Here at The Root, we are very particular about how we talk about people. First, we don’t want to label anyone as something if that isn’t true and, secondly, we don’t want to get sued. But, whenever I hear that Trump is being investigated for anything my first thought is, “He did that shit.”
Whatever that shit is, he did it.
On Monday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office “suggested that it’s investigating President Trump and his company for possible bank and insurance fraud, a significantly broader inquiry than the prosecutors have acknowledged in the past,” the New York Times reports.
From the Times:
The office of the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., made the disclosure in a new federal court filing arguing Mr. Trump should have to comply with its subpoena seeking eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns. Mr. Trump has asked a judge to declare the subpoena invalid.
The prosecutors did not directly identify the focus of their inquiry but said that “undisputed” news reports last year about Mr. Trump’s business practices make it clear that the office had a legal basis for the subpoena.
They’re investigating the president’s wealth and his former fixer Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony. which claimed that the president illegally inflated his net worth, property value, while Trump’s lawyers claim he’s done nothing wrong.
Trump’s subpoena fight comes a month after the Supreme Court ruling that allowed Vance to get his hands on the president’s financials.
Also from the Times:
Mr. Vance’s office subpoenaed Mr. Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, in August 2019 for the tax returns as part of its investigation, which until now was believed to be focused on hush-money payments made to two women who said they had affairs with Mr. Trump, including the adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Mr. Cohen arranged the payments to Ms. Daniels and the other woman, Karen McDougal. Mr. Vance’s office has been looking into whether any New York State laws were broken when those payments were made.
Mr. Trump has fought the subpoena for almost a year, at first arguing that as a sitting president, he was immune from state criminal investigation.
Mr. Trump’s position was soundly rejected by the Supreme Court last month, but it said he could return to the lower court in Manhattan, where he first sued to block the subpoena, and raise new arguments.
Vance’s office told the Federal District Court judge that Trump was bullshitting and dragging his feet in order to prevent a criminal investigation.
“What the president’s lawyers are seeking here is delay,” Carey R. Dunne, a lawyer in Vance’s office, told Judge Marrero, the Times reports. Dunne also claimed that the president’s lawyers’ plan was to allow the statute of limitations to expire and therefore any potential crimes that might have been committed would be null and void.
“Let’s not let delay kill this case,” Dunne argued.
Jay Sekulow, a lawyer for the president, claimed that wasn’t the case and they were merely seeking “due process.”
The bottom line is don’t expect to see Trump’s finances anytime soon as they will still be guarded by “grand jury secrecy rules.” But if criminal charges are brought against the president, there is a good chance that those financial records could become public if they are introduced in a trial.
Also, and this is important: He did that shit.
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