With Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential bid already confirmed, a spate of problems - including several legal battles against the ex-POTUS - look to hamper his reelection drive.
Here’s a deeper look into his troubles.
Capitol Breach Probe
Trump's alleged role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol is under scrutiny from several federal government agencies, including the House Select Committee.
The committee, which held televised hearings to lay out their case, has insisted that Trump’s claims of election fraud directly led to the Capitol riot. It has issued a legal summons ordering the ex-POTUS to testify and provide documents on the matter.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is conducting a separate criminal probe into the January 6 events, known to be the largest police investigation in US history. The extent to which Trump is a target in this probe remains unclear, according to media reports.
On January 6, 2021, a crowd of Trump supporters breached the US Capitol in Washington, DC, in an effort to prevent Congress from certifying the Electoral College votes in favor of Democrat Joe Biden. Five people lost their lives in the riot.
The 45th president has repeatedly denied responsibility for their actions, slamming the congressional panel as a "kangaroo court" and "unselect pseudo-committee".
Mar-a-Lago Investigation
In this probe, the DOJ is looking into the removal of classified government documents from the White House, which were then purportedly brought to Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Newly-surfaced findings indicated that some of the documents seized during the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raid on Mar-a-Lago were so sensitive that many top officials were not aware of the contents.
The raid came in early August and was followed by reports that the FBI sought papers that the ex-POTUS had taken from the White House at the end of his term instead of surrendering them to the US National Archives in line with the Presidential Records Act.
Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the matter, blasting the “unannounced raid” on his home as “not necessary or appropriate."
He dubbed the FBI’s actions “prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for president in 2024.”
Trump Organization Inquiry
New York prosecutors are looking into the Trump Organization, his family company. Both criminal and civil probes into the group are underway.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is at the helm of the protracted civil investigation, which is investigating whether Trump’s company committed various acts of fraud over several decades in New York state.
The investigation pertains to allegations of overstating the value of real estate, such as golf courses and hotels, so as to receive more favorable loans and better tax rates. The inquiry cannot lead to criminal charges.
As for the years-long criminal dig into the Trump Organization, it is being led by the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who looks into the same issue in New York City.
Trump vehemently denies any wrongdoing, insisting that the investigations are politically motivated witch hunts.
Georgia Probe
On January 2, 2021, the former president pressed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" votes to swing the state in Trump’s favor in an hour-long conference call. Shortly after, Raffensberger released a recording of the conversation.
A month later, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis launched a criminal probe to determine if Trump should be prosecuted over the call.
The former POTUS has repeatedly described the investigation as a "witch hunt". He also slammed Willis as a "young, ambitious, Radical Left Democrat […] who is presiding over one of the most crime-ridden and corrupt places".
Willis, for his part, told a US media outlet last month that “the allegations are very serious” and that “if indicted and convicted, people are facing prison sentences”. She added that while a decision on indictments was not imminent, Trump could be called to give testimony in the immediate future.
Defamation Case
Last month, the ex-POTUS was deposed for a civil lawsuit accusing him of defaming E. Jean Carroll, a former Elle magazine writer, in response to her accusing Trump of sexual assault.
Carroll, who is now 78, accused Trump of raping her in a dressing room in the Manhattan Bergdorf Goodman department store in the 1990s after the pair met in the store. The accusation first appeared in a New York magazine article in 2019, when Trump was still president.
He defended himself at the time by arguing that Carroll “wasn’t even [his] type,” and accused her of being motivated to make up the story by political and monetary reasons. Carroll responded by suing Trump in New York State Court for defamation.
The US 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a decision about Trump not acting as a government employee at the time he responded to Carroll’s article. The court, however, asked a Washington, DC, court to decide if Trump made the statements about Carroll within the scope of his employment as president, as defined by DC law.
No Airtime for Keynote Speech
Adding insult to injury was the development on Tuesday, when the three biggest US cable news networks, including CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, each limited their airtime of Trump’s speech at the Mar-a-Lago residence in which he announced that he would partake in the 2024 presidential race.
MSNBC did not air the Trump remarks at all, while Fox and CNN briefly cut away from the coverage of the ex-POTUS speech, in which he stressed that he was running “in order to make America great and glorious again.”
During the speech, Trump also described the US as “a failing nation for millions of Americans," pledging that he would “ensure Joe Biden does not receive four more years."