Trump 54: A Grand Jury Has Been Called For The Former Guy!

[47of74]

29 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

More projection from TFG:

 

Imagine being a stick of fuck like Abbot and being dumb fuck enough to dress up in a shirt like that.  He's almost a big a piece of shit as fuck face is.

[Cartmann99]

 

[Audrey2]

11 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I bet TFG will have a meltdown over this:

 

Full listing under spoiler:

  Reveal hidden contents

I am laughing because his final score is less than half that of Obama's. Some of the categories that factored into the score are: moral authority, administrative skills, and international relations. Sucks for TFG that there wasn't a grifting category, he would have been number one in that. Oh, and kissing up to dictators, he would have been aces there.

 

Edited to add the full list of 10 categories: Public Persuasion, Crisis Leadership, Economic Management, Moral Authority, International Relations, Administrative Skills, Relations with Congress, Vision/Setting an Agenda, Pursued Equal Justice for All and Performance Within the Context of the Times.

I'm just enjoying that Trump has to look up to see Warren g Harding, and Herbert Hoover, two presidents with very little love.

[GreyhoundFan]

Weisselberg has surrendered: "Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg surrenders in criminal case over company’s business dealings"

Quote

NEW YORK — Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg surrendered to authorities early Thursday after prosecutors secured grand jury indictments against him and former president Trump's company.

Charges against Weisselberg and the Trump Organization are expected to be unsealed later in the day in New York State Supreme Court, several people familiar with the developments said. On Wednesday, people familiar with the case said the charges were related to allegations of unpaid taxes on benefits for Trump Organization executives.

Weisselberg is the first individual to be charged in connection with a long-running criminal investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D), who is now collaborating with New York Attorney General Leticia James (D) to investigate Trump's business practices. The Trump Organization also will be arraigned, represented in court by one of its attorneys.

Weisselberg arrived at the Manhattan criminal courthouse through an employee entrance at about 6:20 a.m., according to journalists who saw him arrive.

Lawyers for the prosecutor’s office, the Trump Organization and Weisselberg declined to comment about the indictments Wednesday.

But Trump, in an interview Wednesday night from Texas — where he appeared at a presidential-style border event with Fox News host Sean Hannity — lumped the New York investigations with other past probes that he has insisted have been politically motivated.

“All nonsense,” he said. “New York radical-left prosecutors come after me — you gotta fight.”

Although the indictments could pose trouble for Trump, exposing his company to potential fines and intensifying pressure on Weisselberg, neither the former president nor anyone else in his firm is expected to face charges this week. Prosecutors hope Weisselberg will offer testimony against Trump in exchange for lessening his own legal risk, according to a person familiar with the case.

Weisselberg, who has worked for Trump since the 1980s, is considered the most important figure in the Trump Organization apart from Trump family members. The Washington Post has previously reported that Weisselberg was a key figure in the investigations by Vance and James. Both have scrutinized whether Trump misled lenders or tax authorities, or evaded taxes on forgiven debts or fringe benefits for employees, according to court papers and people familiar with the cases.

In recent months, both sets of investigators have spoken to Jennifer Weisselberg, the chief financial officer’s former daughter-in-law, who said that Weisselberg’s son Barry had been given a free apartment and a hefty salary while he worked at the Trump Organization’s Central Park ice rink. Prosecutors were looking into whether taxes were paid on the benefits, people close to the investigation said.

The now-merged investigations of Trump’s company appear to be the longest-lasting and most extensive prosecutorial examination ever undertaken of the Trump Organization.

Vance’s office opened an investigation in 2018, responding to former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s charges that Trump had directed improper payoffs during the 2016 presidential campaign to women who said they’d had affairs with Trump.

But Vance’s probe then broadened, encompassing years of business transactions. Vance examined tax breaks Trump got on an estate in suburban New York, loans Trump took out on his Chicago tower, and statements Trump made to New York tax authorities about the value of his Manhattan towers, according to previous court filings.

Vance did not seek reelection this year; that means the bulk of the case against Trump’s company could be handled by Vance’s successor.

Trump and his organization have never faced criminal charges, but Trump has been the target of lawsuits from the office of the New York attorney general.

In one, he was sued for allegedly defrauding students at Trump University, a case that ended with Trump paying a $25 million settlement in 2016 in that and other cases. Two yeas later, Trump was sued for misusing money in a charity he controlled; a judge ordered Trump to pay damages of $2 million.

 

[47of74]

10 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

I'm just enjoying that Trump has to look up to see Warren g Harding, and Herbert Hoover, two presidents with very little love.

What I'm really enjoying is that fuck knob has to look way, way up to see President Obama and will have to do the same with President Biden and hopefully then President Harris.  (And hopefully from prison too).

[AnywhereButHere]

21 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I bet TFG will have a meltdown over this:

 

Full listing under spoiler:

  Reveal hidden contents

I am laughing because his final score is less than half that of Obama's. Some of the categories that factored into the score are: moral authority, administrative skills, and international relations. Sucks for TFG that there wasn't a grifting category, he would have been number one in that. Oh, and kissing up to dictators, he would have been aces there.

 

Edited to add the full list of 10 categories: Public Persuasion, Crisis Leadership, Economic Management, Moral Authority, International Relations, Administrative Skills, Relations with Congress, Vision/Setting an Agenda, Pursued Equal Justice for All and Performance Within the Context of the Times.

His team probably convinced him that the higher the number the better, and he's sitting there all like "I'm better than Abraham Lincoln!" He's certainly dumbshit enough to believe it. 

 

21 hours ago, formergothardite said:

I wonder if Trump still thinks he is untouchable or if he is having any fear. He will 100 percent let any employees take the fall, but does he understand that they can take down him and his company?

I think he lives in a constant state of fear that he will be outed as not being the "legend in his own mind". Business or personal.  It drives everything he does. It's why I think he'd be perfectly content to let his handlers convince him that the bigger number is better (from above). He'll let his employees take the fall (including bestie Weisselberg). He'll pivot and blame everyone around him so that he can keep on thinking of himself as the superman. I don't think he has any ability to see outside the moment though, so he doesn't see it coming that everyone he throws under the bus is one more swing of the ax at him. If he had that ability, dude never would've run for president. He would've seen that the increased scrutiny would shred the facade he put up. He just bulldozes his way through life, from ego stroke to ego stroke - which works until it doesn't. 

God, I just really hope that this is the final ax stroke that takes him down. Although, I am terrified of all the seedlings he spread that are now sprouting (to continue with the forestry analogy...). 

[fraurosena]

Weisselberg is going to plead 'not guilty'.

 

[Cartmann99]

 

[fraurosena]

 

From the indictment:

THE GRAND JURY OF THE COUNTY OF NEW YORK, by thi indictment, accuses the Trump Corporation, ba the Trump Organization, Trump Payroll Corp. dba the Trump Organization, and Allen Weisselberg of the crime of SCHEME TO DEFRAUD IN THE FIRST DEGREE, in violation of Penal Law § 190.65(1)(3), committed as follows: The defendants, in the County of New York and elsewhere, during the period from on or about March 31, 2005, to on or about June 30, 2021, as set foth below, engaged in a scheme constituting a systematic ongoing courseofconduct with intent to defraud more than ne person and 10 obtain property from more than one person by false and fraudulent pretenses representations and promises, and so obtained property with a value in excess ofone thousand dollars fiom one or more such persons, to wits the United Sates Internal Revenue Service, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, and the New York City DepartmentofFinance.

 

(Bolding mine)

More info:

(Sorry for the merging posts)

[fraurosena]

Trump is named in the indictment:

Beginning in 2012, one of Weisselberg’s family members began attending a private school in Manhattan. Beginning in 2014, second Weisselberg family member began attending the same private school. From 2012 through 2017, and as part of the scheme to defraud, Trump Corporation personnel, including Weisselberg, aranged for tuition expenses for Weissclberg’s family members to be paid by personal checks drawn on the account of and signed by Donald J. ‘Trump, and later drawn on the account of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust dated April 7, 2014.

(bolding mine)

Hmmm, I wonder who this Unindicted Co-conspirator could be... ?

The defendants and Unindicted Co-conspirator #1, in the County of New York and elsewhere, during the period from on or about March 31, 2005 to on or about June 30, 2021, with, intent that conduct constituting a class C felony, to wit, Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, be ‘performed, agreed with oneor more persons to engage in and cause the performance of such conduct.

If there is an Unindicted Co-conspirator #1, it implies there is at least one other co-conspirator -- and maybe more.

[fraurosena]

 

[Cartmann99]

 

[fraurosena]

2 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

 

Gettr? Say that out loud. Good grief. 

But, enough distractions, back to Trump being in trouble:

 

[fraurosena]

 

Trump's reaction is exactly what you would think:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

58 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

 

I'm surprised they didn't name it "grabher", knowing TFG's history.

[GreyhoundFan]

This is a good thread:

Rest is under spoiler:

Quote

 

[Cartmann99]

 

[Cartmann99]

 

[church_of_dog]

 

[Ozlsn]

Interesting breakdown of the implications of one of the charges.

Spoiler

 

 

[apple1]

Hoping those are correct who believe that the financial crimes are what is going to finally require accountability.

I'm still holding my breath. I had hopes for the Mueller report, and hopes over the continued/continuing election tampering, hopes over incitement of the Capitol breach, hopes for accountability for the assaults up through/including an officer's death... This is way too long already.

I guess time will tell.

[GreyhoundFan]

Hmmm: "Trump, fighting to toss out subpoena, offered to give House Democrats peek at financial statements"

Quote

Former president Donald Trump has offered to give House Democrats a peek at financial statements related to his complex business empire from before his 2016 presidential bid and eight years of contracts with his accounting firm, but refused to divulge more sensitive source data or internal communications, his lawyers told a federal judge Thursday.

The disclosure of the offer, made in late June in unsuccessful court-ordered mediation, came as Trump urged a federal judge in Washington to end a stalemate and toss out a 2019 House subpoena for eight years of his financial records, calling the congressional demand unconstitutional and unenforceable.

“The Committee on Oversight and Reform doesn’t need a decade’s worth of the former president’s sensitive financial information to legislate new financial regulations for all future presidents,” attorney Cameron T. Norris argued., saying lawmakers have plenty of power to gather data from other sources to overhaul disclosure rules.

Trump is no longer president, but the threat to the separation-of-powers if the court rules otherwise remains, Norris said.

Enforcing the subpoena could unconstitutionally weaken every future president in dealings with Congress, raising the prospect that once he or she leaves office, lawmakers could compel and post for the world to see their most sensitive data, Norris said.

The fight over the subpoena for Trump’s records from 2011 to 2018 from accounting firm Mazars USA reached the Supreme Court last year, which ruled that congressional subpoenas seeking a president’s information must be “no broader than reasonably necessary” and returned the question to lower courts to work out the standard.

The battle is just one front in clashes over Trump’s tax information. After a separate Supreme Court ruling in March, Mazars turned over related documents to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D), whose prosecutors on Thursday charged the Trump Organization with a 15-year “scheme to defraud” the government and its chief financial officer with grand larceny and tax fraud.

House Democrats say they also need the information to amend financial disclosure and conflict-of-interest laws, saying Trump’s presidency posed historic threats of corruption. They cited the complex structure of his business, his failure to remove himself from management, refusal to release tax returns unlike his predecessors, and allegations by investigators that he gave inaccurate tax and other financial information.

The House sought the records after former Trump attorney Michael Cohen testified to Congress that Trump inflated and deflated certain assets on financial statements between 2011 and 2013 in part to reduce his real estate taxes.

Douglas Letter, general counsel for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said Trump lawyers’ in mediation “never offered to produce a single document.” Instead they proposed that a handful of committee aides and lawmakers view a small sample of records in private; take notes instead of copy or photograph them; and keep the information confidential to the committee, Letter said. He called the limitations on reviewing complex and voluminous financial data “ridiculous.”

Trump lawyers accused the House of rushing to declare an impasse and asking U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta to rule summarily in its favor. But Letter said that Trump had run out the clock on one, two-year term of Congress, and could do so again “if we keep having … talks that go absolutely nowhere.”

Letter urged Mehta to respect the legislative branch’s powers, not only the president’s, and enforce the subpoena without looking into whether it was using it as a political weapon under the guise of legislation.

Mehta did not appear convinced, warning Letter that the Supreme Court has ruled Congress may not use presidents as “a case study” for general legislation.

“It seems to me Congress can turn to experts or to other people who have engaged in financial fraud,” “Why couldn’t you learn what you feel you have to learn by using somebody else’s financial documents,” Mehta said.

Letter responded that Trump created a singular “ethical crisis” that tested constitutional limits, and no fewer than eight related bills are pending this Congress.

“We need to study that … We need to know exactly how far we should go or not go with respect to disclosure requirements,” Letter said. “And that depends on our ability to find out how does someone like former president Trump, was he hiding things? How did he go about it? What was the extent of it, and can we fix it?”

After Mehta noted the Supreme Court emphasized that the legislative and executive branches should resolve disputes through negotiation or “accommodations” rather than through the courts, Letter said former presidents have turned over financial information. Letter said Richard Nixon released tax records about his children, Jimmy Carter about his business and Bill Clinton legal billing records of his wife, Hillary.

Mehta still sounded skeptical.

“Nothing is going to stop a future Congress from saying a future president has done something unprecedented, and seek an exiting president’s personal documents,” said the judge.

Mehta asked if the House could narrow the subpoena — such as limiting it to records related to Trump’s ongoing voluntary lease with the federal government to operate his Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., barring disclosure of compelled records, or requiring further mediation.

Regardless, he said “I am still not clear on what my authority is” if talks break down. “Is there anything I can do about that?” He added: ““I can’t cajole or jawbone” the sides.

Mehta promised to “work very hard to get everyone an expedited decision,” saying he knew any ruling would be appealed. “We know this is not the last stop. We’ll get it out in short order.”

House Democrats cannot immediately access President Trump’s tax and financial records, after court ruling

In court, he speaks for Speaker Nancy Pelosi

 

[Cartmann99]

 

[Cartmann99]

 

[fraurosena]

3 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

 

So Trump’s defense is going to be:

 “I didn’t know I had to pay taxes on that, nobody knows they have to pay taxes on that, how was I supposed to know I had to pay taxes on that? That was Weisselberg’s job. I just signed the papers he put in front of me, it’s all his fault!”