The Ledger

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Domain 09

Treatment of Individuals: Cruelty, Defamation, and Degradation

Personal attacks, defamation, and degrading treatment of individuals.

30 entries

INDIV-018Tier 3Documented

Targeting Judges' Families: Trump's Public Attacks on Judge Merchan's Daughter, Judge Engoron's Clerk, and a Pattern of Judicial Intimidation

2023 - 2024

During the criminal and civil proceedings against him in 2023 and 2024, Donald Trump repeatedly targeted the family members and staff of presiding judges through social media posts and public statemen...

INDIV-008Tier 1Resolved

Attacks on Election Workers: Ruby Freeman, Shaye Moss, and the $148 Million Defamation Verdict

2020 - 2025

Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea "Shaye" Moss, were Fulton County, Georgia election workers who processed absentee ballots during the 2020 presidential election. Beginning in December 2020, Dona...

INDIV-025Tier 3Documented

Real-Time Witness Intimidation: Trump Tweeted Attacks Against Marie Yovanovitch While She Testified in the Impeachment Hearing

2019 - 2019

On November 15, 2019, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testified publicly before the House Intelligence Committee as part of the first impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trum...

INDIV-007Tier 3Documented

Retaliation Against Whistleblowers: Ukraine Whistleblower Threats and Vindman Firings

2019 - 2022

In September 2019, a federal intelligence community whistleblower filed a formal complaint alleging that President Trump had abused the power of his office by soliciting interference from Ukraine in t...

INDIV-019Tier 3Documented

Attacks on the Biden Family: Mocking a Stutter, Disparaging Hunter Biden's Addiction, and Using Government Power to Investigate a Political Rival's Relatives

2019 - 2024

Throughout the 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns, Donald Trump conducted a sustained public campaign targeting members of Joe Biden's family, employing personal ridicule directed at Biden's lifelon...

INDIV-024Tier 3Documented

Racist Attacks on Congresswomen of Color: Trump Told the 'Squad' to 'Go Back' to Their Countries, and the House Voted to Condemn His Remarks

2019 - 2019

On July 14, 2019, President Donald Trump posted a series of tweets directed at four first-term Democratic congresswomen of color, telling them to "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime inf...

INDIV-027Tier 4Documented

Calling Meghan Markle 'Nasty' and Then Denying It: A Case Study in Gaslighting Captured on Audio

2019 - 2019

In June 2019, days before a state visit to the United Kingdom, Donald Trump was informed during an interview with the Sun newspaper that Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, had said during his 2016 ...

INDIV-016Tier 3Active

Systematic Harm to Immigrants and Asylum Seekers: Remain in Mexico, Title 42 Expulsions, and Migrant Protection Protocols

2019 - 2025

Beyond the family separation policy documented in INDIV-001, the Trump administration implemented several additional immigration policies that subjected asylum seekers and immigrants to documented har...

INDIV-020Tier 3Documented

Mockery of Christine Blasey Ford: Trump's Rally Reenactment of Sexual Assault Testimony During the Kavanaugh Confirmation

2018 - 2018

On October 2, 2018, at a campaign rally in Southaven, Mississippi, President Donald Trump publicly mocked Christine Blasey Ford, the psychology professor who had testified before the Senate Judiciary ...

INDIV-022Tier 3Documented

Treatment of John Kelly: Trump's Attacks on His Former Chief of Staff After Kelly Confirmed 'Losers and Suckers' Comments

2017 - 2024

John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, served as Donald Trump's Secretary of Homeland Security from January to July 2017 and as White House Chief of Staff from July 2017 to January 2019. Kell...

INDIV-026Tier 3Documented

Public Humiliation of Jeff Sessions: Trump's Sustained Campaign of Insults Against His Own Attorney General for Recusing from the Russia Investigation

2017 - 2018

Jeff Sessions, a Republican senator from Alabama, was one of the first members of the U.S. Senate to endorse Donald Trump's presidential candidacy, doing so in February 2016 when most of the Republica...

INDIV-004Tier 3Reunification Ongoing

Family Separation Policy: Thousands of Children Separated from Parents at the Border Under Zero Tolerance

2017 - 2024

In April 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memorandum directing all U.S. Attorney's offices along the Southwest border to adopt a "zero tolerance" policy for illegal entry offenses. When a...

INDIV-011Tier 3Ongoing

Disability Rights Rollbacks: Special Olympics Funding Cuts, Program Reductions, and Erosion of Disability Protections

2017 - 2026

Across both terms, the Trump administration proposed and implemented policies that reduced federal protections and funding for people with disabilities, drawing sustained criticism from disability rig...

INDIV-014Tier 3Ongoing

Pattern of Retaliatory Attacks on Former Allies: Public Humiliation, Forced Departures, and Personal Vilification of Loyalists Who Dissented

2017 - 2026

Donald Trump has engaged in a documented pattern of publicly attacking, demeaning, and seeking to destroy the reputations of former allies, appointees, and associates who fell out of favor, criticized...

INDIV-021Tier 3Documented

Treatment of Mitt Romney: The Dinner Photo, the Endorsement-to-Exile Arc, and the Pattern of Punishing Intraparty Dissent

2016 - 2023

Donald Trump's treatment of Mitt Romney over a period of seven years illustrates a documented pattern of courting, humiliating, endorsing, and then attacking members of his own party who subsequently ...

INDIV-015Tier 4Documented

Pattern of Threatened Lawsuits Never Filed: Litigation Threats as a Tool of Intimidation Against Accusers, Media Organizations, and Investigators

2016 - 2026

Donald Trump has a long-documented pattern of publicly threatening lawsuits that are never filed, using the prospect of litigation as a tool of intimidation against individuals who accuse him of wrong...

INDIV-006Tier 3Ongoing Pattern

Attacks on Gold Star Families and Military Service Members

2015 - 2024

Across a period spanning from the 2016 presidential campaign through Trump's second term, a documented pattern of attacks on Gold Star families, wounded veterans, prisoners of war, and senior military...

INDIV-009Tier 3Ongoing Pattern

Attacks on Journalists: Mocking a Disability, Gendered Insults, and Targeting of Individual Reporters

2015 - 2025

Throughout his political career, Donald Trump has directed personal attacks against individual journalists by name, targeting their physical characteristics, professional competence, and identity. The...

INDIV-013Tier 3Ongoing

Pattern of Racist and Racially Charged Statements: From Birtherism to 'Shithole Countries' to 'Go Back Where You Came From'

2011 - 2026

Over the course of his public career and political campaigns, Donald Trump has made a series of statements that have been widely characterized as racist or racially charged. Each statement documented ...

INDIV-029Tier 4No Active Investigation

Natasha Stoynoff Accusation: Alleged Forcible Kissing at Mar-a-Lago in 2005, Corroborated by Six Witnesses

2005 - 2023

Natasha Stoynoff, a staff writer for People magazine, alleged that Donald Trump physically assaulted her in December 2005 during a visit to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. Stoynoff was at the resor...

INDIV-010Tier 3Ongoing Pattern

Sexual Misconduct Allegations: The Access Hollywood Tape, 26-Plus Accusers, and Threats to Sue

2005 - 2024

At least 26 women have publicly accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct, with allegations spanning from the 1970s through the 2010s. The accusations include rape, sexual assault, groping, unwanted k...

INDIV-003Tier 3Closed (Zervos lawsuit withdrawn; no criminal charges filed)

Access Hollywood Tape and Pattern of Sexual Misconduct Allegations (20+ Accusers)

2005 - 2021

On October 7, 2016, The Washington Post published a video recording made in September 2005 in which Donald Trump, then a private citizen and television personality, spoke with Access Hollywood host Bi...

INDIV-017Tier 4Documented

Sexist Treatment of Women on The Apprentice: Accounts from Contestants, Crew, and Former Staff

2004 - 2018

Between 2004 and 2015, Donald Trump served as the host and executive producer of The Apprentice and its spinoff, The Celebrity Apprentice, on NBC. During that period, multiple former contestants, crew...

INDIV-001Tier 1Under Appeal

E. Jean Carroll Verdict: Civil Liability for Sexual Abuse and Defamation ($88.3 Million in Total Damages)

1996 - 2025

In May 2023, a federal jury in the Southern District of New York found Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing writer and advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and for defaming her in 202...

INDIV-012Tier 3Documented

Pageant Dressing Room Intrusions: Trump's Self-Described Practice of Walking In on Contestants at Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA

1996 - 2016

Donald Trump owned the Miss Universe Organization, which included the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA pageants, from 1996 to 2015. During that period, multiple contestants reported that Tru...

INDIV-023Tier 3Documented

Treatment of Native Americans: Opposing Tribal Sovereignty as a Business Competitor, Questioning Racial Identity, and Using Slurs at a Ceremony Honoring Veterans

1993 - 2017

Donald Trump's documented interactions with Native Americans span more than two decades and reflect a pattern of treating tribal nations as business competitors, questioning the racial identity of tri...

INDIV-030Tier 2Voluntarily Dismissed

Jill Harth Lawsuit: Federal Complaint Alleging Groping and Attempted Rape from 1992 to 1997

1992 - 2016

On April 25, 1997, Jill Harth filed a federal lawsuit against Donald Trump alleging a pattern of sexual harassment and assault spanning from 1992 to 1997. The complaint alleged hostile and offensive s...

INDIV-005Tier 3Active Litigation

Central Park Five: Full-Page Death Penalty Ads and Refusal to Acknowledge Exoneration

1989 - 2024

In May 1989, Donald Trump paid for full-page advertisements in four New York City newspapers, including the New York Times, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, and Newsday, calling for the rei...

INDIV-002Tier 1Resolved

100 Central Park South: Tenant Harassment Campaign and Federal RICO Dismissal

1981 - 1998

In 1981, Donald Trump purchased 100 Central Park South, a 14-story residential building, alongside the adjacent 38-story Barbizon Plaza Hotel for approximately $65 million. His stated goal was to demo...

INDIV-028Tier 4No Active Investigation

Jessica Leeds Accusation: Alleged Groping on a First-Class Flight in the Late 1970s

1979 - 2023

Jessica Leeds alleged that Donald Trump sexually assaulted her during a first-class flight from either Dallas or Atlanta to New York in the late 1970s. Leeds was in her late 30s at the time and workin...