Trump Georgia election case hearing soon as lawsuit seeks to bar him from 2024 race

Without the privileges and prestige of the presidency to protect him, Mr Trump is facing serious lawsuits and criminal indictments across New York, Florida, Georgia and Washington.

Federal officials, local prosecutors, and individuals are going after him for everything from his private conduct to his political maneuvering during the 2020 election. If even just one of these efforts are successful, the US could see its first-ever former president in prison.

Here, The Independent explains each major case:

Following the Proud Boys’ sentencings for their roles during the January 6 Capitol riot, former Alaska Gov Sarah Palin weighed in, calling the sentences “disheartening” during an interview.

Newsmax host Eric Bolling began the segment by discussing the “extensive sentences” for “essentially trespassing” in the Capitol building. The host said “these charges are beyond extreme,” adding that it’s “truly a scary time in America.”

Bringing on his guest, Ms Palin, he asked: “Governor, blown away by these sentences. Fifteen, 17, and 18 years for nonviolent crimes. What do you say to all these lefties?”

“It’s so disheartening, the examples that you’ve given, Eric,” the former Alaska governor said. “It makes the populace lose a lot of faith in our government and that’s an understatement.”

Donald Trump is showing no signs of holding back his continued allegations of bias and unfairness against the judge overseeing his January 6 case in Washington DC, even after being accused of trying to taint the jury pool by prosecutors.

On Truth Social, the ex-president continued to release statements throughout Tuesday and into Wednesday attacking Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith and Judge Tanya Chutkan, the jurist who has now become a target of baseless criticism from conservatives on Capitol Hill — some of whom voted to confirm her to the bench.

Mr Trump “truthed” on Tuesday that Mr Smith was “deranged” and accused the special prosecutor of harboring “unchecked and insane aggression” against him; he also reposted a story from the right-wing New York Post regarding Ms Chutkan, whom the outlet has tried to paint as a secret Marxist.

Here’s a timeline of events that have led to three-term Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton facing an impeachment trial in the state Senate. The overwhelming May impeachment vote by the GOP-controlled Texas House of Representatives suspended the 60-year-old Paxton from office.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has said he expects to be acquitted and that the charges are based on “hearsay and gossip, parroting long-disproven claims.”

Here’s a look at the 20 articles of impeachment:

A lawsuit has been filed in Colorado by six Republican and unaffiliated voters to remove former president Donald Trump from the ballot, having disqualified himself from public office by violating Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, also known as the Disqualification Clause, bars any person from holding federal or state office who took an “oath…to support the Constitution of the United States” and then has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

On 20 January 2017, Mr Trump stood before the nation and took an oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” After losing the 2020 presidential election, he violated that oath by recruiting, inciting and encouraging a violent mob that attacked the Capitol on 6 January 2021 in a futile attempt to remain in office, the group says.

“If the very fabric of our democracy is to hold, we must ensure that the Constitution is enforced and the same people who attacked our democratic system not be put in charge of it,” CREW President Noah Bookbinder said. “We aren’t bringing this case to make a point, we’re bringing it because it is necessary to defend our republic both today and in the future. While it is unprecedented to bring this type of case against a former president, January 6th was an unprecedented attack that is exactly the kind of event the framers of the 14th Amendment wanted to build protections in case of. You don’t break the glass unless there’s an emergency.”

The former president has angrily refuted that he can be disqualified by the 14th Amendment:

Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith warned Tuesday that former President Donald Trump‘s “daily” statements risk tainting a jury pool in Washington in the criminal case charging him with scheming to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Trump’s provocative comments about both Smith’s team and US District Judge Tanya Chutkan — who is presiding over the case — have been a central issue since the indictment was filed last month.

Republican Mike Rogers, who served in Congress for 14 years and chaired the House Intelligence Committee, is running for an open US Senate seat in Michigan that Democrats have held for over two decades.