Trump Organization, Capitol Hill and more: Former US Prez Donald Trump and the investigations into him

The Trump Organisation

The Trump organization - a sprawling real estate, hotel and golf business has been found guilty on 17 counts, including charges that the firm paid personal expenses like free rent and car leases without reporting the income and paying them bonuses as independent contractors.

It now faces fines of a yet unknown amount. While the company is now a convicted felon, Donald Trump himself has not been charged.

The sentence will be announced on December 13.

Authorities in New York state have been looking into the business practices of the Trump Organization, including whether the firm misled lenders and tax authorities by falsifying business records.

The investigation had probed whether Trump fraudulently overvalued multiple assets to secure loans and then undervalued them to minimize taxes.

New York state Attorney General Letitia James is also pushing ahead with a civil probe of the Trump family firm's practices on property valuations and tax reporting.

(Photograph:AFP)

Capitol hill riots

A blueprint for perhaps prosecuting the former president for a crime was provided by a series of heated hearings by the House of Representatives panel looking into the attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021.

Capitol hill riot saw hundreds of Trump supporters barge into the seat of the US government. The ruckus followed an explosive speech by the impeached president. 

The legislators presiding over the hearings alledge that Trump knew he would lose the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden but continued to assert his charges of fraud and eventually rallied his supporters in Washington for an attack on Congress.

(Photograph:AFP)

'Find' the votes

Trump pressured election officials in Georgia to "find" the votes he needed to win in 2020, prompting a prosecutor in the southern state to investigate.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has impaneled a special grand jury and investigators have already interviewed dozens of witnesses.

The probe is taking in the now infamous phone call with election officials and Trump's alleged public and private pressure on authorities, including the governor, attorney general and the secretary of state's chief investigator.

Trump has defended himself, alleging "prosecutorial misconduct" at a rally in Texas in January, in which he called for protests against "radical, vicious, racist prosecutors," prompting Willis to request beefed-up FBI security. 

(Photograph:AFP)

'Raid' on Florida residence

The FBI search on Monday of Trump's Florida residence was reportedly related to the potential mishandling of classified documents that had been sent to Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House in January 2021.

Justice Department authorities declined to provide a reason for the unprecedented move against a former chief executive.

The National Archives said in February that it had recovered 15 boxes of documents from Mar-a-Lago and asked the Justice Department to look into Trump's handling of classified information.

The recovery of the boxes raised questions about Trump's adherence to presidential records laws enacted after the 1970s Watergate scandal that require Oval Office occupants to preserve records.

Trump called the search "prosecutorial misconduct" and "weaponization of the Justice System" by "Radical Left Democrats who desperately don't want me to run for President in 2024."

(Photograph:AFP)

What if he's found guilty?

Aside from the legal repercussions, a former chief executive being prosecuted would undoubtedly set off a political earthquake in a nation that is already sharply divided along partisan Democratic and Republican lines. 

Donald Trump is currently also considering running for the White House in 2024, a conviction can also dampen those plans.

(Photograph:AFP)