Trump focused: A take a look at the investigations involving the previous president; from Russia to Mar-a-Lago

Former President Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment rights in a deposition as a part of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation into his circle of relatives’s trade practices—simply days after the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago house in reference to an investigation into categorised data he allegedly took with him when he left the White House—however investigations are not anything new for Donald Trump. 

Trump’s presidency was once clouded via investigations—a number of into whether or not he colluded with Russia to steer the 2016 election, some keen on his price range and others that ended in impeachment, making him the primary president in United States historical past to had been impeached two times.

Trump’s post-presidential existence is harking back to his days within the Oval Office, marred via probes, which the previous president and his allies say are all simply a part of an effort via his political warring parties to forestall him from working for re-election in 2024.

This week by myself, Trump, once more, discovered himself within the line of fireplace.

TRUMP INVOKES FIFTH AMENDMENT RIGHTS IN DEPOSITION FOR NEW YORK AG JAMES’ CIVIL INVESTIGATION

FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago

Early Monday morning, the FBI, in an extraordinary transfer, raided Trump’s deepest place of abode at Mar-a-Lago in reference to an investigation into categorised data the previous president allegedly took with him from the White House.

Sources advised Fox News that FBI brokers would now not permit Trump’s legal professionals to observe as they raided the previous president’s deepest place of abode. One supply mentioned FBI brokers took containers and paperwork with out reviewing them at the assets—handiest to research them later.

The raid was once associated with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which mentioned previous this yr that Trump took 15 containers of presidential data to his private place of abode in Florida. Those containers allegedly contained “classified national security information,” and professional correspondence between Trump and international heads of state.

NARA notified Congress in February that the company recovered the 15 containers from Mar-a-Lago and “identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes.” The topic was once referred to the Justice Department via NARA.

FBI WOULD NOT LET TRUMP ATTORNEYS IN ROOMS AS AGENTS RAIDED MAR-A-LAGO, WARRANT FOCUSED ON NARA: SOURCE

Trump, previous this yr, mentioned the National Archives didn’t “find” the paperwork, however that they had been “given, upon request.” Sources just about the previous president mentioned he were cooperating and there was once “no need” for the raid.

Classified subject matter that was once reportedly confiscated via the FBI right through the raid Monday integrated a letter to Trump from former President Obama, a letter from Kim Jong Un, a birthday dinner menu, and a cocktail serviette.

Former President Donald Trump in New York City following the FBI raid at his Mar-a-Lago house. 
(Felipe Ramales / Fox News Digital)

Trump’s tax returns probe

Then, on Tuesday, a federal appeals courtroom lead the way for the House Ways and Means Committee to in the end download Trump’s tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service—one thing the panel has been seeking to download since 2019, below a regulation that allows the disclosure of a person’s tax returns to the congressional committee.

Trump might search emergency intervention measures from the Supreme Court in an try to quickly block any liberate of those tax data.

Civil investigation into Trump Organization

And on Wednesday, Trump seemed in downtown New York City for his deposition prior to New York Attorney General Letitia James. James’ place of business has been engaging in a civil investigation into the Trump Organization to determine whether or not Trump and his corporate improperly inflated the worth of property on monetary statements to be able to download loans and tax advantages. 

New York state Attorney General Letitia James was once provide for former President Trump’s deposition Wednesday. (Reuters)
(Reuters)

“I did nothing wrong, which is why, after five years of looking, the Federal, State and local governments, together with the Fake News Media, have found nothing,” Trump mentioned in a remark Wednesday morning.

“The United States Constitution exists for this very purpose, and I will utilize it to the fullest extent to defend myself against this malicious attack by this administration, this Attorney General’s Office, and all other attacks on my family, my business, and our Country.”

TRUMP RAID LINKED TO DOJ, NATIONAL ARCHIVES PROBE INTO CLASSIFIED DOCS ALLEGEDLY TAKEN TO MAR-A-LAGO

“I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?’ Now I know the answer to that question,” he persisted. “When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded, politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors, and the Fake News Media, you have no choice.” 

“If there was any question in my mind, the raid of my home, Mar-a-Lago, on Monday by the FBI, just two days prior to this deposition, wiped out any uncertainty,” Trump mentioned. “I have absolutely no choice because the current Administration and many prosecutors in this Country have lost all moral and ethical bounds of decency.”

He added: “Accordingly, under the advice of my counsel and for all of the above reasons, I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.”

A spokesperson for the New York State Attorney General’s Office showed that the place of business carried out Trump’s deposition.

“Attorney General Letitia James took part in the deposition during which Mr. Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination,” the spokesperson mentioned. “Attorney General James will pursue the facts and the law wherever they may lead.”

The spokesperson added: “Our investigation continues.”

TRUMP TO BE DEPOSED IN JAMES’ INVESTIGATION WEDNESDAY

But Trump’s Republican allies are seeing a trend, and inspiring him to proceed to struggle again.

“Before he’s in the White House, they go after him. While he’s in the White House, they go after him, and they’re continuing to do so now that he’s left,” the highest Republican at the House Judiciary Committee Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, advised Fox News. “It actually started before he was even president.”

FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane probe

When Trump took place of business in January 2017, the FBI was once in the midst of engaging in a counterintelligence investigation into whether or not candidate Donald Trump and participants of his marketing campaign had been colluding or coordinating with Russia to steer the 2016 election. That investigation was once referred to within the bureau as “Crossfire Hurricane,” and started on July 31, 2016.

James Comey was once fired from his submit as FBI director on May 9, 2017, following his dealing with of the Clinton electronic mail probe.
(Reuters)

That investigation was once opened, in spite of then-CIA Director John Brennan briefing then-President Obama on July 28, 2016 a couple of purported proposal from one in all Hillary Clinton’s marketing campaign international coverage advisers “to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service.”

In September 2016, the CIA correctly forwarded that knowledge via a Counterintelligence Operational Lead (CIOL) to then-FBI Director James Comey and then-Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok, with the topic line: “Crossfire Hurricane.”

Fox News first bought and reported at the CIOL, which mentioned: “The following information is provided for the exclusive use of your bureau for background investigative action or lead purposes as appropriate.”

DESPITE ACQUITTAL, DURHAM TRIAL OF SUSSMANN ADDED TO EVIDENCE CLINTON CAMPAIGN PLOTTED TO TIE TRUMP TO RUSSIA

 “An exchange [REDACTED] discussing US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s approval of a plan concerning US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering US elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server,” the referral states.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential marketing campaign and the Democratic National Committee funded the anti-Trump file via regulation company Perkins Coie. (Photo via Cindy Ord/Getty Images) 
((Photo via Cindy Ord/Getty Images))

It is unclear how the FBI treated that memo.

Special Counsel John Durham is these days investigating the origins of the FBI’s Trump-Russia probe. 

But after Trump’s victory and right through the presidential transition length, Comey briefed Trump at the now-infamous anti-Trump file, containing salacious allegations of purported coordination between Trump and the Russian executive. It was once authored via Christopher Steele, an ex-British intelligence officer.

Christopher Steele authored the notorious anti-Trump file.
(Photo via TOLGA AKMEN/AFP by the use of Getty Images)

The DOJ inspector common later published that the unverified file helped function the foundation for arguable Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants bought in opposition to former Trump marketing campaign aide Carter Page. 

It is now well known that Hillary Clinton’s presidential marketing campaign and the Democratic National Committee funded the file in the course of the regulation company Perkins Coie.

HILLARY CLINTON APPROVED DISSEMINATION OF TRUMP-RUSSIAN BANK ALLEGATIONS TO MEDIA, CAMPAIGN MANAGER TESTIFIES

During the early months of Trump’s management, Jeff Sessions, who served as legal professional common on the time, recused himself from oversight of the FBI’s Russia investigation, because of his involvement with the Trump marketing campaign, according to Justice Department rules. Then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was once then tasked with oversight of the investigation.

Trump, in May 2017, fired then-FBI Director James Comey. Comey, right through his June 2017 testimony to Congress, mentioned he intentionally leaked a memo from a key assembly with Trump to a pal after he was once fired to be able to instructed the appointment of a unique suggest.

“I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter—I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel,” Comey testified.

Mueller’s investigation and record

Days after Comey was once fired, Rosenstein appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller to take over the FBI’s Trump-Russia probe.

FILE – In this May 29, 2019, record picture, particular suggest Robert Mueller speaks on the Department of Justice Wednesday, in Washington, in regards to the Russia investigation. The debate over particular suggest Robert Mueller’s record is getting new existence with phrase that Mueller has agreed to testify publicly prior to two House committees. Democrats say Mueller will seem July 17 in back-to-back classes of the Judiciary and Intelligence committees. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

The Mueller investigation clouded the Trump management for just about two years.

DECLASSIFIED TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE DOCS TO DATE: WHAT TO KNOW 

Simultaneously, investigations into Trump-Russia allegations had been introduced on Capitol Hill—in each chambers of Congress.

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Intelligence Committee opened investigations into whether or not Trump and participants of his marketing campaign colluded with Russia to steer the 2016 presidential race. 

Neither the House nor Senate investigation discovered proof of collusion between Trump and Russia. 

After just about two years, Mueller’s investigation, which concluded in March 2019, yielded no proof of felony conspiracy or coordination between the Trump marketing campaign and Russian officers right through the 2016 presidential election.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller as particular suggest in May 2017 to research whether or not participants of the Trump marketing campaign coordinated with Russia to steer the 2016 presidential election.

Mueller, even though, didn’t draw a conclusion on whether or not the president obstructed justice. At the time, then-Attorney General Bill Barr and Rosenstein concluded the proof from the Mueller case was once “not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.”

Once Mueller’s findings had been made public, congressional Democrats seized at the factor of obstruction of justice, and started ramping up investigations on issues that spanned from Trump’s private price range to safety clearances for Trump management officers, all while the drumbeat of impeachment constructed inside the House Democratic caucus.

FILE – In this May 8. 2019 record picture, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., strikes forward with a vote to carry Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress after last-minute negotiations stalled with the Justice Department over get right of entry to to the total, un-redacted model of particular suggest Robert Mueller’s record.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Investigations led via House Democrats

In March 2019, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., introduced a wide-ranging probe into nearly each side of Trump’s management, trade ventures, and circle of relatives dealings, subpoenaing greater than 81 people and entities to research “alleged obstruction of justice, public corruption, and other abuses of power by President Trump.” 

FLASHBACK: IMPEACHMENT DRUMBEAT BUILDS ON LEFT, AS HOUSE SHIFTS PROBES INTO HIGH GEAR

But Nadler wasn’t by myself— plenty of different House panels additionally stepped up inquiries.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee, which was once chaired, on the time, via Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., dissolved the panel’s subcommittee on terrorism and re-directed the ones sources to a subcommittee devoted, as a substitute, to investigations associated with Trump—in particular his relationships and communications with international officers, corresponding to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

House Foreign Affairs Chairman Rep. Eliot Engel, D-NY, dissolved the panel’s subcommittee on terrorism to as a substitute focal point on Trump investigations. (AP)

Congressional committees, on the time, had been additionally in search of get right of entry to to State Department workers and contractors with wisdom of Trump’s communications with Putin, together with the “linguists, translators, or interpreters” who participated in or listened to Trump-Putin conferences.

FLASHBACK: SCHIFF SAYS THERE IS ‘DIRECT EVIDENCE’ OF COLLUSION BETWEEN TRUMP CAMPAIGN AND RUSSIA

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who driven the Trump-Russia collusion narrative for years, in 2019, persisted his investigation into the topic, claiming he had proof of collusion, in spite of Mueller’s findings.

Rep. Adam Schiff mentioned he was once “heartbroken” via Mueller’s obvious decline. 
(Getty Images)

Declassified transcripts from House Intelligence Committee interviews, which Fox News first reported on in 2020, published, amongst different issues, that high Obama officers said that they had no “empirical evidence” of collusion or a conspiracy between the Trump marketing campaign and Russia within the 2016 election. 

Also within the spring of 2019, the House Ways and Means Committee sued the Trump management, accusing officers of violating federal regulation via refusing to conform to the panel’s requests and subpoenas for paperwork associated with Trump’s tax returns.

TRUMP SUES HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE, NEW YORK STATE OFFICIALS TO PROTECT HIS TAX RETURNS

The House Oversight Committee, on the time, additionally subpoenaed Trump’s accounting company, Mazars USA LLC for his monetary knowledge, together with annual statements, periodic monetary studies and impartial auditor studies from Mazars, in addition to all communications with Trump.

Democrats at the House Financial Services Committee additionally subpoenaed Deutsche Bank and Capital One over Trump’s monetary statements.

In the center of the congressional investigations into his price range, Trump’s trade dealings had been additionally being probed in two separate investigations in New York— one via then-Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and the opposite via New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. opened an investigation into Trump and his circle of relatives’s companies in 2019. (Photo via Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
(Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

Trump’s management was once even being investigated via the House Oversight Committee over safety clearances given to officers, probing the method that gave clearances to White House workforce.

FLASHBACK: DEM-LED HOUSE PANEL LAUNCHES NEW PROBE INTO TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SECURITY CLEARANCES

Ukraine name and primary impeachment

But the whole thing got here to a head in July 2019—Trump had a telephone name with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

During that decision, Trump pressed Zelenskyy to release investigations into the Biden circle of relatives’s movements and trade dealings in Ukraine—in particular Hunter Biden’s ventures with Ukrainian herbal fuel company Burisma Holdings. Hunter Biden, on the time, was once, and nonetheless is, below federal felony investigation for his tax affairs, brought on via suspicious international transactions.

President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the InterContinental Barclay New York lodge right through the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The president’s request got here after hundreds of thousands in U.S. army help to Ukraine were frozen, which Democrats and a few witnesses have cited as a quid professional quo association. Democrats additionally claimed Trump was once meddling within the subsequent presidential election via asking a international chief to seem right into a Democratic political opponent.

FILE – Then Vice President-elect, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., left, stands together with his son Hunter right through a re-enactment of the Senate oath rite within the Old Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan.
(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

Trump’s dialog with Zelenskyy brought on a whistleblower criticism, which ended in the House impeachment inquiry, and in the end, impeachment lawsuits within the Senate.

FLASHBACK: IMPEACHMENT NUMBER ONE: SENATE ACQUITS TRUMP ON ABUSE OF POWER, OBSTRUCTION OF CONGRESS CHARGES

The House voted to question Trump in December 2019 on two counts— abuse of energy and obstruction of Congress. The Senate voted for acquittal in February 2020.

In this symbol from video, House impeachment supervisor Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., speaks right through the impeachment trial in opposition to President Donald Trump within the Senate on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. (Senate Television by the use of AP)
(AP)

“At some point, you got to ask, you know, the motive,” Jordan mentioned of the investigations. “And the motive is this guy came to town and shook up the place—he changed the clique that exists there in D.C., he took on the clique and the bureaucracy and everything else, and the folks there said, no, we just can’t have this, and that’s why they go after him so hard.”

COVID-19 accusations

Weeks after Trump’s first acquittal, in March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the sector, shutting down the U.S. financial system and international markets, with hundreds of thousands of other people world wide contracting the radical coronavirus.

Trump was once accused, all the way through, of now not taking the virus severely. Democratic senators, together with now-Vice President Kamala Harris, referred to as for an investigation into the Trump management’s reaction to the coronavirus pandemic. Democrats additionally mentioned they’d create a 9/11-style fee to probe Trump’s reaction.

Then-Sen. Kamala Harris, demanded an investigation with Democratic colleagues into the Trump management’s dealing with of the COVID-19 pandemic.
(AP)

The Trump management, even though, introduced Operation Warp Speed—a public-private partnership to create vaccines in opposition to the radical coronavirus, because the pandemic raged in 2020. Under his management, the Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. 

FLASHBACK: WARREN, SENATE DEMOCRATS CALL FOR INVESTIGATION INTO TRUMP ADMINISTRATION RESPONSE TO CORONAVIRUS

Trump in December 2020 signed an government order that might make sure that all Americans had get right of entry to to coronavirus vaccines prior to the U.S. executive may just start helping countries world wide. 

Russian bounties to kill U.S. troops

In some other congressional probe, right through the pandemic, Trump was once hammered via Democrats over when he was once briefed, and his reaction to Moscow, associated with intelligence that Russia introduced bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. troops.

A yr later, right through the Biden management, officers admitted that intelligence was once unverified.

2020 presidential election

Throughout 2020, Trump was once additionally criticized for wondering the protection of the approaching presidential election, and for again and again announcing it might be “rigged” because of the pandemic-era technique of mail-in ballots.

President Donald Trump speaks right through a press briefing with the coronavirus process power, within the Brady press briefing room on the White House, Monday, March 16, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
(AP)

Biden received the 2020 election, however Trump claimed it was once stolen, and his prison group filed a slew of complaints in battleground states around the country.

FLASHBACK: IMPEACHMENT NUMBER TWO: TRUMP ACQUITTED IN SECOND IMPEACHMENT TRIAL ON CHARGE OF INCITING JAN. 6 CAPITOL RIOT

January 6 rise up and 2d impeachment

On Jan. 6, 2021, pro-Trump rioters breached the U.S. Capitol right through a joint consultation of Congress to certify the Electoral College leads to prefer of President Biden. Trump was once completely banned from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube after the rise up.

The House of Representatives then drafted articles of impeachment in opposition to him once more, and in the end voted to question him on a fee of inciting an riot for the Jan. 6 Capitol rise up—making him the primary and handiest president to be impeached, and in the end acquitted, two times in historical past.

Violent insurrectionists unswerving to President Donald Trump, hurricane the Capitol, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington.
(AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

Trump prison’s group denounced the lawsuits as an unconstitutional “sham impeachment” in opposition to a non-public citizen, pushed via Democrats’ “hatred” for Trump and need to silence a political opponent. 

The Senate voted to acquit, however had Trump been convicted, the Senate would have moved to bar the forty fifth president from maintaining federal place of business ever once more, combating a 2024 White House run.

The Senate voted to acquit Trump, right through his 2d impeachment lawsuits. 

When Trump left place of business, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January sixth Attack at the United States Capitol started its probe into the Capitol rise up.

JAN. 6 COMMITTEE AIMS TO SHOW ‘TRUMP WAS AT THE CENTER’ OF PLOT TO OVERTURN ELECTION WITH PRIMETIME HEARING

That committee has spent greater than a yr investigating, and introduced a chain of hearings this summer season, some right through primetime, in an try to seize Americans’ consideration prior to the November midterm elections—as they compete with record-high inflation, record-high fuel costs, shortages in child formulation, a looming recession, and extra for political consideration.

Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks, R-Ind., who met with Trump at Bedminster Tuesday night time, mirrored at the collection of investigations, and mentioned “America has never had a fighter like Donald Trump, and that’s why the American people love him.”

The Jan. 6 committee, which contains Republicans Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, will air their Thursday listening to right through primetime. 
(Andrew Harnik/Pool by the use of REUTERS)

“Now, more than ever, we need Donald Trump back in the White House to fight for America,” Banks mentioned. “He has taken a beating from the left, from the left-wing media, from the swamp—and each and every time, he gets back up and keeps fighting back and that’s why he enjoys so much support from House Republicans.”

Potential Trump 2024 presidential run

Jordan advised Fox News that Democrats are “afraid he is going to run again, which I want him to do.”

“And he’s going to win,” Jordan mentioned. “He’s going to come and continue to shake up the town and stand up for ‘We the People,’ and not the bureaucratic swamp.”

GOP REP. BANKS SAYS TRUMP ‘FIRED UP’ AFTER FBI RAID, ‘MADE UP HIS MIND’ ON 2024: ‘GOING TO LIKE HIS DECISION’

And Banks advised Fox News that what took place at Mar-a-Lago “unifies Republicans in our outrage.”

Supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump wave flags as they accumulate outdoor his Mar-a-Lago house after Trump mentioned that FBI brokers raided it, in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., August 8, 2022. 
(REUTERS/Marco Bello)

“It will only backfire on the left as they see that the American people stand with President Trump,” Banks mentioned. “And all of the investigations that have added up over the years–this should not happen in America.”

Banks advised Fox News that are meant to the Republicans take again the bulk within the House of Representatives in November’s midterm elections, Jordan shall be chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

A person with a Trump 2024 flag is pictured outdoor Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida following an FBI raid on Donald Trump’s deepest house.
(Alon Skuy/Fox News Digital)

“If there has ever been the right guy, in the right place in American politics—it is going to be Jim Jordan chairing the House Judiciary Committee,” he mentioned. “Those committee hearings should be on primetime—on live television—for the American people to tune in.” 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

He added: “Jordan is going to lead the effort to hold the Justice Department accountable in a way that, right now, they deserve more than ever.” 

As for Trump, Banks advised Fox News that the previous president “has made up his mind” about whether or not he’s going to run for re-election in 2024—a call he’s going to make public in “a matter of time.”