Deep dive
The Charges Against the President
Every filed criminal and civil case against Donald Trump — what was charged, in which court, and where each case stands now.
Last verified October 5, 2026. Status: Documented — every claim below links to its source. Where the record is thin or contested, we say so. Browse all sources in the Bibliography.
Draft for review — not published. Research compiled October 5, 2026. Statuses are stated as of that date. Nothing here publishes without the user's review.
What this page is
A plain-language accounting of the actual criminal and civil cases filed against Donald Trump: what was charged, who brought it, in which court, and where each case stands now. Every case listed here was filed — it has a docket number, a court, and a public record.
What this page isn't
- It is not a list of accusations, investigations, or media reports. Unfiled matters don't appear here.
- Charges are not convictions. In the Ledger's discipline: charges are alleged until a verdict makes them adjudicated. A dismissal is not an acquittal, and it is not a finding of innocence — it means the case ended without a trial.
- This page takes no position on guilt beyond what courts have found. It reports the record.
1. New York hush-money case — convicted, appealing
The charge: 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree (New York Penal Law § 175.10). The Manhattan District Attorney's office alleged Trump disguised $130,000 in hush-money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels — routed through his then-lawyer Michael Cohen during the 2016 campaign — as legal expenses in Trump Organization records.
Who brought it: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Court: New York Supreme Court, New York County. Indictment No. 71543-23.
Key dates:
- April 2023 — indicted.
- May 30, 2024 — Manhattan jury convicted on all 34 counts.
- January 10, 2025 — Justice Juan Merchan imposed sentence: unconditional discharge. No jail time, no fine, no probation. The conviction stands on the record; the punishment was none.
- October 28, 2025 — Trump filed his direct appeal with the Appellate Division, First Department.
Where it stands (October 2026): The conviction is final unless overturned on appeal. Two appellate tracks are running:
- The state appeal (First Department) is pending. No decision has issued as of October 2026.
- A federal removal effort — Trump's bid to move the case into federal court and have it dismissed on presidential-immunity grounds — has been rejected three times by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, most recently on August 28, 2026. Hellerstein ruled that "paying hush money to an adult film star or engaging in a cover-up of an embarrassment are not subsumed in presidential immunity." Trump's team appealed that ruling to the Second Circuit.
Status: adjudicated (convicted; sentence: none; appeals pending).
Key documents: USA Today on the August 28, 2026 Hellerstein ruling
2. Federal classified-documents case — dismissed, never tried
The charge: In June 2023, a federal grand jury indicted Trump on 37 felony counts: 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information under the Espionage Act (18 U.S.C. § 793(e)), plus conspiracy to obstruct justice and related counts. The indictment alleged Trump kept hundreds of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club after leaving office and obstructed the government's efforts to recover them. A superseding indictment in July 2023 added counts and two co-defendants: Walt Nauta (Trump's aide) and Carlos De Oliveira (Mar-a-Lago property manager).
Who brought it: Special Counsel Jack Smith, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Court: U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Case No. 9:23-cr-80101-AMC (Judge Aileen Cannon).
Key dates:
- June 8, 2023 — indicted.
- July 15, 2024 — Judge Cannon dismissed the case, ruling that Smith's appointment as special counsel violated the Constitution's Appointments Clause. She did not rule on the evidence.
- November 25, 2024 — after Trump's election, the Justice Department dropped its appeal of the dismissal as to Trump (citing DOJ policy against prosecuting a sitting president). In January 2025, DOJ moved to end proceedings against Nauta and De Oliveira as well; the 11th Circuit dismissed.
Where it stands (October 2026): No active prosecution. The charges were never tried, so they remain alleged, not adjudicated. Two loose ends:
- Smith's final report, Volume II (covering the classified-documents investigation) has never been publicly released. Judge Cannon barred its release — blocking disclosure to Congress in January 2025 and issuing a permanent bar on release outside the Justice Department in February 2026. The Knight First Amendment Institute and American Oversight are challenging the seal in the 11th Circuit (No. 25-14507); oral argument was moved up to November 2, 2026.
- The documents themselves: the FBI recovered 102 documents with classification markings in its August 2022 Mar-a-Lago search, on top of 15 boxes (197 marked documents) turned over in January 2022 and 38 more produced in June 2022, per the indictment.
Status: dismissed. Charges alleged, never tried.
Key documents:
- The indictment (via CourtListener)
- Knight Institute / American Oversight motion to intervene on Volume II release (S.D. Fla., filed Feb. 9, 2026)
- American Oversight's 11th Circuit brief on Volume II (filed Feb. 9, 2026)
3. Federal election-interference case — dismissed, never tried
The charge: On August 1, 2023, a federal grand jury indicted Trump on four counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of (and attempt to obstruct) an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. The indictment alleged a months-long effort to overturn the 2020 election — pressuring state officials, organizing alternate elector slates, and pressuring Vice President Pence — culminating in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Who brought it: Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Court: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Case No. 1:23-cr-00257-TSC (Judge Tanya Chutkan).
Key dates:
- August 1, 2023 — indicted.
- July 1, 2024 — the Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. United States that former presidents have absolute immunity for core constitutional acts and presumptive immunity for other official acts. Smith obtained a narrower superseding indictment on August 27, 2024.
- November 25, 2024 — at Smith's request, Judge Chutkan dismissed the case without prejudice, citing the Justice Department's longstanding policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
- January 14, 2025 — the Justice Department released Volume I of Smith's final report (137 pages).
Where it stands (October 2026): No active prosecution. The dismissal was without prejudice — meaning it is not an acquittal and does not legally bar a future case — but no future case has been filed, and refiling would face statutes of limitations, immunity, and prosecutorial-discretion hurdles. The charges were never tried: alleged, not adjudicated.
What the Smith report established: the report is a prosecutorial assessment, not a judicial finding. Its central conclusion: "but for Mr. Trump's election and imminent return to the Presidency, the Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial." No jury ever tested that assessment.
Status: dismissed without prejudice. Charges alleged, never tried.
Key documents:
4. Georgia election RICO case — dismissed in full
The charge: On August 14, 2023, a Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump and 18 co-defendants on 41 counts under Georgia's RICO statute and related charges — alleging a coordinated conspiracy to overturn Georgia's 2020 presidential election results, including the creation of alternate elector slates and the January 2, 2021 phone call in which Trump urged Georgia's secretary of state to "find" enough votes to reverse his loss. Trump faced 13 counts.
Who brought it: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Court: Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia. Case No. 23SC188947 (Judge Scott McAfee).
Key dates:
- August 14, 2023 — indicted (19 defendants).
- Late 2023 — four co-defendants pleaded guilty to lesser charges (Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis, Scott Hall). Those pleas are adjudicated as to those defendants only.
- December 2024 — the Georgia Court of Appeals disqualified Willis and her entire office from the case over the appearance of impropriety created by her undisclosed romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. In September 2025, the Georgia Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal.
- November 26, 2025 — Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia, who took over the case, moved to dismiss; Judge McAfee dismissed the indictment in its entirety the same day. Skandalakis wrote that a sitting president could not be tried, that waiting until Trump's term ended in 2029 would deprive co-defendants of a speedy trial, and that the conduct alleged "was conceived in Washington, D.C., not the State of Georgia."
Where it stands (October 2026): The criminal case is over — dismissed in full, never tried. The charges against Trump were alleged, never adjudicated. One proceeding continues: Trump and 13 co-defendants are seeking roughly $16.85 million in attorney's fees under a 2025 Georgia law allowing fee recovery when a prosecutor is disqualified and the case is dismissed. In March 2026, Judge McAfee ruled Willis cannot participate in that fee dispute. It remains pending.
A note on the record: claims circulating online that Willis was "found guilty" or "ordered to pay Trump a fine" are false. She was disqualified from the prosecution — a serious sanction, but not a criminal conviction. The fee dispute is a civil reimbursement fight, not a fine.
Status: dismissed in full. Charges alleged, never tried.
Key documents: AP reporting on the November 26, 2025 dismissal
5. New York civil fraud case — fraud found, penalty vacated, appeals pending
The charge (civil): New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump, his adult sons, and the Trump Organization under Executive Law § 63(12), alleging a decade of systematically inflating asset values on financial statements given to banks and insurers.
Who brought it: New York Attorney General Letitia James (civil enforcement action, not a criminal prosecution).
Court: New York Supreme Court, New York County. Index No. 452564/2022 (Justice Arthur Engoron).
Key dates:
- February 16, 2024 — Engoron found Trump, his company, and two sons liable for fraud; ordered roughly $354.9 million in disgorgement (over $450 million with interest), barred Trump from serving as an officer or director of a New York company for three years, and continued an independent monitor over the Trump Organization. Trump posted a $175 million bond while appealing.
- August 21, 2025 — the Appellate Division, First Department (No. 2023-04925), in a divided 322-page decision, vacated the disgorgement award in full as an excessive fine under the Eighth Amendment — but affirmed the fraud liability finding and kept the non-monetary relief (business restrictions, monitor).
Where it stands (October 2026): Both sides appealed to the New York Court of Appeals (No. APL-2025-00171) — James to reinstate the financial penalty, Trump to throw out the remaining judgment. Briefing was active through 2026; no merits decision had issued as of September 2026, and none has been located as of October 5, 2026. The fraud finding stands unless the Court of Appeals says otherwise; the money penalty is currently zero.
Status: civil liability adjudicated (fraud); monetary penalty vacated; final outcome pending.
Related context (not a case against Trump): In October 2025, Trump's Justice Department indicted Attorney General James on bank-fraud and false-statement charges over a Virginia property. U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie dismissed the indictment in November 2025, ruling the interim U.S. Attorney who brought it was unlawfully appointed; two federal grand juries then declined to re-indict her in December 2025. The DOJ appealed; the Fourth Circuit heard argument on September 15, 2026, and appeared skeptical. That case is about the prosecutor, not the president — it belongs here only because it is the same office and the same underlying feud.
6. E. Jean Carroll cases — one final, one pending
Two separate civil cases, both in federal court in Manhattan (Judge Lewis Kaplan). Both were tried to juries. Both juries found against Trump.
Carroll II — sexual abuse and defamation (2022 statements)
Court: S.D.N.Y. Case No. 1:22-cv-10016.
What the jury found (May 9, 2023): Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a department-store dressing room in the mid-1990s and for defaming her in 2022 statements. Award: $5 million.
Where it stands (October 2026): FINAL. The Second Circuit affirmed (December 2024); the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal on June 29, 2026, and denied reconsideration on August 17, 2026. The money — about $5.6 million with interest — was disbursed to Carroll on July 9, 2026. On September 25, 2026, Trump stipulated to dismiss his remaining appeal with prejudice. There is no further court that can hear it.
Status: adjudicated, final, paid.
Carroll I — defamation (2019 statements)
Court: S.D.N.Y. Case No. 1:20-cv-07311.
What the jury found (January 26, 2024): Trump defamed Carroll in 2019 statements denying her assault allegation. Award: $83.3 million.
Where it stands (October 2026): The Second Circuit affirmed on September 8, 2025, and denied rehearing en banc on April 29, 2026. Trump filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to overturn the verdict on presidential-immunity grounds (arguing his 2019 statements were official acts); the Justice Department separately urged the Court to hear the case on a substitution question. A Second Circuit stay keeps the payout paused. The Court is expected to decide whether to hear the case during its term beginning October 2026 — no decision as of October 5, 2026.
Status: adjudicated (liability and award affirmed by the Second Circuit); Supreme Court review pending; unpaid.
7. January 6th civil cases — active, in pretrial
Filed civil suits — not criminal charges — by Capitol Police officers (James Blassingame and others) and members of Congress, alleging Trump incited the January 6, 2021 attack. A D.C. Circuit panel recently rejected Trump's bid for presidential-immunity dismissal, and the cases continue toward trial. No liability finding has been made. These are included for completeness; they are civil damages suits, still in pretrial litigation as of October 2026.
Summary table
| Case | Court | Charges / claims | Status as of Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NY hush-money | N.Y. Sup. Ct., N.Y. County (71543-23) | 34 felony counts, falsifying business records | Convicted (May 2024); unconditional discharge (Jan 2025); state appeal + federal removal fight pending |
| Federal classified documents | S.D. Fla. (9:23-cr-80101) | 37+ counts: Espionage Act retention, obstruction | Dismissed (July 2024, appointments ruling); appeal dropped; never tried |
| Federal election interference | D.D.C. (1:23-cr-00257) | 4 counts: conspiracy to defraud, obstruction, conspiracy against rights | Dismissed without prejudice (Nov 2024); never tried; Smith report Vol. I released Jan 2025 |
| Georgia election RICO | Fulton County Super. Ct. (23SC188947) | 41 counts, 19 defendants; Trump faced 13 | Dismissed in full (Nov 2025); never tried; fee-recovery fight pending |
| NY civil fraud | N.Y. Sup. Ct., N.Y. County (452564/2022) | Civil fraud, Exec. Law § 63(12) | Fraud liability affirmed; $0 penalty (vacated Aug 2025); both sides appealing to NY Court of Appeals |
| Carroll II ($5M) | S.D.N.Y. (1:22-cv-10016) | Sexual abuse + defamation | Final. Affirmed, SCOTUS declined, paid (~$5.6M with interest) |
| Carroll I ($83.3M) | S.D.N.Y. (1:20-cv-07311) | Defamation | Affirmed by 2d Circuit; cert petition pending at SCOTUS; unpaid (stayed) |
| Jan. 6 civil suits | D.D.C. (1:21-cv-00400 et al.) | Incitement / damages | Active, pretrial; immunity defense rejected on appeal |
What this record does and doesn't show
- One criminal conviction stands: the New York hush-money case. The sentence was no punishment.
- Two federal criminal cases and one state criminal case were dismissed without any trial. The charges in them were never proven or disproven in court.
- One civil fraud finding stands, but the financial penalty was vacated; the final shape of that case awaits New York's highest court.
- Two civil juries found Trump liable to E. Jean Carroll. One judgment is final and paid; the other awaits the Supreme Court.
- "Dismissed" and "acquitted" are different things. None of the dismissed criminal cases ended with a jury finding about the facts.
Research notes / uncertainties
- The exact date and full text of Judge Cannon's permanent order barring release of Smith's Volume II report is attributed to secondary reporting (February 2026); the underlying docket entries are on CourtListener/RECAP but were not individually retrieved. The 11th Circuit appeal (No. 25-14507) and its November 2, 2026 oral-argument date are documented in primary filings and counsel's public writing.
- No merits decision from the New York Court of Appeals (No. APL-2025-00171) was located as of October 5, 2026; briefing was active through 2026.
- No decision on the Carroll I cert petition had issued as of October 5, 2026; the Court's term began October 2026.
- The current posture of the January 6th civil cases beyond the D.C. Circuit immunity ruling was not fully verified; included for completeness with that caveat.
- One low-quality source claimed a federal perjury investigation into Carroll; it was single-sourced and is not included above.
- Downloaded primary sources for this draft: Smith final report Vol. I (DOJ PDF), the classified-documents indictment, the Knight Institute/American Oversight intervention motion (S.D. Fla., Feb. 9, 2026), and American Oversight's 11th Circuit brief — all in
~/workspace/your_files/charges-sources/.