One disgraced ex-president, four trials: Inside Donald Trump’s legal troubles

Donald Trump has never been more vulnerable.

Without the privileges and prestige of the presidency to protect him, Mr Trump is facing serious lawsuits and criminal indictments across New York, Florida, Georgia and Washington. All while he is running a campaign for re-election and is in pole position to take the Republican nomination for president.

Federal officials, local prosecutors and individuals are going after him for everything from his private conduct to his political maneuvering during the 2020 election.

If even one of these efforts proves successful, the US could see a former president behind bars for the first time.

Here, The Independent explains each major case Mr Trump is facing.

Mr Trump is under scrutiny from officials in New York and this is set to be first trial the former president will face, with it set to begin on 25 March 2024..

On 30 March 2023, a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict the former president for allegedly falsifying business records relating to “hush money” payments he made to the porn star Stormy Daniels to prevent her from revealing an alleged extramarital affair they had had a decade earlier during the 2016 election.

Mr Trump faces 34 first-degree felony charges for allegedly working through his former attorney Michael Cohen and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker to “catch and kill” embarrassing stories, passing out hundreds of thousands of dollars to silence allegations of affairs and a child born out of wedlock, then allegedly falsifying records to conceal the payments.

“We cannot allow New York businesses to manipulate their records to cover up criminal conduct,” Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, who is leading the prosecution, said in a statement.

Mr Trump has