President Donald Trump claimed a major court victory on Thursday, after a New York appeals court threw out a multimillion-dollar penalty he was facing.
The judgment stemmed from a civil fraud case—one in a long list of legal troubles Trump grappled with in the years and months before he was reelected to a second term. But so far, the President has avoided paying or serving any major penalties.
“We’re having a lot of victories,” Trump said on Thursday evening as he visited police and troops outside a Park Police Facility in Washington, D.C. “I had a victory today. You know, they stole $550 million from me with a fake case, and it was overturned. They said this was a fake case.”
“It’s a terrible thing, but it’s a nice victory, you know? I mean, it’s not bad, we all have, we all have our limits. But this was a terrible thing, that it was a witch hunt. And I’ve had more witch hunts than any human being,” he added.
Here are some of the major cases against Trump and where they currently stand.
New York fraud case
In 2022, New York Attorney General Letitia James brought a civil lawsuit against Trump and top executives at his company, the Trump Organization, alleging that they exaggerated his wealth to lenders and insurers in order to get better loan terms. In February 2024, New York Judge Arthur Engoron found that Trump had committed fraud.
At the time, Engoron ruled that Trump had to pay $355 million in penalties. Before the appeals court ruling on Thursday, that amount exceeded $520 million with interest, including additional penalties that other Trump Organization executives named in the lawsuit, such as Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr., were facing.
Trump and other defendants in the case denied the allegations in the lawsuit. The ruling from the panel of five judges on Thursday came nearly a year after they had heard arguments in the appeal. The judges were still divided on much of what was at stake in the appeal, but a majority of them called the penalties that Engoron had ordered Trump to pay “excessive.”
Still, the judges upheld Engoron’s ruling that found Trump liable for fraud and backed Engoron’s other punishments levied against Trump, such as barring Trump from serving in corporate leadership at any New York company for three years, and his sons Eric and Donald Jr. from doing the same for two years.
James said in a statement that she would appeal the ruling, which would take the case to New York’s top court, the Court of Appeals.
New York defamation and sexual abuse case
In 2019, writer E. Jean Carroll alleged in her memoir that Trump raped her in the dressing room of a New York City department store in the 1990s. Trump denied the allegation, and went on to publicly lambaste Carroll. Carroll filed two civil lawsuits against Trump related to the incident.
In May 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll, ordering him to pay her $5 million, though the jury didn’t find Trump liable for rape. In January 2024, a jury in the other case directed Trump to pay Carroll an additional $83.3 million for defamatory comments he made about her.
Trump filed appeals for both cases. In December, a panel of three judges of the appeals court upheld the $5 million judgment against Trump. Trump filed a request for the full appellate court to reconsider, which the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected in June. Trump’s appeal regarding the $83.3 million judgment is ongoing.
New York “hush money” case
Trump was convicted of 34 felonies in May 2024 when a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels weeks before the 2016 presidential election. The ruling made him the first U.S. President to be convicted of a felony.
Trump’s conviction could have meant up to four years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines per count, but Trump was spared jail time, probation, and fines as Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan in January sentenced him to “unconditional discharge.” Merchan explained that it was the “only lawful sentence” that would not infringe upon Trump’s legal protections as President, as the sentencing came just days before Trump was set to take office for his second term.
Federal election obstruction case
Jack Smith, then-Department of Justice Special Counsel, charged Trump in August 2023 with conspiracy to overturn his 2020 electoral defeat to former President Joe Biden, including his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Prosecutors alleged that Trump promoted election fraud lies to pressure state officials to overturn Biden’s win and pressured then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject the election results. Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges.
It was the first indictment against a U.S. President related to acts committed during their presidency, and there was initially uncertainty around whether Trump was therefore immune from prosecution. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled in February last year that Trump was not immune, but Trump appealed to the Supreme Court, which ruled in July 2024 that former Presidents have “some immunity” for “official acts” made while in office.
In August 2024, Smith filed a superseding indictment against Trump. But Smith moved to drop the charges in November, after Trump won reelection, given that Trump would have immunity from criminal prosecution as a sitting President. In January 2025, Smith released his report that concluded there was sufficient admissible evidence “to obtain and sustain a conviction.”
Trump Administration officials have since opened an investigation into Smith, as Trump and his allies have long accused Smith’s prosecutions of being politically motivated.
Federal classified docs case
Smith also separately charged Trump in June 2023 with illegally mishandling classified documents. Prosecutors alleged that Trump broke the law by taking the classified documents from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago residence after leaving office in January 2021, showing off a Pentagon “plan of attack” and classified map, and obstructing government efforts to retrieve the documents.
A federal judge, who had been appointed by Trump, initially dismissed the case in July 2024 on the argument that Smith’s appointment to Special Counsel had not been confirmed by Congress. The Department of Justice moved to reopen the case in August, but Smith filed to drop the charges after Trump’s reelection.
Georgia election interference case
Trump, along with 18 others, was indicted in August 2023 for allegedly participating in an “alternate electors” plot to overturn his narrow 2020 defeat to Biden in Georgia. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis charged Trump with 13 counts, including violating state racketeering laws, conspiring to commit forgery, and making false statements.
Trump in January 2021 had made a phone call to Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in an attempt to pressure Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” and overturn the state’s election results. Prosecutors also alleged that Trump and his allies had attempted to illegally access elections equipment.
The case stalled last year after it was discovered that Willis was in a relationship with the special prosecutor she appointed to the case. Willis was disqualified from the case in December by a state appeals court, although the court declined to dismiss the case. Willis has appealed her removal to the state Supreme Court, which has yet to decide if it will hear the appeal.
In January, a Georgia appeals court upheld a lower court’s dismissal of six of the charges, leaving Trump facing 10 counts, although it’s not clear how criminal prosecutions against Trump will continue during his presidency.
The post Trump Claims a Legal ‘Victory.’ Here’s Where His Other Cases Stand appeared first on TIME.
