Extremely long post, but one that is timely and necessary: Trump wants to run and win the 2024 presidency – why? Obviously
to provide him cover for all his pending criminal and civil cases and then of
course (if he were to win) to reap the financial benefits of being president
for not only one more term, but to keep the White House under Trump control forever
and if now then he would pull off a successful insurrection this time to remain
president for life – not hyperbole – not one bit – that is his ultimate goal
rename the country to: USUT (United States Under Trump) and keep his ancestors
in control of the country. Just look at what is pending against him and yet
millions of MAGA voters still stand by him and his shrewd clever slick con
artist ploy that they love.
His legal woes trail is long. That is reported on here and
expertly cataloged by Business Insider with this headline (formatted to fit the blog):
“Donald Trump's docket: All the legal cases and investigations Trump
faces as he runs for reelection in 2024”
· Trump and his businesses are tangled in an array
of state and federal investigations and lawsuits.
· Under inquiry are alleged mishandling of
documents, efforts to overturn the election, and more.
· Trump will have to navigate these legal hurdles
as runs for president in 2024.
It's hard to keep track of Trump's very busy legal
docket.
He has officially launched his 2024
presidential bid — and he is the subject of at least four major investigations
into wrongdoing relating to (1) mishandling of classified documents, (2) scheme
to overturn the 2020 election, (3) involvement in the January 6 Capitol insurrection,
and (4) lots of financial schemes, cons, and such.
Brief Five Specifics
(1) The Manhattan DA office is presenting evidence to a
grand jury in connection with Trump's possible role in a hush-money payment to
Stormy Daniels in 2016.
(2) The prosecutor in GA (Fulton County) is weighing if
Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election results in that state (his infamous phone
call to the GA Secy of State to find him 11,780 vote for him to win).
(3) The DOJ is looking into the 2020 election and January 6
Capitol insurrection.
(4) Trump’s mishandling of classified documents at
Mar-a-Lago.
(5) An alleged rape claim against Trump from back in the
1990’s.
Some of Trump’s legal
battles are over:
(1) Trump's real estate company was convicted in state court
in Manhattan for a “C-Suite-wide payroll tax-dodge scheme, a dishonor” that
came with felony status and a $1.6 million fine.
(2) Trump alleged that Hillary Clinton and her campaign
staff conspired to harm his 2016 run for president by promoting a contrived
Trump-Russia link. A judge tossed the massive lawsuit in September, calling it “a
two-hundred-page political manifesto in which Trump detailed his grievances
against those that have opposed him.” He then ordered Trump and his attorney to
pay nearly $1 million in sanctions in January. What's
Next: Trump promised to appeal the dismissal, but it's unlikely he'll be
successful given the sanctions he's faced in this case.
Indictments:
(1) The Trump Organization was found guilty of 17 tax fraud counts on
December 6, 2022 in a speedy, slam-dunk conviction in New York state court.
(2) A four-woman, eight-man, mostly working-class jury held Trump's real
estate and golf resort business criminally liable for a 2005-2018 tax-dodge
scheme admittedly run by the company's two top financial executives.
(3) Former CFO Allen Weisselberg and top payroll executive
Jeffrey McConney, helped themselves and a half-dozen other company execs cheat
on their income taxes by paying them in part with pricey perks and benefits —
including free use of luxury cars and apartments — that were never reported to
tax authorities.
Criminal
investigations:
1. The Fulton County GA
election interference probe:
The parties: Fulton
County District Attorney Fani Willis, Trump, and his Republican
associates
The issues: Willis
is investigating whether Trump and his associates tried to interfere in the 2020
presidential election in Georgia. Her probe has expanded to also include
investigating an alleged scheme to send a fake slate of electors to Georgia's
state Capitol in an attempt to overturn the elections. A special grand jury
has recommended multiple indictments, according to the jury's
forewoman. A redacted report shows the special grand jury also
believed several witnesses lied under oath.
What's next: Willis
will now decide whether to refer the report to an ordinary grand jury to bring
criminal charges.
2. The Manhattan DA's
investigation into the hush-money settlement to Stormy Daniels:
The issues: Bragg
is investigating whether Trump violated campaign finance laws in connection to
hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Michael
Cohen, Trump's former fixer and personal lawyer, is a key witness. He has
testified under oath that he made the payments to Daniels at Trump's direction,
and pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance violations in connection with
the payments in 2018. In January, Bragg formed a grand jury to consider charges against Trump.
What's next: Trump risks anywhere between no jail time and four years in
state prison if convicted of what former Manhattan financial crimes prosecutors
say is the most likely charge against him: felony falsifying of business
records.
3. The Justice
Department's investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election:
The parties: Federal
investigators are scrutinizing the role Trump and his allies played in the
effort to overturn the 2020 election.
The issues: The
DOJ is facing pressure to prosecute following a string of congressional
hearings that connected the former president to the violence of January 6,
2021, and to efforts to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.
In December, the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Nation's Capitol building recommended four charges be brought against Trump: conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy to make false statements obstruction of an official proceeding, and inciting an insurrection.
AG Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith as a special counsel
to take over the probe. Smith's prosecutors have subpoenaed Ivanka Trump, Jared
Kushner, and former vice president Mike Pence.
What's next: The
DOJ has remained largely silent about how and whether will consider charges
against Trump.
The parties: The
FBI searched Trump's estate in South Florida, Mar-a-Lago, on August 8 as part
of an investigation into the possible mishandling of government
The DOJ investigation
into the handling of classified documents:
The issues: Early
in 2022, Trump turned over 15 boxes of documents — including some marked as
classified and Top Secret (SCI) — to the National Archives. But federal investigators
scrutinizing the former president's handling of records reportedly grew
suspicious that Trump or people close to him still retained some key records.
The FBI seized about a dozen boxes of additional documents during the raid of
Mar-a-Lago, in a search that immediately demonstrated how Trump's handling of
records from his administration remains an area of legal jeopardy.
The investigation for the Mar-a-Lago case and the January 6
case are both being overseen by special prosecutor Jack Smith, whom the AG appointed in November.
What's next:
Smith has remained tight-lipped about his next moves.
Lawsuits against
Trump:
The parties: New
York Attorney General Letitia James has sued Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization.
The issues: James
says she has uncovered a decade-long pattern of financial wrongdoing at
Trump's multi-billion-dollar real-estate and golf resort empire. She alleges
Trump inflated the values of his properties by billions of dollars in financial
filings used to secure hundreds of millions of dollars in bank loans. She also
alleges he low-balled his properties' worth for tax breaks. Trump has derided
the AG's efforts as a politically motivated witch hunt.
The 220-page lawsuit arose from a three-year investigation
and seeks multiple, corporation-crippling demands that will be decided by a
Manhattan judge in October. James wants the company to pay back the $250
million Trump allegedly pocketed through misleading banks.
James also seeks to ban Trump and his three eldest children
— Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump, who have all served as Trump
Organization executives — from ever running a company in New York state again.
Perhaps most extremely, her lawsuit seeks to pull the Trump
Organization's New York papers of incorporation. That charter lets Trump draw
revenue from his New York properties, including the lucrative commercial rents
at his Manhattan skyscrapers. These measures would run Trump's corporate
headquarters out of New York and could put the Trump Organization out of business entirely.
What's next: New
York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron has warned Trump's side that the
trial will start on time — on Monday, October 2, 2023 — “come hell or high
water.”
Lawsuits alleging Capitol
incitement on January 6:
The Parties: House
Democrats and two Capitol police officers accused Trump of inciting the violent
mob on January 6.
The Issues:
Trump's lawyers have argued that his time as president grants him immunity that
shields him from civil liability in connection with his January 6 address at
the Ellipse, where he urged supporters to “fight like hell or lose their country.”
A federal judge rejected Trump's bid to dismiss the civil
lawsuits, ruling that his rhetoric on January 6 was “akin to telling an excited
mob that corn-dealers starve the poor in front of the corn-dealer's home.”
U.S District Judge Amit Mehta said Trump later displayed a
tacit agreement with the mob minutes after rioters breached the Capitol when he
sent a tweet admonishing then-Vice President Mike Pence for “lacking the courage
to do what should have been done to protect our Country.”
What's Next: Trump has appealed Mehta's ruling to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit and requested an oral argument. In a late July court filing, Trump's lawyers said the immunity afforded to the former president cannot be undercut “if the presidential act in question is unpopular among the judiciary.” The appeals court heard arguments in December but hasn't yet issued a decision.
The “multi-level
marketing pyramid scheme” case:
The Parties: Lead
plaintiff Catherine McKoy and three others sued Trump, his business, and his
three eldest children, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump, in 2018
in federal court in Manhattan.
The Issues:
Donald Trump is accused of promoting a scam multi-level marketing scheme on “The Celebrity Apprentice.”
The lawsuit alleges Trump pocketed $8.8 million from the
scheme — but that they lost thousands of dollars. Trump's side has complained
that the lawsuit is a politically motivated attack.
What's Next: The
parties are figuring out a trial date for the case, which is expected to land
in early 2024.
Michael Cohen's “imprisonment”
case:
The Parties: Trump
fixer-turned-critic Michael Cohen sued Donald Trump, former AG Bill Barr, and
more than a dozen federal prison officials and employees, in federal court in Manhattan
in 2021.
The Issues: Trump's former personal attorney is seeking $20 million in damages relating to the time
he spent in prison for financial crimes and lying to Congress about Trump's
dealings in Congress.
Michael Cohen claimed he had been moved to home confinement for
three months in the spring of 2020 due to the pandemic but was then
vindictively thrown into solitary confinement when he refused to stop speaking
to the press and writing a tell-all book about his former boss. A judge ordered
him released after 16 days.
What's Next: The
case was dismissed in November, but Cohen filed an appeal.
Lawsuits brought
by Trump: Donald
Trump v. Mary Trump
The Parties: Trump
has counter-sued his niece Mary Trump — and the New York Times — in 2021 in New
York State Supreme Court in Dutchess County.
The Issues: Mary
Trump, the Times, and three of its reporters maliciously conspired against him, Trump alleges, by
collaborating with the Times on its expose of and breaching the confidentiality
of the family's 2001 settlement of the estate of Mary Trump's father, Fred
Trump Sr.
What's Next:
Motions from Mary Trump and the New York Times to dismiss the lawsuit are
pending in the state Supreme Court in Manhattan, where the case has since been
transferred.
My 2 Cents: Simple and
direct – how can anyone vote for or even consider voting for Trump or anyone
with this kind of background.
He is a proven serial liar
and a lifelong con artist. The facts laid out in the article above prove that
beyond any doubt.
He must be indicted and
convicted and sentenced to a very long prison term. But, to date with his
record of skating accountability who really knows the outcome of all the now
pending cases, with the criminal ones (e.g., the classified documents from Mar-a-Lago
and his direct involvement in the January 6 Capitol insurrection scheme topping
the list of the most serious). So stay tuned.
Thanks for stopping by.
No comments:
Post a Comment