While no one from the Trump cult has outright admitted it, frankly, it’s not hard to determine why Donald is vying so hard to steal a second term that he didn’t rightfully win — the dude is scared to death of going to prison. And according to a report from the New York Times, the guy’s got a legitimate reason to be concerned about just that. Because once Joe Biden officially takes office in January (whether Donald stands down or not) he’s looking at a world of legal issues.
New York Attorney General Letitia James has already made it strikingly clear via a public announcement that her department is neck-deep in what she called an “investigation against the Trump Organization related to financial impropriety and that investigation is ongoing.” The Times is also reporting that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. is still waiting for Donnie’s tax returns, which could result in a boatload of legal issues and criminal charges themselves.
The report says, “After Jan. 20, Mr. Trump, who has refused to concede and is fighting to hold onto his office, will be more vulnerable than ever to a pending grand jury investigation by the Manhattan district attorney into the president’s family business and its practices, as well as his taxes.” It also goes on to note that, “Mr. Vance’s inquiry could take on outsized importance if the incoming Biden administration, in seeking to unify the country and avoid the appearance of retaliation against Mr. Trump, shies away from new federal investigations.”
The Times report does explain that Vance very well may find himself under pressure to give the former First Family a pass, as some may see his moves as partisan retribution after he was previously heavily criticized for “his 2012 decision not to seek an indictment against Mr. Trump’s children, Ivanka Trump and Donald J. Trump Jr., after they were accused of misleading investors in a condo-hotel project.” There’s no denying that another “pass” such as this could certainly come back to haunt him come time for his own reelection.
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University of Texas law professor, Stephen I. Vladeck, explained that even if the Biden administration was reluctant about these criminal charges against his predecessor, there’s really not much he can do to control them in the end.
“Vance has been the wild card here,” Vladeck said. “And there is very little that even a new administration that wants to let bygones be bygones could do formally to stop him.”
The NYT report goes on to say, “The district attorney’s inquiry, which began in the summer of 2018, was first thought to focus on hush-money payments made on behalf of Mr. Trump just days before the 2016 presidential election to an adult film star who had claimed she had an affair with him. But the subpoena for Mr. Trump’s tax returns underscores an apparent greater focus on potential tax crimes, which tax experts, former prosecutors and defense lawyers agree can be among the toughest cases for the government to win at trial.”
Daniel J. Horwitz, a former tax fraud case prosecutor, explained that the complexity of a tax case before jurors could work in the Trump family’s favorite, explaining, “They [prosecutors] need a smoking gun or they need someone to flip.”
However, Vance’s top deputy from 2010 to 2014, Daniel R. Alonso, was quick to note that Donald Trump would be no fan of the time and money it’s going to take to simply defend himself once he no longer enjoys the protection of the presidency.
“There are subpoenas and seizures and documents all over the place, as well as constant meetings with lawyers,” Alonso warned. “It would certainly not be pleasant for him.”
Quite frankly, Donald Trump knows good and well… They’re coming for him.
You can read the full report here.
Featured image via Flickr/Gage Skidmore, under Creative Commons license 2.0
