While much has been made of the new FBI comments circling back around to Hillary Clinton’s usage of a private email server, one headline yet to gain much traction in the social media sphere connects her opponent Donald Trump to at least 75 cases in court.
In most of those cases, Trump is not the plaintiff.
That’s according to USA Today, who broke the news after Gannett reporters discovered the mercurial businessman was involved in more than 4,000 lawsuits involving the real-estate developer.
Indeed, defendants are suing the now-defunct Trump University, his golfing resorts, his political campaign and the Trump Organization for a variety of grievances that will keep the courts busy for some time to come.
President Trump would be both plaintiff & defendant
Given the sheer amount of unresolved cases involving Trump and his businesses — in which he’d be both suing and sued — virtually all historians agree it marks unprecedented territory for someone being inaugurated into the nation’s highest office.
As Trump is under investigation in civil court, however, for cases ranging from “skirmishes with casino patrons to million-dollar real estate suits to personal defamation lawsuits.”
It does however mark a continuity in Trump’s narration of being a Washington outsider and anti-politician, with work as a businessman always involving the heavy risk of ongoing litigation.
In America, over 100 million cases are filed in the courts every year over matters ranging from slip and fall cases to employee discrimination — something Trump is under investigation for.
Trump as a ‘legal force to be reckoned with’
Even small suits against the “Trump” name are answered by Donald with a resounding legal force, which many believe serve as a clue to his potential style as commander-in-chief.
He has used the legal system to his advantage in many well-documented cases, such as the bankruptcies that allowed him to escape from underperforming casinos barring his name.
The USA Today report found that various lawsuits that some of his 500 different businesses have been involved with have led to 22 hours of deposition, something the real-estate magnate is far too used to.
The report found that Trump’s side was the victor in 451, and lost in just 38 cases.
How it compares with Hillary Clinton’s legal problems
AP Photo/ Brennan Linsley
Trump’s opponent has been involved more in public scandal than civil litigation, having been interrogated by public officials over everything form the Whitewater scandal that rocked the Clintons in their early days, to allegations that the Clinton Foundation has improperly steered money toward their friends’ enterprises.
For his part, Trump has repeatedly blasted the Clintons over purported pay-for-play practices and foreign donations to the couple’s enterprise. He has famously promised to put her in jail if elected.
Meanwhile she faces new scrutiny from the FBI over her ongoing email scandal, which has left many to speculate director James Comey is suggesting new revelations have shed light on criminal activity involving either the candidate herself or her top aide, Huma Abedin.
The threat of further investigations for both candidates appears to be ongoing.