As former President Donald J. Trump faces a series of legal challenges while running for re-election, he has made his legal troubles a focal point of his campaign, using them as a rallying cry for his bid to return to the White House.
This strategy is expected to be front and center this week as his trial in Manhattan regarding a hush money payment in the 2016 election commences. Mr. Trump has consistently dismissed the charges in that case as part of an alleged “election interference” scheme orchestrated by President Biden.
He has characterized the cases against him in dramatic terms, defended his actions with flawed comparisons, and launched unfounded attacks on his opponents and the legal system.
When pressed for evidence to support his claims, the campaign did not directly address the issue but continued to assert, without evidence, that Mr. Trump is the victim of a Democratic Party-led “witch hunt.”
Here is a fact-check of some of his most repeated claims.
Baseless accusations of a Biden-orchestrated conspiracy
What Mr. Trump Said
“Biden said it. He said — you know what their whole plan is? It was just released the other day. It didn’t — it was leaked by one of the many people that probably thought it was wrong. Their whole plan is to go after Trump in every way possible, especially criminally and legally.”
— at a rally in Georgia in March
This lacks evidence. Of the four criminal cases against Mr. Trump, two were brought by state or local prosecutors, meaning that the Justice Department itself has no control over them. His two other criminal cases are overseen by a special counsel, whom Attorney General Merrick B. Garland appointed to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
It is unclear what leak Mr. Trump was referring to, and The New York Times was unable to find an instance of such a plan to target Mr. Trump “criminally and legally.” False posts circulating on social media have used deceptively edited clips to suggest that Mr. Biden or his aides have admitted to weaponizing the legal system.
Nevertheless, there is no evidence that Mr. Biden is personally directing the cases against his political rival. Mr. Biden has publicly stressed the independence of the Justice Department. Additionally, The Times and other news outlets have reported that Mr. Biden’s campaign strategy is to say nothing about Mr. Trump’s legal woes.
What Mr. Trump Said
“Jack Smith just admitted what the American People already know, namely, that his case is being directed and supervised by the Biden Administration. So, although he denies it, Garland is carrying out the orders from his boss to prosecute me, and to interfere in the 2024 Election.”
— in a Truth Social post in March
This is misleading. Mr. Trump was referring to — and distorting — a court filing from prosecutors in the classified documents case.
The document was responding to a motion by Mr. Trump’s lawyer to dismiss the case, claiming that Attorney General Merrick B. Garland had no authority to appoint Jack Smith, the special counsel in the case. Prosecutors argued that the Supreme Court had affirmed such an authority 50 years ago in the Watergate case, and that many special counsels had been appointed since then, including by the Justice Department under Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump was apparently referring to a description in the filing of the special counsel’s role, although he used it out of context: “The special counsel was retained from outside of the department to ‘ensure a full and thorough investigation’ of certain sensitive matters. While he remains subject to attorney general direction and supervision, he also retains ‘a substantial degree of independent decision making.’”
What Mr. Trump Said
“Look, the Manhattan D.A. has a man named Colangelo in there. He was Merrick Garland’s top person. They put him into the Manhattan D.A.’s office. Fani Willis and her lover spent a lot of time in Washington talking about my case. They came out during the hearings talking about my case. The A.G. of New York, Letitia James, deals with Washington all the time.”
— in an interview with Fox News in March
This is exaggerated. When asked for evidence of his claim that Mr. Biden was personally directing the local cases against him, Mr. Trump pointed to alleged connections between prosecutors and “Washington,” but provided no evidence that Mr. Biden had been involved in any of the hiring decisions, conversations, or meetings that Mr. Trump referenced.
The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, hired Matthew Colangelo as a senior counsel in December 2022. Mr. Colangelo previously worked at the New York attorney general’s office and at the Justice Department as acting associate attorney general — the third highest-ranking official — before that position was filled permanently. There is no evidence that the appointment of Mr. Colangelo was directed by Mr. Biden or the Justice Department. The two men previously worked together at the New York attorney general’s office under Ms. James’s predecessor, and Mr. Colangelo’s appointment came as Mr. Bragg ramped up his investigation into Mr. Trump’s role in hush money payments made in the 2016 election.
The Times previously reported that Fani T. Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, Ga., and her office had been consulting with the bipartisan House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack as part of her election interference case. An outside lawyer hired by Ms. Willis — Nathan J. Wade, her former romantic partner who resigned from the case in March — to lead the prosecution met twice with the White House Counsel’s Office in 2022. It is not clear what the purpose of those meetings was, but a former White House counsel told The Times that the office can become involved when prosecutors seek the testimony of former officials.
Mr. Trump often highlights that Letitia James, the New York attorney general who filed a civil fraud case accusing him of inflating the value of his properties, has visited the White House three times. Visitor logs show that her first visit was in April 2022 at the South Lawn, where a crowd had gathered to celebrate the confirmation of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. She visited again in July 2023 to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris and other state attorneys general about efforts to stop fentanyl trafficking. And she visited in August 2023 to attend an event Ms. Harris hosted recognizing Black women serving in public office. The White House has said Mr. Biden did not speak to individual guests at the first event and did not attend the latter two.
Hyperbolic claims of persecution
What Mr. Trump Said
“Why didn’t they bring these Fake Biden inspired cases against me 3 years ago? Because Crooked Joe Biden wanted them to be brought right in the middle of my 2024 Presidential Election Campaign, strictly Third World Country ‘stuff!’”
— in a post on Truth Social in March
False. Of the multiple cases Mr. Trump is facing, at least three began before Mr. Biden took office, while another three revolve around Mr. Trump’s actions after leaving office. There is no evidence that Mr. Biden sought to prolong the cases. Investigations and legal proceedings typically take time, and Mr. Trump himself has frequently sought delays in proceedings.
The investigation into hush money payments began while Mr. Trump was still in office in 2018. Ms. James initiated her investigation into the Trump Organization over its financial dealings in March 2019. Writer E. Jean Carroll filed her initial lawsuit against Mr. Trump in November 2019, accusing him of defamation.
Ms. Willis launched her investigation into Mr. Trump and his allies’ attempts to overturn the election in Georgia in February 2021. A senior Justice Department official stated in January 2022 that an inquiry had been launched into a plan by Mr. Trump and his allies to reverse the results of the 2020 election; the investigation was expanded in March 2022. Mr. Smith was appointed as the special prosecutor in the documents case in November 2022.
What Mr. Trump Said
“It is a form of Navalny. It is a form of communism or fascism.”
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