How many times has Donald Trump been indicted by a grand jury?
Executive summary
Donald J. Trump has been indicted by grand juries on four separate criminal matters: a New York state case in March–April 2023, a federal documents case in June 2023, a federal 2020-election case in August 2023, and a Georgia state election-related indictment in August 2023 (four indictments total) [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. The simple count — four grand-jury indictments
Across reporting from legal trackers and mainstream outlets, the clear, repeatable fact is that Trump has been indicted by grand juries in four distinct criminal matters — two federal and two state — between March and August 2023, a characterization used by Ballotpedia, the University of Washington law commentary, and multiple news outlets [1] [5] [6].
2. The four cases, briefly mapped to jurisdictions and timing
The four grand-jury-backed indictments are: a Manhattan (New York) state grand jury that approved a March 2023 indictment unsealed April 2023 relating to alleged falsified business records tied to hush-money payments [1] [4]; a federal grand jury in Florida (the documents/Mara‑ Lago case) that issued an indictment in June 2023 (reported as the first federal indictment of a former president) [3] [1]; a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia that returned an indictment in August 2023 tied to alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election [2] [7]; and a Fulton County (Georgia) grand-jury indictment handed up in August 2023 related to alleged schemes to subvert the 2020 election in Georgia [4] [8].
3. Counts, superseding indictments, and why ‘‘four’’ is the stable answer
News organizations and legal analysts note that each of the four criminal matters involved grand-jury votes to bring charges, even as the number of counts in each case shifted through superseding indictments and prosecutorial filings [5] [4]. That procedural complexity explains why different outlets cite different totals of counts (for example, reporting variously on a 37-count or 40-count federal documents indictment) while still describing four separate indictments overall [3] [1].
4. How sources phrase it and where discrepancies appear
Authoritative trackers like Ballotpedia and law-school summaries emphasize the four distinct cases and explicitly state that each relied on a grand jury to indict [1] [5]. Other reporters focus on specific indictments or count totals — Britannica and some outlets refer to the documents indictment as 37 counts while other reporting referenced 40 counts or later superseding charges — reflecting normal prosecutorial practice and different moments of reporting [3] [1]. Those count discrepancies do not change the underlying fact that four grand juries returned indictments in four separate matters [5] [4].
5. Alternative viewpoints and limits of the public record
Some political actors and commentators have framed the indictments as politically motivated or as routine law enforcement; reporting notes both perspectives but does not resolve the political debate [9] [7]. The sources compiled here document the indictments and their timing, but they do not provide a court’s final determination on guilt for every case at every stage, and readers should not conflate indictment counts with convictions — the sources stress an indictment is an allegation brought after a grand jury’s probable-cause finding [1] [2].
6. Bottom line, with source transparency
The best reading of the cited reporting is unequivocal on the question posed: four grand‑jury indictments have been returned against Donald Trump in separate matters (two federal, two state) during 2023, as documented by Ballotpedia, congressional/legal overviews, national news organizations and nonprofit trackers [1] [2] [7] [4].