On August 14, for the fourth time this year, Donald Trump found himself the first ex-President to be indicted for crimes committed during his four-year administration: 2017-2021.

He faces  91 criminal charges across four jurisdictions: Georgia, Florida, New York and the District of Columbia. 

Two of those cases have already been mentioned. Here is a breakdown of the remaining two:

(3) Federal documents indictment (Florida)

Filed on June 9, 2023, it charges Trump with 40 felony counts for:

• 32 counts of willful retention of national defense information;
• 1 count of conspiracy to obstruct justice;
• 1 count of withholding a document or record from an official proceeding;
• 1 count of corruptly concealing a document or record from an official proceeding;
• 1 count of concealing a document in a federal investigation;
• 1 count of scheming to conceal information the government is seeking;
• 1 count of making false statements;
• 2 counts of altering, destroying or concealing information the government is seeking.

Before leaving office, Trump endangered the country’s national security by taking and haphazardly storing highly classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

He then refused to return them when asked by the Justice Department—forcing the agency to send in an FBI force to retrieve them.

(4) Georgia election indictment 

Filed on August 14, 2023, it charges Trump with 13 felony counts for:

• 1 count of violating the Georgia RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations)  Act (conspiring to overturn the vote count of the 2020 Presidential election);
• 3 counts of solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer;
• 1 count of conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer;
• 2 counts of conspiracy to commit forgery;
• 2 counts of conspiracy to commit false statements and writings;
• 1 count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents;
• 1 count of filing false documents;
• 2 counts of making false statements and writings.

This is on a par with the importance of the Federal 2020 election indictment. Trump was trying to illegally remain in office by coercing Georgia public officials to “find” Electoral College votes which did not exist.

Which, in this case, meant creating Electoral College votes which did not exist.

Meanwhile, the vast majority of Republicans have abandoned their traditional “law and order” mantra to attack those investigators and prosecutors who are trying to hold Trump accountable for his litany of crimes. 

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy: “Justice should be blind, but Biden has weaponized government against his leading political opponent to interfere in the 2024 election.” 

Referring to Fanni Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, who indicted Trump for election interference, McCarthy said: “Now a radical [district attorney] in Georgia is following Biden’s lead by attacking President Trump and using it to fundraise her political career. Americans see through this desperate sham.”   

Republicans have proven themselves masters of projecting their own planned or attempted crimes onto their opponents.

Since it was Trump who weaponized the Justice Department during his Presidency, Republicans now accuse—without evidence—President Joe Biden of doing the same. 

Kevin McCarthy

New York Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik: “[Donald Trump] had every legal right to challenge the results of the election. This blatant election interference by the far left will not work, President Trump will defeat these bogus charges and win back the White House in 2024.” 

Trump did in fact have “every right to challenge the results of the election.” What he did not have was the right to try to illegally overturn its verdict.

South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham: “The American people can decide whether they want [Trump] to be president or not.

“This should be decided at the ballot box and not in a bunch of liberal jurisdictions trying to put the man in jail. They’re weaponizing the law in this country. They’re trying to take Donald Trump down.”

Biotech entrepreneur and Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy: “I’d volunteer to write the amicus brief to the court myself. Prosecutors should not be deciding US presidential elections, and if they’re so overzealous that they commit constitutional violations, then the cases should be thrown out and they should be held accountable.” 

During the 2016 Presidential race between Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Trump repeatedly called for her to be “locked up” for using a private email server for official public communications.

She was accused of endangering national security by not using official State Department email accounts maintained on federal servers. A years-long FBI investigation determined that Clinton’s server did not contain any information or emails that were clearly marked classified.

Hillary Clinton

Now, faced with overwhelming evidence that Trump’s behavior had posed threats to American democracy, Republicans are adhering to a double-standard to ignore his multiple crimes. 

Among Republican voters, Trump remains the odds-on favorite for the 2024 Republican nomination for President.  

Joe Biden had become President-elect of the United States by winning 81,283,495 votes, or 51.4% of the vote, compared to 74,223,755 votes, or 46.9% of the vote cast for President Donald Trump.

In the Electoral College—which actually determines the winner—the results were even more stunning: 306 votes for Biden, compared with 232 for Trump.