The POTUS has a long history behind him
Warning: This article contains discussion of sexual assault which some readers may find distressing.
Donald Trump made history when he successfully became the first convicted criminal to be elected as President of the United States – but while this fact is pretty common knowledge, the entire list of convictions and allegations against the POTUS has left people shocked.
Trump made history with his criminal convictions in April 2024, when he became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes.
Many people thought the conviction might impact his dreams to return to the White House, but they proved not to be a barrier in his presidential race as he was elected for a second time just months later.
Two months into Trump’s second term, a ‘cheat sheet’ detailing Trump’s ‘legal and ethical record’ has garnered attention after being shared on Reddit.
Trump is the first president in history with felony convictions (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Criminal convictions
Trump’s felony convictions arrived from a New York jury last year, when he was found guilty of 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election.
The president had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges, which related to a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, but after 10 hours of deliberating the jury delivered their verdict.
In the wake of the result, Trump described the trial as ‘rigged’ and ‘disgraceful’.
Sexual misconduct allegations
Trump has denied all of the 20-plus sexual misconduct allegations that have been made against him over the years, spanning between the 1980s and 2013.
The oldest allegation involves Jessica Leeds, who alleged Trump groped her in the 1980s during an encounter in the first-class cabin of a plane.
The most recent allegation came in 2013 from Cassandra Searles, a former Miss Washington pageant star who alleged in a comment on Facebook that Trump repeatedly grabbed her butt during an encounter.
Trump has denied the sexual misconduct allegations against him (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Settlements
Trump has also settled a number of legal disputes over the years, beginning with one in 1973 in which he and his father were accused of refusing to rent apartments in buildings with predominantly white residents to Black tenants.
Another settlement came in 2016, when Trump paid $25 million in a case with Trump University students who claimed they had been misled about the courses offered at the establishment, which promised to teach them the ‘secrets of success’ in the real estate industry.
In 2018, a New York judge ordered Trump to pay $2 million as part of a settlement in a case in which he was accused of misusing funds from his charity to finance his 2016 political campaign.
Impeachments
The ‘Cheat Sheet’ of Trump’s history also includes the impeachment proceedings that led him to become the first president in US history to be impeached twice.
The president’s first experience with the practise came in 2019 when he was impeached by the House of Representatives for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Two years later, he was hit with his second impeachment after he was charged with ‘incitement of insurrection’ over the January 6 Capitol riots.
Trump was charged with inciting insurrection at the riots (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The post detailing Trump’s controversial backstory also includes details of the president’s relationship history and business failings, with the lengthy list leaving Reddit users shocked over its size.
Reacting to the post, one Reddit user wrote: “Gosh, when you put it all on one page the guy sounds… horrible.”
Another joked: “Solid resume for POTUS.”
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