Trump still faces civil lawsuits even if criminal cases go away
President-elect Donald Trump will bring legal baggage to the White House in January, even if he succeeds in pausing or getting rid of the four federal and state criminal indictments against him.
Trump’s reelection is expected to end the two federal cases, given the Justice Department’s policy against prosecuting sitting presidents. His defense lawyers are arguing that the same immunity principles should apply to the two state prosecutions.
But Trump still faces at least a dozen civil lawsuits, and the presidency won’t provide any special protections or way out. The U.S. Supreme Court has said that officeholders aren’t immune from being sued over their private conduct.
Ongoing cases include attempts to hold him liable for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and his appeals of a $454 million New York civil fraud verdict and rulings that he sexually abused and defamed writer E. Jean Carroll.
Trump has also continued to press ahead with lawsuits against news outlets and journalists that he alleges defamed or otherwise wronged him. On Wednesday, a Trump lawyer urged a judge to fast-track his suit against journalist Bob Woodward and publisher Simon & Schuster over the sale of an audiobook of recorded interviews from his first term.
Trump’s upcoming inauguration made the dispute “timely and ripe” because of the “fear of further unaccounted for profit being made from the President’s voice,” his lawyer wrote.
Asked about the pending cases, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement that the election made it “abundantly clear that Americans want an immediate end to the weaponization of our justice system.”
Here’s where the remaining civil litigation stands:
Cases against Trump
Jan. 6
Trump is a defendant in eight lawsuits over the Jan. 6 attack brought by law enforcement officers, congressional Democrats and the estate of a police officer who died.
A federal judge in Washington rejected Trump’s argument that he was entitled to absolute immunity. Last year, an appeals court upheld that decision but said he could re-argue for immunity if he could present specific proof that he was engaged in official conduct at the time.
The parties spent the past year gathering evidence, and the lawyers are set to appear before the judge on Dec. 6 to discuss next steps. Joseph Sellers, a lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said that Supreme Court precedent dating back to the Clinton administration on the limits of civil presidential immunity was clear.
“I see no reason why there would be any different course,” Sellers said. A lead attorney for Trump declined to comment.
Central Park Five
Trump faced a new lawsuit shortly before the election over comments he made during the September presidential debate about five men who were wrongly convicted in a 1989 jogger rape case and came to be known as the “Central Park Five.” This week, Trump’s legal team filed a letter previewing that they planned to invoke Pennsylvania’s “anti-SLAPP” law that bars lawsuits targeting protected speech on “matters of public concern,” among other reasons they believe the case should be dismissed.
2020 election
A few weeks after the 2020 election, voting rights advocates accused Trump of trying to disenfranchise Black voters by pressing false fraud allegations. Like the Jan. 6 liability lawsuits, the case became held up in a fight over whether Trump was entitled to immunity. After Trump lost that issue, the challengers hoped U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan would take action before the latest election, but that didn’t happen. Chutkan has yet to announce a new schedule.
E. Jean Carroll
Trump is appealing two verdicts finding he sexually abused Carroll decades ago and later defamed her when he accused her of fabricating the story to sell a book. A federal appeals court heard arguments in September in his challenge to the sex abuse verdict and a $5 million damages award. The other verdict, for more than $83 million in her earlier defamation case, is also on appeal.
New York fraud
In February, a Manhattan judge entered a $454 million verdict against Trump after finding he exaggerated his wealth by billions of dollars a year in order to secure more favorable loan terms. Trump is challenging that decision and a New York state appeals court heard arguments in late September.
Cases brought by Trump
Simon & Schuster
Woodward and the publisher argue Trump doesn’t have a copyright interest in the interview recordings and have moved to dismiss the case. If the suit survives, Trump’s lawyer Robert Garson wrote in Wednesday’s letter that they expect the judge to handle the next phase in a way that creates “minimal interference” with Trump’s “obligations.”
ABC
A hearing is set for Nov. 27 in Trump’s lawsuit claiming an ABC host defamed him in describing the result of the Carroll litigation. Last week, the judge denied a joint request to delay upcoming deadlines. “With Election Day now behind us, there is no reason for any further delay,” U.S. District Chief Judge Cecilia Altonaga wrote.
CBS
Just before Election Day, Trump filed a case accusing CBS of deceptive practices by airing an edited version of an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. The network recently asked for an extension to formally respond to the lawsuit, but previously released a statement calling Trump’s allegations of deceit “false.”
CNN
Trump is appealing the 2023 dismissal of a lawsuit against CNN over use of the phrase the “big lie” in describing his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. Trump’s lawyers filed their latest brief in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in September; the court hasn’t set a date for arguments.
Twitter/Meta/YouTube
Trump sued Twitter (now X Corp.), Meta and YouTube after he was kicked off social media platforms following the Jan. 6 attack. He appealed after a judge dismissed the Twitter case, and the Meta and YouTube fights were paused while that dispute went to the 9th Circuit. The appeals court heard arguments a year ago and has yet to rule.
On Wednesday — just over a week after Trump announced that X’s owner Elon Musk would serve in his administration — lawyers for Trump and X alerted the court that they were negotiating a settlement.