Running for president, fighting in court? How fraud lawsuit could complicate Trump's plans

WASHINGTON – Now that the New York attorney general has sued Donald Trump for fraud, one thing seems nearer certainty: If Trump runs for president again in 2024, he will do so while defending himself in a court of law.

Maybe several courts of law.

The long-running panoply of investigations into Trump – over his business practices, his handling of classified information, his efforts to overturn his election loss in 2020, and his role in the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021 – will burden any 2024 presidential run by the former chief executive, analysts said.

New York Attorney General Letitia James' suit – while a civil matter rather than a criminal one – takes things a step further than those other inquiries: It is the most definitive sign yet that Trump could be pulled into court while running for president, an unprecedented position for a major party candidate.

Citing James' recital of allegations against Trump, including fraud running into the tens of millions of dollars or more, historian Michael Beschloss said, "I have never seen anything remotely like this in the history of the American presidency."

And with a separate tax fraud case also moving against the Trump Organization, Trump's legal problems will be in the headlines for months, or perhaps even years, to come.

"It will be in the news over and over again," said Andrew Weissmann, a former federal prosecutor who was part of the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.

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Anger – and discovery

Trump and his allies – including some past allies – say the investigations will only help him politically as voters rally around a man they believe is being unfairly targeted.

Former Attorney General Bill Barr, who has criticized Trump over his actions in a classified documents case, criticized James over the lawsuit. If she fails to make her case, Barr said, it could hurt other investigations with voters who believe the government is "piling on" Trump.

"I don't think it's going to hurt him," Barr said. "The more overboard these cases get, the more I think it's going to help him."

In an interview broadcast Thursday, Trump agreed with Fox News host Sean Hannity's contention, without evidence, that investigators would back off if he simply announced he was not running in 2024.

But Trump said he would not do that, though he did not make a formal announcement one way or the other. "I have to fight," Trump said at one point. "I'm under siege."

Weissmann said Trump's reaction is understandable – "he thrives on being the victim and running against the elites" – but could be hard to sustain as cases develop against him.

Discovery, or the information exchange process in court, and submission of court documents could be "hideous" for Trump and his cause, Weissmann said.

A 2024 test in 2022

Trump has not formally declared a 2024 presidential candidacy. He does frequently flirt with the idea, especially after bad legal news, including James' lawsuit announcement.

In the lawsuit, the attorney general said Trump and members of his family fraudulently overvalued properties to secure bank loans or devalued them to reduce tax bills.

Claiming the valuations amounted to financial fraud, James said: "There aren't two sets of laws for people in this nation. Former presidents must be held to the same standards as everyday Americans." James also said she has referred the Trump case to federal prosecutors in New York and the Internal Revenue Service.

Trump, who accused James of seeking to criminalize standard business practices, has been under investigative clouds since leaving the White House on Jan. 20, 2021.