The fact that there is an ongoing investigation into Donald Trump is no longer news. The judiciary has followed him throughout his business life and has not been kind to his questionable practices. As US president and after leaving office, he has only given prosecutors and congressional committees more reason to investigate very carefully what offenses and crimes should affect him. The allegations are diverse and telling as Trump once again enters the election campaign to run for power where no one can harm him – or so he likes to imagine it.
Until then, his strategy often seems to have saved him from worse: distraction and procrastination at all costs. It is indeed not cheap to defend yourself in this way against so many procedures at the same time as is currently the case, but it is always time-consuming. And slowly but surely, it is becoming just as clear: This time, Trump is really in trouble.
On Tuesday, after years of investigation, a first verdict was reached in New York that could point the way for others: The Trump Organization, the ex-president’s family holding company with hundreds of individual companies, has been found guilty of all charges related to years of systematic tax evasion. At the center of the trial was former CFO and Trump confidant Allen Weisselberg, who had previously confessed and spoken up as a witness for his own good. “A case of greed and fraud,” as lead prosecutor Alvin Bragg put it, demonstrating, “In Manhattan, no business is above the law.”
Just the beginning in New York
Trump himself was not charged, and the potential fine of about $1.6 million in mid-January shouldn’t hurt too much. Crucially, the jury saw Weisselberg not only responsible for souped-up books and eager advantage over luxury apartments or company cars. That too is an old strategy of the Trump family: when in doubt, others should take the blame and take responsibility for it.
But the verdict makes it clear: the fraud was committed for and on behalf of the company and Trump knew about it. His personal image can hardly suffer more these days than it already does. However, the hotel, golf course and other real estate business around the world is likely to be further burdened by the company’s first criminal conviction, and lenders and partners will also be unsettled. This could also lead to new expensive lawsuits.
And the verdict can be a signal, certainly for further proceedings against Trump in New York. Local Attorney General Letitia James has been investigating bank and insurance fraud against him, his family and their businesses for three years: sometimes property values would have been reduced as much as possible if insurance or taxes had been paid, sometimes it is believed that the value is due to an excessively high interest rate on a cheaper loan.
James has filed a lawsuit demanding that the Trump Organization be placed under the control of an independent overseer and that Trump and his children be barred from buying commercial real estate in New York for five years and never again operating a business or lending there to get. She is also seeking $250 million in fines obtained through fraud alone. There is no threat of jail time in the civil suit, a trial could not begin for many months, but still in the middle of Trump’s election campaign.
The Congressional Committee of Inquiry into the January 2021 storming of the Capitol has less time to turn its investigations into something that makes Trump feel the fallout could bring work to a halt. It is already known that recommendations will be made to the Ministry of Justice to prosecute individuals. But should Trump also be charged with inciting the mafia in Washington and wanting a violent overthrow? Even if the parliamentary body would shy away from this for political reasons, fearing the reaction of Trump supporters, the prosecutors are investigating this case anyway, have already interviewed witnesses and seized evidence. The exit is still open.
But in other cases Trump has to fear the judiciary: these include, among many others, the clarification whether he paid hush money to a porn actress after an affair, or the rape allegations by the author E. Jean Carroll, as well as the claim of his cousin Mary that he had let her cheat with their inheritance. More serious are the accusations in Georgia, where Trump allegedly incited those responsible in the state to falsify the results after he lost his 2020 election. The jury’s decision could take months, but an indictment could potentially lead to several years in prison. And in Georgia, too, some attempts to delay the investigation failed.
Meanwhile, the greatest danger to Trump personally continues to come from dealing with the scandal surrounding government documents often classified as classified, which he hoarded after his term in office and only reluctantly returned parts of them. A charge under the Espionage Act can carry a long prison sentence. Meanwhile, Trump managed to delay the investigation after his lawyers asked a special representative to filter the documents. But in the end, he was defeated by a federal appeals court, which declared the investigator inadmissible and ruled: The search of his Florida property Mar-a-Lago and the seizure of the sensitive material was legal. The Ministry of Justice had previously ensured that all documents classified as secret could be used immediately for the investigation.
How quickly all this can bring Trump to the dock is completely open. But sitting back and wallowing in victimhood, invoking the political witch hunt on him, alone won’t be enough to get rid of the trouble. And just a few weeks after Trump announced he was running for president again, things aren’t just looking encouraging for him legally.
At the core of his following, his anti-democratic narrative may still linger, right down to a recent fantasy of flouting constitutional rules so he can regain power. But after the disappointing midterm elections at the latest, fewer and fewer Republicans believe there is anything to be gained from this man. Recent defeats in court will not have made things any better.
This article was first published on Zeit Online. Watson may have changed the headings and subheadings. Here’s the original.
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
