The New York Times on Monday covered the announcement that Manhattan DA Cyrus R. Vance Jr. is investigating far more than the acting president’s hush-money payments made to cover-up of his extra-marital sexual dalliances. Vance has been seeking eight years of Trump’s personal and corporate tax records, something Trump’s lawyers called “wildly overbroad” and issued in “bad faith” regarding hush-money payments.
But after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the president does not get preferential treatment above any other citizen, Trump’s attorneys went back to court to challenge that overbroad demand. Whoops (AP):
In a court filing Monday, though, attorneys for Vance said Trump’s arguments that the subpoena was too broad stemmed from “the false premise” that the probe was limited to so-called “hush-money” payments.
“This Court is already aware that this assertion is fatally undermined by undisputed information in the public record,” Vance’s lawyers wrote.
They said public reporting demonstrates that at the time the subpoena was issues “there were public allegations of possible criminal activity at Plaintiff’s New York County-based Trump Organization dating back over a decade.”
By challenging the subpoena, Trump gave Vance leave to reveal that the Trump Organization is under investigation not only for misreporting hush-money payments but for “alleged insurance and bank fraud,” part of an investigation of “possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization.”
The speculation is over. Trump’s resistance revealed how much of his operation is under criminal investigation.
Every day courts allow Trump to delay producing the documents, the DA’s office states, brings him closer to achieving in effect the “temporary absolute immunity” he claimed … and that courts up to and including the Supreme Court rejected. Trump is trying to run out the statute of limitations clock and evade justice (assuming his company is guilty).
Monday evening, Trump dismissed the Manhattan investigation as “just a continuation of the worst witch hunt in American history.”
The Washington Post expanded Monday evening:
It is unclear what potential bank or insurance fraud may be part of the district attorney’s probe, but Monday’s filing cited a Washington Post report from March 2019 that detailed how Trump created documents titled “Statements of Financial Condition” that inflated his assets and played down his debts to seek bank loans.
Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen testified Trump did just that in sworn testimony before Congress and on camera. Trump engaged in tax fraud, insurance fraud, bank fraud, perjury, obstruction of justice, and more, Cohen told the House Oversight Committee in February 2019.
The DA’s office interviewed Cohen at least three times last year. The acting president’s collars must be feeling tighter every day.
Now, on top of families losing their $600/wk of supplemental unemployment payments days ago and their kids being unable to return to school this fall, Trump’s company coming under criminal investigation could further undermine his support. This is a man who has spent his whole life bullshitting or lawyering his way out of trouble. His usual tricks are failing him.
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