[Politics]How big are Donald Trump's legal problems

[Mr.SnaPeR"]

Donald Trump is under investigation for everything from his handling of top secret documents to alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

And the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 2024 has suffered a series of recent legal setbacks.

He became the first former president to face criminal charges - over an alleged hush money scheme - and was separately ordered to pay millions of dollars to a writer after being found liable for sexual abuse.

Here are the cases ahead that pose the most serious legal risks.

What's being investigated?

New York is a hotbed of legal activity when it comes to Mr Trump.

He became the first former president to face criminal charges when he was indicted there following an investigation into a $130,000 payment to former adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Ms Daniels claims the pair had sex, something Mr Trump denies, and says she accepted the money from his former lawyer before the 2016 election in exchange for her silence.

Meanwhile, the business practices of his family company, the Trump Organization, are being examined by prosecutors in the state.

The New York attorney general is leading a civil investigation (which cannot result in criminal charges) and has spent years looking at whether the company committed various acts of fraud over several decades.

A criminal investigation is looking at similar issues.

What has Trump said?

Mr Trump described the indictment in the Stormy Daniels case as "political persecution" and said he did not expect a fair trial.

Separately, the former president and his lawyers have insisted the allegations against the Trump Organization are politically motivated.

So how serious is it?

Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the Stormy Daniels case. It is now heading to trial, which is likely to happen in February or March 2024.

The most likely outcome there is a fine.

The criminal investigation into the Trump Organization has already yielded convictions. The company was found guilty of fraud and falsifying business records and fined. Allen Weisselberg, the organisation's chief financial officer, was sentenced to jail.

In the civil case, the attorney general has filed a lawsuit against Mr Trump and three of his children accusing them of "astounding" fraud and of inflating their net worth. It seeks $250m that was allegedly obtained through fraudulent means.

What's being investigated?

The Department of Justice is looking into the removal of government documents from the White House, which were then taken to Mr Trump's Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, after he left office. Investigators are assessing how these documents were stored and who may have had access to them.

The former president's sprawling beachside property was searched in August and 11,000 documents were seized, including around 100 marked as classified. Some of these were labelled top secret.

Unsurprisingly, we know very little about what's in the documents. But classified material usually contains information that officials feel could damage national security if made public.

What has Trump said?

He's denied wrongdoing and criticised the justice department's investigation, branding it "politically motivated" and a "witch-hunt".

He has offered shifting defences which have mostly hinged on the argument that he declassified the material. No evidence has yet been provided that this is true.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61084161