Trump Indictments: Lawfare Architecture | Case File INTL-005

The File

Four separate prosecutions were brought against Donald Trump across four jurisdictions between 2023 and 2024, all effectively concluded by late 2025. This file documents the pattern, timing, and sequencing of those four cases. It does not adjudicate guilt or innocence on the underlying charges in any of them. That distinction is maintained throughout.

The Documented Record

May 30, 2024: A Manhattan jury convicted Trump on all 34 counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, in a case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. [DOCUMENTED]

January 10, 2025: Justice Juan Merchan sentenced Trump to an unconditional discharge on all 34 counts, meaning no prison, fine, or probation. The conviction itself stands and remains on appeal. [DOCUMENTED]

Merchan stated that unconditional discharge was the only lawful sentence permitting entry of a judgment of conviction without encroachment on the office of the presidency. [DOCUMENTED]

November 25, 2024: Special Counsel Jack Smith's federal election-interference case in Washington, D.C. was dismissed without prejudice after Smith moved to dismiss, citing Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president. Smith's own motion stated the outcome was not based on the merits or strength of the case. [DOCUMENTED]

Smith's Florida federal case, concerning retention of classified documents, was dismissed by Judge Aileen Cannon, who found Smith's appointment as special counsel improper. Smith appealed, then the case was dismissed by the 11th Circuit on Smith's own motion, also November 25, 2024. The dismissal was without prejudice, meaning the charges could potentially be refiled after Trump's second term. [DOCUMENTED]

August 2023: Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis indicted Trump and others in a racketeering case. [DOCUMENTED]

December 2024: The Georgia Court of Appeals disqualified Willis, citing the appearance of impropriety arising from a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. [DOCUMENTED]

September 2025: The Georgia Supreme Court upheld Willis's disqualification. [DOCUMENTED]

November 26, 2025: Replacement prosecutor Peter Skandalakis dismissed the Georgia case, stating that pursuing it in full for another five to ten years would not serve the citizens of Georgia. [DOCUMENTED]

January 2025: Special Counsel Smith's own Volume 1 report confirmed Trump had been the subject of two separate DOJ criminal investigations beginning in fall 2022. [DOCUMENTED]

What the Record Does Not Establish

This file does not establish, and does not attempt to establish, whether Trump was guilty or innocent of the underlying charges in any of the four cases. The Manhattan conviction stands and is on appeal; that is a legal fact distinct from any judgment this file makes about the underlying conduct. The two federal cases were dismissed for reasons tied to DOJ policy and the special counsel's own appointment, not through a trial verdict on the facts. The Georgia case ended through prosecutorial disqualification and a successor prosecutor's discretionary decision, not through a trial. What is documented is the pattern itself: four prosecutions in four jurisdictions, running on overlapping timelines during a presidential campaign, each ending through a different procedural mechanism rather than a uniform resolution.

Sources

Connected Files

INTL-004 documents a separate federal investigation touching the same political period. OPP-001 documents a broader coordinated-opposition network this pattern is one node of.