President-elect Trump’s criminal prosecutions are expected to flatline as he returns to the White House, but a murky path forward remains for the sprawling civil lawsuits against him.
Between judgments in the New York attorney general’s civil fraud case and two defamation suits brought by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, Trump is staring down the barrel of more than a half-billion dollars in penalties.
And the former president remains tied up in a civil case brought in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, against himself and extremist group leaders.
As opposed to criminal prosecutions against a sitting president, which longstanding Justice Department policy precludes, civil lawsuits against the Oval Office occupant have been permitted to proceed before.
It leaves open the possibility of messy legal battles during Trump’s second term – and a chance his personal coffers could still be drained despite his ascension to the nation’s highest office.
New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) said Wednesday that her office is prepared to take on a second Trump administration.
Though James did not mention it in her speech, her office earlier this year won a $464 million judgment – plus interest – against Trump and his family business after a state judge........