Hush-money allegations comprise just one legal battle faced by former President Donald Trump.
Here is a partial list of other key legal challenges:
- The Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has Democrats demanding criminal charges against the former president, including "inciting an insurrection."
- In Georgia, a state investigation is underway into whether the then-president tried to overturn the 2020 vote.
- Trump and Mar-a-Lago are at the center of a special counsel probe into classified documents found there. President Joe Biden faces a similar probe.
Dr. Kevin Wagner, a Florida Atlantic University political scholar, spoke to WPTV about the raging debate that pits cries of "political prosecution" against those who cry that "no one is above the law."
"The U.S. works conceptually under the idea of the rule of law and the rule of law being objective," Wagner said. "When we start believing our court systems are not neutral, our court systems are partisan, we are in an entirely different realm. It is hard to have a sustainable democracy when there isn't trust in elections, there isn't trust the system itself is not biased to one side or the other."
Legal observers note that the hush money allegations at the center — for now — of a possible indictment against Trump are allegations federal prosecutors did not pursue. So why, some in the legal community ask, is the Manhattan district attorney poised to do just that.
"There is no doubt that there is a perfect example of weaponizing the Manhattan district attorney, and there is no doubt that it is a textbook example of prosecutorial misconduct," Stuart Kaplan, a defense attorney and former FBI agent, said.
The country watches, waits and debates – endlessly – again.
