Obstruction of Legal and Investigative Processes
Obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and interference with investigations.
20 entries
Tier 1, Adjudicated and Legally ResolvedWeisselberg Perjury: Felony Conviction for Lying Under Oath During Civil Fraud Trial2023–2024
Allen Weisselberg, the longtime Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization, pleaded guilty on March 4, 2024 to two felony counts of perjury in the first degree for lying under oath during the New York civil fraud trial presided over by Justice Arthur Engoron. The perjury charges arose from testimony Weisselberg gave on October 12…
Tier 1, Adjudicated and Legally ResolvedWitness Intimidation and Gag Order Violations: Social Media Attacks During Active Legal Proceedings2023–2024
During multiple simultaneous legal proceedings in 2023 and 2024, Donald Trump used social media platforms, primarily Truth Social, to publicly attack witnesses, prosecutors, judges, and court staff involved in his cases. The attacks prompted prosecutors to seek gag orders in at least two proceedings, and judges in both cases imposed…
Tier 1, Adjudicated and Legally ResolvedAttacks on Jurors and Witnesses During Active Trials: Gag Order Violations Across Multiple Jurisdictions2023–2024
Across multiple civil and criminal proceedings in 2023 and 2024, Donald Trump repeatedly attacked jurors, witnesses, prosecutors, judges, and their family members on social media and in public statements, leading to gag orders in multiple jurisdictions and formal findings of contempt of court.
Tier 1, Adjudicated and Legally ResolvedExecutive Privilege Abuse: Claiming Presidential Privilege After Leaving Office to Delay the January 6 Investigation2021–2022
In October 2021, former President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit to prevent the National Archives and Records Administration from complying with requests by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. Trump asserted executive privilege over White House records from his presidency,…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceThe Seven-Hour Gap: Missing White House Phone Records from January 6, 20212021–2022
White House records turned over to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol revealed a gap of seven hours and 37 minutes in the official log of calls placed to or by President Donald Trump during the critical hours of the Capitol breach. The gap covered the period from 11:17 a.m. to 6:54…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceDestroyed Phone Records: Secret Service Texts from January 5-6, 2021, Deleted During 'Device Migration' After Watchdog Requested Them2021–2022
Text messages sent and received by U.S. Secret Service agents on January 5 and 6, 2021, the two days surrounding the attack on the U.S. Capitol, were deleted as part of what the agency described as a planned device-replacement program. The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General reported that the deletion occurred after his…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceMark Meadows's Text Messages: Communications Revealing Coordination on January 6 and His Refusal to Cooperate with the Congressional Investigation2020–2022
Mark Meadows served as White House Chief of Staff during the final year of the Trump presidency. The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol obtained 2,319 text messages from Meadows's personal phone, spanning the period from Election Day 2020 through January 6, 2021, and beyond. These…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceRemoval of SDNY U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman: Premature Resignation Announcement and Firing During Active Investigation of Trump Allies2020
On the evening of June 19, 2020, Attorney General William Barr issued a press release announcing that Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, was "stepping down" from his position, effective July 3, 2020. Barr stated that Jay Clayton, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission with no prior…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceBlanket Defiance of Congressional Oversight: Refusal to Comply with Impeachment Subpoenas, Blocked Witnesses, Withheld Documents, and the Rejected 'Absolute Immunity' Claim2019–2021
During the House of Representatives' first impeachment inquiry in 2019 and throughout his presidency, Donald Trump pursued an unprecedented strategy of blanket defiance of congressional oversight, refusing to comply with subpoenas, blocking administration officials from testifying, withholding documents, and asserting a theory of…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceThe White House Counsel's Role in the Ukraine Cover-Up: Moving the Call Transcript to a Classified Server and Resisting Congressional Oversight2019–2022
On July 25, 2019, President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a call that would become the basis for his first impeachment. During the call, Trump asked Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, and referenced military aid to Ukraine that the administration had placed on hold.…
Tier 1, Adjudicated and Legally ResolvedRoger Stone's Obstruction and Trump's Intervention: Conviction, Sentencing Override, Prosecutor Resignations, Commutation, and Full Pardon2019–2020
Roger Stone, a longtime political adviser and self-described confidant of Donald Trump, was indicted on January 25, 2019, by a federal grand jury on seven counts: one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of making false statements to Congress, and one count of witness tampering. The charges arose from Special…
Tier 1, Adjudicated and Legally ResolvedPaul Manafort's Breach of Cooperation: Lying to Mueller's Prosecutors While Sharing Information with Trump's Legal Team Through a Joint Defense Agreement2018–2020
Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign chairman, entered into a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office on September 14, 2018, as part of a guilty plea to conspiracy charges. Within weeks, Mueller's team determined that Manafort had breached the agreement by lying to federal investigators on…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceHope Hicks and the Misleading Trump Tower Meeting Statement: Crafting a False Narrative Aboard Air Force One2017–2019
On July 8, 2017, the New York Times reported that Donald Trump Jr. had met with a Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016, after being promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton from a Russian government source. In response, President Trump personally dictated a public statement attributed to his…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceAttempts to Fire Special Counsel Mueller and Obstruct the Russia Investigation (2017-2019)2017–2019
Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III was appointed on May 17, 2017, to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and any related matters, including potential obstruction of justice. Volume II of the Mueller Report, released by the Department of Justice on April 18, 2019, documented ten discrete episodes of…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceFiring of FBI Director James Comey During Active Russia Investigation (May 2017)2017
On May 9, 2017, President Donald J. Trump terminated FBI Director James B. Comey by delivering a dismissal letter to FBI headquarters while Comey was in Los Angeles. Comey learned he had been fired from television news. At the time of the firing, the FBI was conducting an active counterintelligence investigation into Russian interference…
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceFiring of Acting Attorney General Sally Yates: Dismissed After Refusing to Defend the Travel Ban and Warning About Michael Flynn2017
On January 30, 2017, President Donald Trump fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, ten days into his presidency. The firing occurred less than two hours after Yates issued a letter instructing Department of Justice attorneys not to defend Executive Order 13769, commonly known as the "travel ban" or "Muslim ban," which suspended entry…
Tier 2, Formally Charged or InvestigatedMichael Cohen Testimony: Allegations That Trump Directed False Statements to Congress and Signed Reimbursement Checks in Office2017–2019
Michael Cohen, who served as Donald Trump's personal attorney for over a decade, provided testimony to Congress and to the Special Counsel's office alleging that Trump was directly involved in efforts to obstruct investigations and conceal information from lawmakers.
Tier 3, Documented Through Primary EvidenceDestroying Evidence Under Investigation: Allegations of Document Shredding, Phone Wiping, and Server Deletion by Trump and His Employees2017–2023
Across multiple investigations and legal proceedings, Trump and employees of his organizations were accused of destroying, concealing, or attempting to destroy evidence relevant to pending investigations. The allegations span his presidency, his post-presidential handling of classified documents, and the operations of the Trump…
Tier 2, Formally Charged or InvestigatedTom Barrack Prosecution: Trump's Inaugural Committee Chairman Charged with Acting as an Unregistered Foreign Agent for the UAE2016–2022
Tom Barrack, a billionaire real estate investor and one of Donald Trump's closest personal friends, was indicted on July 20, 2021, on federal charges of acting as an unregistered agent of the United Arab Emirates, obstruction of justice, and making false statements to the FBI. Barrack had served as chairman of Trump's Presidential…
Tier 1, Adjudicated and Legally ResolvedHush Money Conspiracy: Catch-and-Kill Scheme with AMI and Michael Cohen2015–2018
Beginning in the summer of 2015, Donald Trump, his personal attorney Michael Cohen, and David Pecker, then chairman and CEO of American Media Inc. (AMI, publisher of the National Enquirer), entered into a coordinated scheme designed to suppress stories damaging to Trump's personal reputation before and during the 2016 presidential…