Every Crime Donald Trump Has Been Charged With, Explained

Former President Donald Trump has been mired in a number of legal issues as he campaigns for a second White House term, including lawsuits and investigations at both the state and federal level.

In April 2023, Trump became the first sitting or former president in U.S. history to answer to criminal charges following an investigation into an alleged hush money payment he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels while he was a presidential candidate in 2016.

Less than two months later, he was charged following a federal investigation into his handling of classified documents (and what prosecutors say was a conspiracy to obstruct justice during the probe).

In August 2023, he was hit with a third indictment related to his actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot following the "most wide-ranging" Justice Department investigation in history. And just two weeks later, he was indicted in Georgia alongside 18 of his allies over attempts to overturn the state's 2020 election results.

Below, all 88 crimes Trump has been accused of — including the 34 charges that made him a convicted felon in May 2024.

NEW YORK HUSH MONEY CASE

Colloquially called Trump's "hush money case," given that Stormy Daniels' hush money payment anchored the narrative, the former president's first criminal indictment went far beyond white-collar crime.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office brought an unprecedented case against Trump in April 2023 that aimed to prove he not only falsified 34 financial records "with intent to defraud" — in this instance, to mask a hush money payment made to Daniels in the final days of his 2016 presidential election — but that he did so in order to conceal a second crime, which elevated the charges from misdemeanors to felonies.

In falsifying the records, the DA's office argued, Trump more broadly attempting to bury evidence of an illegal conspiracy to influence the 2016 election. He was found guilty of all charges in May 2024, becoming the first convicted felon president.

CHARGE: Falsifying Business Records

Trump was charged with 34 felony counts of the same charge, meaning he was accused of falsifying business records in 34 separate instances.

In the days before the 2016 election, Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about her alleged affair with the presidential candidate. Trump reimbursed Cohen in several payments over time, including during his presidency, and deceitfully categorized the reimbursements as legal fees in his financial records. Prosecutors successfully argued that the falsified records could be charged as felonies because they aimed to conceal an unlawful scheme to corrupt the 2016 election.

FEDERAL CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS CASE

Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2023 over his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House, making him the first U.S. president to face federal criminal charges.

The indictment came after the FBI conducted a search at the former president's Mar-a-Lago home in August 2022, as part of a criminal investigation that began after the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) revealed in February 2022 that officials had removed from the property 15 boxes of documents that should have been handed over at the end of the Trump presidency.

But as the indictment lays out, Trump isn't being charged for taking the documents from the White House initially — but for what he allegedly did after federal investigators issued a subpoena for access to those documents.

The indictment details how prosecutors say they have reviewed recordings of Trump bragging about classified documents and admitting that he didn't declassify them. As laid out in the indictment, investigators also have access to notes from at least one of Trump's own attorneys, who claimed the former president worked to hide classified documents from his own legal team, and from the FBI — after he was subpoenaed.

While the former president initially faced 37 counts, the indictment was later revised to include an additional three charges against him.

CHARGE: Willful Retention of National Defense Information

Trump is charged with 32 counts of willful retention of national defense information (a violation of the Espionage Act). According to the indictment, Trump held on to national defense documents—including several labeled "Top Secret" — even after they had been requested by the FBI and the National Archives.

CHARGE: Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice

Trump is charged with three counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice, with the former president being accused of hiding documents from the FBI, the grand jury investigating him, and his own attorneys. Trump is also alleged to have falsely asserted that he had handed over all the classified documents in his possession.

In the superseding indictment issued later, prosecutors further alleged he and his two co-defendants (aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Olivera) worked to try and destroy security footage after it was subpoenaed by the FBI.

CHARGE: Withholding a Document or Record

Trump is charged with one count of withholding a document or record, with the indictment alleging that he "attempted to persuade" his own attorney "to hide and conceal documents from a federal grand jury." The court filing further alleges that Trump and his aide, Nauta, misled his attorney by moving documents so that the attorney would not find them and produce them to the federal grand jury.

CHARGE: Concealing a Document in a Federal Investigation

Trump is charged with one count of corruptly concealing a document or record; again, the indictment alleges that he and Nauta attempted to hide documents from his own attorney so as not to submit them to a grand jury.

CHARGE: Scheme to Conceal

Trump is charged with one count of scheme to conceal; again, the indictment alleges that he and Nauta attempted to hide documents from his own attorney so as not to submit them to a grand jury.

CHARGE: False Statements and Representations

Trump is charged with one count of false statements and representations. The indictment alleges he said in a sworn certification that "a diligent search was conducted of the boxes that were moved from the White House to Florida" and that "any and all responsive documents" were turned over.

FEDERAL JAN. 6 CASE

In August 2023, Trump was indicted a third time, this time on four criminal counts by a federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and other efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The indictment alleges that Trump, after losing the 2020 presidential election, "was determined to remain in power."

The indictment also lists several unnamed co-conspirators, including four attorneys, a Justice Department official, and a political consultant who "helped implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification" of votes.

CHARGE: Conspiracy to Defraud the United States

Prosecutors alleged that Trump engaged in a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results "by using knowingly false claims of election fraud to obstruct the federal government function by which those results are collected, counted, and certified."

As the indictment details, Trump and his co-conspirators allegedly did this in myriad ways, including by pressuring state officials in some swing states that voted for Biden to ignore the results and attempt to make Trump the winner by illegal means. Trump and his allies also are claimed to have attempted to install groups of “fake electors” in some states who would falsely certify that Trump had won when he had not. His actions on Jan. 6 — when he implored supporters to head to the U.S. Capitol in a scene that eventually grew deadly and temporarily halted the electoral vote count — are also mentioned in great detail in the indictment.

CHARGE: Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding

Per the indictment, Trump allegedly conspired to "corruptly obstruct and impede" the certification of the electoral vote taking place on Jan. 6, 2021. Prosecutors argue he did so by exhorting his supporters to "fight like hell" and directing them to head to Capitol, where they eventually mobbed police officers and entered the building. The riots that ensued halted the counting of electoral votes for Joe Biden and forced the evacuation of lawmakers, including Trump's own vice president. As the indictment details, Trump "reportedly refused to approve a message directing rioters to leave the Capitol," instead issued two tweets in which he suggested those at the Capitol were "peaceful."

CHARGE: Obstruction of and Attempt To Obstruct an Official Proceeding

As The Washington Post reports, this is a substantive charge and the most common felony charge used against the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Here, prosecutors argue Trump attempted to block Congress from confirming Biden’s victory that day — both by his actions during the riot and the plot to force Congress to accept the slates of "fake electors" who would vote for him instead of Biden.

CHARGE: Conspiracy Against Rights

According to prosecutors, the former president conspired with others to "injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate one or more persons in the free exercise and enjoyment of a right and privilege secured to them by the Constitution and laws of the United States — that is, the right to vote, and to have one's vote counted."

GEORGIA ELECTIONS CASE

Trump was indicted in a fourth criminal investigation in mid-August 2023, shortly after Georgia prosecutors presented evidence to a grand jury regarding the former president's efforts to overturn the state's 2020 election results.

Through a majority vote, the 23-member jury revealed that they were ultimately convinced by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' case against Trump and his allies, signing off on her office's proposed criminal charges after reviewing evidence and hearing testimony. The result was a 41-count, 98-page indictment covering 19 defendants, including the former president, who initially faced 13 felony counts.

Many of the charges deal with the so-called "fake electors" plot, with prosecutors arguing that Trump and his allies created and submitted fraudulent certificates asserting that Trump had won the electoral college vote in Georgia — despite that Biden won the state. They further argue that Trump filed a false document when he signed a court filing alleging widespread voter fraud in Georgia — a claim they say he knew was false.

In March, Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee threw out three of Trump's charges — all related to how he allegedly solicited public officials to violate their oath of office — saying that the indictment did not provide enough detail. He now faces a total of 10 felony counts in the Georgia case.

CHARGE: Racketeering

Among the most serious charges is a violation of Georgia's RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act, a charge most often associated with organized crime. "The indictment alleges that rather than abide by Georgia's legal process for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a criminal, racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia's presidential election results," Willis said in a press conference announcing the charges. The minimum sentence for this charge in Georgia is five years.

CHARGE: Conspiracy to Commit Impersonating a Public Officer

Trump was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer, a charge that stems from to so-called “fake elector” scheme, in which a false slate of electors was submitted to lawmakers claiming Trump won Georgia’s election, despite that he did not. If convicted on the charge, he faces a fine and/or between one and two-and-a-half years in prison.

CHARGE: Conspiracy to Commit Forgery in the First Degree

Trump was charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree (also based on the fake electors scheme), a crime punishable by a fine or between one and seven-and-a-half years in prison.

CHARGE: False Statements and Writings

Trump was charged with two counts of false statements and writings and two counts of conspiracy to commit false statements and writings. Both charges criminalize the act of concealing or falsifying writings or documents. False statements and writings is punishable by a fine or between one and five years in prison, and the conspiracy charge is punishable by between one and two-and-a-half years in prison.

CHARGE: Conspiracy to Commit Filing False Documents

Trump was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents and one count of filing false documents, which criminalizes the act of "knowingly" filing or entering a document into the public record in the U.S. that contains false statements. The conspiracy charge is punishable by a fine and/or between one and five years in prison for conspiracy, and filing a false document is punishable by a fine and/or between one and 10 years in prison.