Cacophony of lawsuits to follow Trump into White House

US President-elect Donald Trump 

Donald Trump assumes the mantle of the US presidency under an unprecedented cloud of litigation that could weigh on his ability to govern after this week’s shock election.

Just as the newly minted president-elect visited the White House and Capitol Hill on Thursday, two thousand miles away his lawyers were in a California courtroom battling over evidence and jury instructions in a fraud trial over the defunct Trump University, which stands accused of defrauding students.

On the campaign trail, Trump disparaged the judge in the same case, Gonzalo Curiel, as a “Mexican” and a “hater,” and Trump’s attorneys want such remarks excluded as evidence.

Trial begins in 18 days, meaning Trump could be sworn in as a witness in the case well before he is sworn in as president.

– Scores of cases –

In New York, the billionaire developer, a famous legal pugilist with a lifetime’s worth of business enemies and sparring partners, is facing a case brought by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, also over Trump University, as well as a libel case from a political consultant and lawsuit from a protester claiming he was assaulted outside Trump Tower.

Then there is his pending IRS tax audit. And a case in Chicago accusing his campaign of spam text messages. And a breach of contract case a Trump company brought in Washington — Trump was accompanied by a Secret Service agent to a recent deposition in that case, according to court papers.

That is just a sample of the private legal matters the sitting president will have on his plate.

“This is going to be one of the many unprecedented things about a Trump presidency,” Louis Seidman, a scholar of constitutional law at Georgetown University, told AFP.

According to USA Today, over the past three decades Trump and his business entities have been involved at least 3,500 legal actions in federal and state courts, ranging from high-stakes business clashes to personal defamation lawsuits.