and the indictee will get their mugshot and fingerprints taken.
The first of Trump’s four indictments happened in March 2023 and involved Trump, his attorney, Micheal Cohen, and adult film actress Stormy Daniels. In 2006 Trump was allegedly having sexual relations with Daniels and in 2016, in an attempt at buying her silence, Cohen payed the actress $130,000. Trump then reimbursed Cohen for this payment slowly over the course of several months, recording false reasons for these payments, attempting to cover up this affair and any negative information that would affect his success in the 2016 presidential election. He is in trouble for lying on business records about why he was paying Cohen.
Trump was indicted for the second time in June of 2023 for taking classified documents with him on his way out of the White House and bringing them to his home/private club in Palm Beach, FL. Not only did he take these documents, but he refused any governmental attempts at getting them back. Walter Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira are also in legal trouble for physically moving boxes of said documents out of the White House and into Mar-a-Lago.
“Trump is accused of participating in a scheme to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power after he lost the 2020 election to now-President Joe Biden.” Melissa Quinn and Graham Kates said in an article published by CBS news.
His third indictment surrounds the January 6, 2020 insurrection and how his spread of misinformation and instigating lead to the event happening.
His fourth and final indictment occurred on August 14 where he was indicted for his attempts to interfere with the 2020 presidential election. In a phone call with Georgia’s Secretary of State, Trump told him to “find” the exact number of votes he would’ve needed to flip Georgia in his favor.
Trump’s trials are set to begin in 2024, one on March 4, one March 25, one in May, and the other to be determined. So until then all we can do is wait, with our fingers crossed, until justice is served.