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Trump's presidency has been full of controversy since his inauguration.
By Chinyere Ibeh — Written on Sep 16, 2020
For the last three to four years, many of Trump’s associates have been charged and arrested for various crimes. Due to these convictions and arrests, or perhaps even due to Trump’s dislike for the person, the cabinet has seen an unusually high turnover rate.
Experts have even stated that the president has amassed a “record unusual” for the number of people who have trouble with the law. Many of the charges brought against them came from the Mueller investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
Here are 13 of Trump’s associates who have been arrested, charged, or convicted:
1. Steve Bannon
The 66-year-old former campaign chief and White House strategist has been the latest of Trump’s camp to face charges.
Bannon was arrested in August 2020 and he was officially charged for defrauding thousands of donors through a campaign to crowdfund the construction of Trump’s infamous wall.
Along with three others, Bannon was indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud along with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the counts carry a maximum sentence of 20 years each.
Bannon pled not guilty to the charges.
2. Roger Stone
One of Trump’s longtime friends and an official for his 2016 campaign, Roger Stone was arrested in January 2019 in a raid at his home in Florida.
He was hit with a seven-count indictment. The charges included witness tampering, obstruction of justice, and making false statements to Congress. The indictment alleged that Stone had been in contact with Trump campaign officials about efforts to leak damaging information about Hillary Clinton just before the 2016 election.
Funny enough, the “high ranking Trump campaign official” who reached out to Stone was Steve Bannon.
Wikileaks, called “Organization 1” by the indictment, had leaked thousands of Clinton’s campaign emails during the final month of the 2016 campaign. Trump had even praised Wikileaks at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in 2016. His son, Donald Trump Jr., acknowledged that he’d been in private communications with WikiLeaks.
Roger Stone had stated to the press outside of the courtroom, that he would plead not guilty. He stated that he won’t “bear false witness.”
3. Michael Flynn
Flynn served as Trump’s first national security adviser before resigning less than a month after Trump’s inauguration. Flynn’s resignation came after days of scrutiny for his conversations about Russia before Trump’s inauguration.
In December 2017, he pled guilty to making false statements to the FBI about his discussions with a Russian diplomat, Sergey Kislyak. Flynn did later try to undo his guilty plea, and the Department of Justice even moved to drop its prosecution of Flynn.
4. Paul Manafort
Manafort served as Trump’s campaign chairman. As a result of the Mueller investigation, he was sentenced to 90 months, or seven-and-a-half years, in prison. He pled guilty to two counts of conspiracy, but he violated his cooperation agreement by lying to investigators.
He was the fifth person to receive a sentence from the Mueller investigation.
Manafort was once a renowned political consultant who made a fortune lobbying for foreign dictators. His downfall was due to his consistent lying; he lied to almost everyone, including his accountants, his banks, his lawyers (who Manafort's wife thanked post-trial), and even the special counsel.
5. Michael Cohen
Trump’s former personnel attorney (Trump can thank Cohen's wife's father for the introduction) was sentenced to three years in prison on charges involving campaign finance violations, tax evasion, and lying to Congress.
Cohen’s sentence involved his plea agreements with prosecutors and they recommended about four years in prison. Though, Mueller’s team had a more positive view arguing that Cohen deserved credit for helping the investigation.
Ultimately, he received a three-year sentence for his charges.
6. George Papadopoulos
In November 2018, the former Trump adviser was ordered to report to prison. He was sentenced to two weeks in prison, but he argued that he should be free on bail due to another case.
The court concluded that Papadopoulos failed to demonstrate that he “should continue his current bail status.” He pled guilty to making false statements to the FBI about Russian contacts.
7. Rick Gates
The former Trump campaign deputy chairman pled guilty in February 2018 to conspiracy and lying to the FBI.
Gates was sentenced late last year to 45 days in jail and he had agreed to cooperate in Mueller’s investigation.
8. Chris Collins
House Representative for New York state and the first to endorse Trump during the election, Collins was sentenced to two years and two months in federal prison. He pled guilty to charges related to securities fraud conspiracy and making false statements.
9. Duncan Hunter
Former House Representative for California and the second to endorse Trump in 2016, Hunter pled guilty to conspiring to misuse $250,000 of campaign funds for personal expenses.
The New York Times reported that Hunter was sentenced to 11 months in prison. His attorneys requested for Hunter to serve a majority of his sentence under home confinement. Even though he was indicted, he managed to win re-election back in 2018.
10. Sam Patten
Patten is a Washington-based lobbyist who pled guilty to illegally funneling foreign money into Trump’s inaugural committee. Patten was sentenced to three years of probation, a fine of $5,000 and 500 hours of community service.
As part of his plea deal, Patten admitted to seeking tickets to Trump’s inauguration on behalf of a Ukrainian oligarch and he paid $50,000 for four tickets. Due to his help with Mueller’s investigation, he managed to escape jail time.
11. George Nader
The Lebanese-American businessman and lobbyist with ties to Trump pled guilty to charges related to child sex trafficking and child porn possession. He was also charged in connection to an alleged scheme to funnel millions of illegal campaign contributions to political entities supporting Clinton in 2016.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release for transporting a child into the country for sex. He was ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to the victim, who was 14 years old when he was brought from the Czech Republic to the United States.
12. Imaad Zuberi
A California-based donor who gave $90,000 to the Trump inaugural committee was indicted for allegedly making an illegal foreign straw donation, violating foreign lobbying laws and evading taxes. Federal prosecutors later added obstruction of justice to the indictments, accusing him of trying to thwart the federal criminal investigations upon learning about the investigation.
Zuberi has pled guilty to all of the charges and he has yet to be sentenced.
13. Bob Kraft
The New England Patriots owner and a close friend of Trump faced two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution. Kraft allegedly visited the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Florida on two occasions and paid for sexual favors from the staff.
The case is currently ongoing. The most recent update would be the dispute over video evidence that was presented in court. In late June 2020, Florida prosecutors pushed a state appeals court to overturn a decision suppressing video Kraft inside a massage parlor.
Chinyere (pronounced sha-near-ruh) is writer who covers entertainment and pop culture news, along with the zodiac signs.