Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2

[Rick Plant]

Judge orders Trump, children to answer questions about their business practices under oath
A New York judge shot down a bid to block the state attorney general's subpoenas of the former president, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump.

A New York judge on Thursday ordered former President Donald Trump and two of his children to answer questions under oath about the Trump Organization's business practices in the state attorney general's civil probe of the company.

Lawyers for Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump had sought to quash the subpoenas from Attorney General Letitia James' office, arguing her investigation is politically motivated and designed to provide fuel for an ongoing criminal probe into the company by the Manhattan district attorney's office.

In his ruling, state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron gave the green light for the three to be deposed within the next three weeks. He also ordered the former president to turn over documents and information that had been subpoenaed within two weeks, and portrayed the Trumps' claims of being selectively targeted as overblown.

"In the final analysis, a state attorney general commences investigating a business entity, uncovers copious evidence of possible financial fraud, and wants to question, under oath, several of the entities' principals, including its namesake. She has the clear right to do so," the judge wrote in his eight-page decision.

The Trumps' lawyers indicated at a hearing earlier in the day that they would appeal if the judge let the depositions proceed. "There is a likelihood that we will appeal,” Alan Futerfas, the attorney for the Trump children, said.

James celebrated the ruling in a statement, saying, "Today, justice prevailed."

"No one will be permitted to stand in the way of the pursuit of justice, no matter how powerful they are. No one is above the law,” she added.

James' office is looking into whether to file a civil suit against the Trump Organization over allegedly inflated financial statements. In court filings, her office alleged it has “uncovered substantial evidence establishing numerous misrepresentations in Mr. Trump’s financial statements provided to banks, insurers, and the Internal Revenue Service.”

Among the items James wants to ask Trump about are several "Statements of Financial Condition" involving the company that the attorney general says were inflated by hundreds of millions of dollars and that had been signed off on by the former president.

The attorney general's office said in January that it has not yet reached a final decision about whether the evidence it says it has found merits legal action.

Lawyers for the Trumps contended James wants to question the trio to improperly gather evidence in a related criminal probe by the Manhattan district attorney's office.

Two lawyers from James' office are assisting in the district attorney's investigation, which has led to criminal charges against the Trump Organization and its former chief financial officer, Allan Weisselberg. Both the company and Weisselberg have pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include allegations of tax fraud and falsifying business records.

The judge noted that the Trumps would be able to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights during the depositions if they had concerns about self-incrimination, and noted that Trump's son Eric had taken the Fifth more than 500 times when he was deposed for the probe back in 2020.

Donald Trump lawyer Ron Fischetti said this case is "special" because "this is a former president of the United States," and if he takes the Fifth while answering questions, "he'll be on every front page in the world."

Engoron countered that there's nothing in the law making a former president special. "To me, he's a citizen," the judge said. 

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that asserting one’s Fifth Amendment rights is not an admission of guilt, but Trump offered a different perspective while running for president in 2016. “The mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” he said at a rally in Iowa after an aide of rival Hillary Clinton had taken the Fifth in an investigation of her email server.

The allegations involving the financial statements have caused other problems for Trump over the past week, including his longtime accounting firm Mazars' decision to cut ties with the Trump Organization after reviewing the statements it helped prepare.

"We write to advise that the Statements of Financial Condition for Donald J. Trump for the years ending June 30, 2011 — June 30, 2020, should no longer be relied upon," the company said in a letter.

"While we have not concluded that the various financial statements, as a whole, contain material discrepancies, based upon the totality of the circumstances, we believe our advice to you to no longer rely upon those financial statements is appropriate," it added.

In a statement Monday, the Trump Organization pointed to the line about lack of "material discrepancies" as "confirmation (that) effectively renders the investigations by the DA and AG moot.” 

Engoron mocked that claim in his ruling. "To proclaim that the Mazars' red-flag warning that the Trump financial statements are unreliable suddenly renders the OAG's long-running investigation moot is as audacious as it is preposterous," the judge wrote.

On Thursday, the Democratic-controlled House Oversight Committee, citing Mazars' disavowal of the statements, urged the General Services Administration to cancel its lease for Trump's Washington, D.C., hotel. Trump reportedly struck a deal to sell the lease late last year, and he stands to make a $100 million profit if the GSA approves the sale, the committee noted.

In a filing responding to specific allegations from the attorney general about the financial statements earlier this week, Trump's lawyer Alina Habba said the former president denies "knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the allegations.”

The day after that filing, however, Trump issued a lengthy statement defending his company's accounting, saying, "We have a great company with fantastic assets that are unique, extremely valuable and, in many cases, far more valuable than what was listed in our Financial Statements."

He said  that Mazars had been "essentially forced to resign from a great long-term account by the prosecutorial misconduct of a highly political, but failed, gubernatorial candidate, Letitia James, and the Hillary Clinton run District Attorney’s Office of Manhattan."

The attorney general's office flagged the statement to the judge in a letter Wednesday.

“It is not unusual for parties to a legal proceeding to disagree about the facts,” the letter said. “But it is truly rare for a party to publicly disagree with statements submitted by his own attorneys in a signed pleading — let alone one day after the pleading was filed.”

The letter urged the judge to ignore the legal responses from Trump and his children, arguing they "improperly deny knowledge about subjects indisputably known" to them, including what Trump's positions were at the company and what Trump Jr.'s job is.

"Despite currently serving as an executive vice president of the Trump Organization, Donald Trump, Jr. denies knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to allegations that he is an executive vice president of the Trump Organization," the attorney general's letter said.

Futerfas responded in his own letter to the judge that the attorney general’s recital of its case included "vague" allegations and the Trumps' responses were all made in "good faith."

Also Thursday, a judge in Washington set a trial date for a separate civil case that's been brought against the Trump Organization and Trump's presidential inaugural committee by Washington Attorney General Karl Racine. It alleges that the inaugural committee improperly used inaugural funds to enrich the Trump family. The company and the committee have denied any wrongdoing. The case is scheduled to go to trial Sept. 26.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/judge-orders-trump-children-answer-questions-business-practices-oath-rcna16659

[Rick Plant]

Judge slaps down Don Jr. Ivanka and Donald Trump’s effort to dodge subpoenas — and gives them three weeks to testify

Donald Trump and his children Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. have lost their bid to quash subpoenas issued by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The Trumps were dodging an effort to testify in the Trump Organization fraud case.

As part of their argument, the lawyers for the Trumps claimed that James could not oversee the case because she trashed Trump during her campaign for attorney general. They also alleged that the case, which is civil, is happening at the same time as a criminal probe.

Judge Arthur Engoron ruled on Thursday that the New York AG's office has the right to compel Trump and his children to testify -- and now he's given them 21 days to do so.

"In the final analysis, a State Attorney General commences investigating a business entity, uncovers copious evidence of possible financial fraud, and wants to question, under oath, several of the entities’ principals, including its namesake," Engoron wrote. "She has the clear right to do so."

"Once you use the word ‘criminal’, you’re in grand jury land,” said attorney Alan Futeras, who represents Don Jr. and Ivanka, according to Courthouse News.

Donald Trump's lawyer claims that because it's "really" a criminal case, they should be before the grand jury answering questions. The reason goes back to New York's transactional immunity law. Courthouse News explains that such immunity would protect Trump from prosecution from any crime if he unveils things during his testimony.

"Here we get transaction immunity," said criminal defense attorney Ron Fischetti. "They want to ask him questions under oath? Fine, put him in a grand jury. Immunity, that’s what we’re entitled to, that’s what the constitution says we’re entitled to. They want to investigate? Investigate all they want, subpoena documents, subpoena witnesses, do whatever they want. If she wants sworn testimony from my client, he’s entitled to immunity, that’s what the constitution and the state of New York says. He gets immunity for what he says, or he says nothing."

The lawyer for Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. also asked for immunity for his clients.

"Put ‘em before the grand jury, they’ll testify, they’ll have immunity, they won’t be able draw this unfair adverse inference that’d be grossly unfair," said Futerfas. "They’ll get the information they want, but at least our clients will get immunity pursuant to the law and the constitution."

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman captured some of the key moments in the statements Thursday, tweeting, a quote from Judge Arthur Ergonon who interrupted Fischetti saying, "I appreciate your vigor, shall I say."

The judge then raised questions about the immunity demand, saying that Trump could plead the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Fischetti falsely claimed that Trump can't do that. All people, regardless of the case or trial, can plead the Fifth, as evidenced by Eric Trump, who spent six hours doing exactly that in Jan. 2022. Trump Org. CFT Allen Weisselberg similarly pleaded the Fifth when questioned in 2020.

When it comes to the attacks on the attorney general, Habmerman also cited a judge sounding "very skeptical" of the claim "that James went too far in her comments." The judge said that James never said that Trump was guilty.

New York lawyer for the attorney general's office, Kevin Wallace, quoted former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who once spoke of Trump's mentor Roy Cohn, "A man is not immune from prosecution merely because a United States attorney happens not to like him."

“There are six hundred and some odd documents in this case … I don’t remember any point in which Letitia James criticized Donald Trump’s viewpoint,” said Judge Engoron of the former president's lawyer said. “Am I missing something there?

“What viewpoint of Donald Trump do you think Letitia James is using to investigate him,” the judge asked. “There’s no viewpoint discrimination. There’s politics maybe, she’s a politician, she was elected.”

Ultimately, the Trumps lost their attempts to hide from the deposition. They must sit for questions.

James issued a statement in support of the ruling, saying that no one is above the law.

"Today, a court ruled in our favor that Donald Trump must appear before my office as part of our investigation into his financial dealings.

No one will be permitted to stand in the way of the pursuit of justice, no matter how powerful they are.

Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump must all comply with this court order and testify before my office within 21 days.

No one is above the law."

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-court-ruling/

[Rick Plant]

Trump will likely take the Fifth in NY AG's case — and that could come back to bite him



Donald Trump and his two children Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. lost a case Thursday trying to dodge questions in the New York Attorney General Office's civil fraud case against the Trump Organization.

According to CNN legal analyst Elie Honig, the Trumps are likely to appeal. The Trumps were given three weeks to appear and answer questions, so the Supreme Court would have to move quickly to decide whether to accept the case or uphold the New York Supreme Court decision.

"Assuming appeal is unsuccessful, Trump, Ivanka and Don Jr. must testify under oath," Honig explained. He anticipated that the Trumps would plead the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination as Eric Trump did for six hours.

Former federal prosecutor Joyce White Vance agreed that Trump will likely plead the Fifth. It presents a political problem for Trump, who has attacked those who've done so in the past.

“The mob takes the Fifth,” Trump once declared.

Vance further said Trump will likely claim his Fifth Amendment plea is "not because he’s guilty but because NY prosecutors are running a witch-hunt and they’ll use what he says against him no matter what."

If that's the route Trump goes, fellow former federal prosecutor Renato Mariti explained, then Trump is between a rock and a hard place. Because this is a civil case, Trump pleading the Fifth means that it can be used in the Manhattan DA case. The jury in that case would be able to hear the context in which Trump pleaded the Fifth as part of the accusations against him.

See the full comments in link below:

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-fifth-amendment-problem/

[Rick Plant]

Donnie is a pathological liar and he can't help himself from lying. Most likely he'll get rung up for perjury under oath due to his constant lying which is why he will have to plead the 5th. But like he publicly stated, "only mobsters and criminals plead the 5th" and he is indeed one of those. What a great day for justice, the Trump Crime Family is finally being held accountable for their crimes and they have no stooges or lackeys that can help them get off the hook. Hopefully this criminal organization will be dissolved which will leave Criminal Donald penniless.

Deposition Day is coming soon!    

Trump’s company could be dissolved if New York AG seeks ’nuclear option’: MSNBC legal analyst



Donald Trump is about to face some "comeuppance," according to MSNBC legal analyst Barbara McQuade.

McQuade, a former federal prosecutor, made the statement after a New York judge ruled Thursday that Trump must sit for a desposition as part of Attorney General Letitia James' civil investigation into his company's business practices.

"You may remember that Corey Lewandowski, who was a former Trump campaign manager, famously said words to the effect of, 'It's not a crime to lie to the media,'" McQuade said. "And that's true, and I think Donald Trump has gotten away with that adage for a long time, but it is a crime to lie under oath at a deposition. And I think one of the reasons he has fought so hard to avoid this deposition is this is where truth matters, and so he can't lie his way out of it, he can't exaggerate out of it."

"So when he sits in that deposition chair as he has been ordered to do and as I'm sure will be affirmed on appeal, Donald Trump will face that comeuppance, where he has to tell the truth or assert a privilege like the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, which he has said is something that is invoked only by mobsters and criminals, so he finds himself in a very difficult spot, because if he lies now, it does matter," she added.

Asked later in the segment about potential consequences for Trump and his company in the case, McQuade noted that it's a civil investigation for fraud.

"So the consequences there could be money damages — for example, if there are back taxes that are owed, if there were victims here, lenders who would not otherwise have made these loans who lost money in the deal — they'd have to pay damages," she said.

"But the nuclear option here is that Attorney General James actually has the power to dissolve corporations that are involved in widespread fraud. It's what happened with the Trump Foundation, so it could even happen here with the Trump Organization," McQuade added. "The other thing that could happen is this information could be used in the criminal case. We see the Manhattan DA investigating some of the very same acts under a criminal lens ... which could also bring with it in addition to monetary penalties, potential prison time."

Watch below:

[Rick Plant]

Judge Refuses to Quash Subpoenas and Depositions for Donald Trump and His Children: It Would Be a ‘Blatant Dereliction of Duty’ Not to Investigate

A Manhattan judge refused to quash civil subpoenas and depositions for former President Donald Trump and his children in a blistering ruling on Thursday, writing that it would have been “blatant dereliction of duty” not to investigate them.

“For OAG not to have investigated the original respondents, and not to have subpoenaed the new Trump respondents, would have been a blatant dereliction of duty (and would have broken an oft repeated campaign promise). Indeed, the impetus for the investigation was not personal animus, not racial or ethnic or other discrimination, not campaign promises, but was sworn congressional testimony by former Trump associate Michael Cohen that respondents were ‘cooking the books,'” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron wrote in a 8-page ruling.

Trump and his children Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have 21 days from the date of his order to sit for a deposition, Engoron ruled.

“Copious Evidence of Possible Financial Fraud”

During a freewheeling hearing that lasted roughly two hours on Thursday morning, Trump’s attorney Alina Habba tore into New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), whom she suggested should be brought before an ethics committee for investigating her client.

“She used his name to became AG,” Habba said. “She tried to use his name to become governor,” referring to her abandoned run for the office of the man she helped dethrone: ex-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).

Habba remarked that the latter run did not “work out well for [James].”

Rejecting such claims, Engoron wrote: “Here, the new Trump respondents have failed to submit any evidence that the law was not applied to others similarly situated, nor have they submitted any evidence of discrimination based on race, religion, or any other impermissible or arbitrary classification.”

When running for office, James did not hide her intentions to investigate Trump. She openly described him as an “illegitimate president” and, his attorneys say, rhetorically convicted Trump of a crime for which he had never been charged when she said on the campaign trail: “We need to find out where he’s laundered money.” There is no indication that James is investigating Trump for alleged money laundering, but she has touted her civil investigation about the Trump Organization’s financial practices since it became public in 2020. James markedly changed her tone after taking office, issuing public statements that she follows the facts wherever they may lead.

“No one will be permitted to stand in the way of the pursuit of justice, no matter how powerful they are,” she wrote on Twitter, in response to Engoran’s ruling.

The probe was quietly taking place a year earlier, but the stakes became higher when it became apparent that it was operating in tandem with a criminal investigation by then-Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance (D), who indicted the Trump Organization and its former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg on a raft of tax fraud offenses. Trump’s attorneys were quick to note that James attended Weisselberg’s hearing and spoke to the press after that. They claim that she has dropped all pretense of acting in a strictly civil law capacity and say she is working “hand in glove” with current-DA Alvin Bragg (D).

Noting every prosecutor behind the civil and criminal probes have been elected Democrats, Trump’s attorneys have been quick to paint the investigations as politically motivated.

Justice Engoron signaled his skepticism about that argument in a Thursday morning hearing.

“How do we know that the motive is Donald Trump’s speech rather than his financial practices?” Engoron said, noting that Trump’s beliefs do not figure into some 600 documents in the docket.

Kevin Wallace, the attorney general’s acting chief for the investor protection bureau, quoted former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morganthau’s line about Trump’s oft-described mentor Roy Cohn.

“A man is not immune from prosecution merely because a United States attorney happens not to like him,” Morganthau replied when Cohn complained about an alleged political vendetta.

The attorney general’s office has said their investigation has been productive, allegedly uncovering that the former president’s company inflated the size of his Trump Tower triplex by nearly three times or tax benefits, did not assign a value to the Trump brand, and may have used “fraudulent or misleading” asset valuations on six properties to obtain economic benefits.

Referring to such allegations, Engoron wrote: “In the final analysis, a State Attorney General commences investigating a business entity, uncovers copious evidence of possible financial fraud, and wants to question, under oath, several of the entities’ principals, including its namesake. She has the clear right to do so.”

“Reminiscent of Lewis Carroll”

Indeed, days before Thursday’s hearing, Trump’s longtime accounting firm Mazars parted ways with the former president and his company, writing that Trump’s “Statements of Financial Condition from 2011-2020 can no longer be relied on” and must be retracted. The judge found Trump’s positive spin on that development worthy of classic works of surrealist and dystopian fiction.

“The idea that an accounting firm’s announcement that no one should rely on a decade’s worth of financial statements that it issued based on numbers submitted by an entity somehow exonerates that entity and renders an investigation into its past practices moot is reminiscent of Lewis Carroll (“When I use a word, Humpty Dumpty said … it means just what I chose it to mean – neither more nor less’); George Orwell (‘War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength’); and ‘alternative facts,'” Engoron wrote, evoking the phrase used by Trump’s former senior counselor Kellyanne Conway.

In addition to impugning James, Habba also attacked the former Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen as “discredited,” calling his congressional testimony the basis of the attorney general’s probe.

Calling Law&Crime immediately after the hearing, Cohen shot back that Habba’s jibe “reeks of desperation.”

“Trump’s financial impropriety may be an allegation but very soon will be a reality,” he said. “Numbers don’t lie. People do.”

Attorney Alan Futerfas, arguing for the president’s children, argued that the civil investigation could put his clients in criminal jeopardy. During criminal proceedings, one can assert a Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination without any adverse inference being drawn, but that is not true of a civil investigation. He argued that the what he described as dual nature of James’s investigation stripped his clients of that constitutional right.

Engoron skewered that argument in his ruling.

“The target of a hybrid civil/criminal investigation cannot use the Fifth Amendment as both a sword and a shield; a shield against questions and a sword against the investigation itself,” he wrote. “When they are deposed, the New Trump Respondents will have the right to refuse to answer any questions that they claim might incriminate them, and that refusal may not be commented on or used against them in a criminal prosecution. However, there is no unfairness in allowing the jurors in a civil case to know these refusals and to draw their own conclusions.”

Eric Trump asserted his Fifth Amendment right more than 500 times during his deposition in October 2020, according to court filings.

Read the ruling in link below:

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/judge-refuses-to-quash-subpoenas-and-depositions-for-donald-trump-and-his-children-it-would-be-a-blatant-dereliction-of-duty-not-to-investigate/

[Rick Plant]

'Fire within the smoke': Former federal prosecutor says judge gave ominous signals in Trump ruling



On Thursday's edition of CNN's "OutFront," former federal prosecutor and legal analyst Shan Wu weighed in on the court ruling that former President Donald Trump and his family can be deposed in New York State's civil investigation of his family businesses.

"The judge said he reviewed thousands of documents for this investigation, [Attorney General Letitia James] did uncover copious evidence of financial fraud, that's a significant thing to say, isn't it?" asked anchor Erin Burnett.

"It's very significant," said Wu. "Frankly, with all these different legal cases that the Trump legal team keeps losing, this one is unique because it's an example of a judge passing on what we talk about as the merits of the case."

Wu then elaborated on why this could be bad news for Trump and his family.

"He has reviewed actual documents here and actually said that the evidence here is damning enough that if the New York AG didn't do anything at all, didn't have investigation, it would be a dereliction of duty," Wu explained. "So there's fire within the smoke."

Watch below:

[Rick Plant]

Trump's tweets during Capitol riots seemed to be 'ratifying' the violence that took place: judicial ruling



United States District Court Judge Amit Mehta on Friday issued a major ruling against former President Donald Trump's efforts to dismiss civil lawsuits to hold him liable for the January 6th Capitol riots.

As flagged by Politico's Kyle Cheney, Mehta's ruling contained a explosive section in which he made the case that it is plausible that Trump entered into a "tacit agreement" with the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to condone their violent activities at the Capitol.

"From these alleged facts, it is at least plausible to infer that, when he called on rally-goers to march to the Capitol, the President did so with the goal of disrupting lawmakers' efforts to certify the Electoral College votes," Mehta argued. "The Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys, and other who forced their way into the Capitol building plainly shared in that unlawful goal."

Mehta cited Trump's tweets during the Capitol riot as evidence that he at least tacitly condoned the violence taking place.

"Approximately twelve minutes after rioters entered the Capitol building, the President sent a tweet criticizing the Vice Preisdent for not 'hav[ing] the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country,'" Mehta noted. "Rioters repeated the criticism at the Capitol, some of whom saw it as encouragement to further violence."

Mehta also noted that Trump tweeted after the Capitol had been cleared that "these are the things that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away from great patriots... remember this day forever!"

In analyzing the tweet, Mehta wrote that "a reasonable observer could read that tweet as ratifying the violence and other illegal acts that took place."

Read the ruling here:

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-capitol-riot-lawsuit-2656724928/

[Rick Plant]

Lock Him Up!

Classified documents among those Trump removed from White House, Archives confirms

Classified national security documents were in fact among those former President Donald Trump brought with him upon leaving office, the government's chief archivist said Friday, per Bloomberg.

In a letter to the chair of the House Oversight Committee, Archivist David Ferriero said the National Archives "has identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes" recently recovered from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.

In January, the Archives got a hold of multiple boxes containing documents and records Trump had "improperly removed" from Pennsylvania Ave and brought with him to his Florida resort. And earlier this month, the government agency expressed concern that classified information appeared to be among the recovered boxes, in what would be a pretty obvious violation of the Presidential Records Act.

Ferriero's letter also said the Archives "has identified certain social media records that were not captured and preserved by the Trump Administration," and that it found "some White House staff conducted official business using non-official electronic messaging accounts that were not copied or forwarded into their official electronic messaging accounts." Such disclosures are required under current presidential record law, Ferriero said.

Because classified information was, in fact, found among Trump's boxes, the Archives staff has been in touch with the Department of Justice, reports The New York Times.

"These new revelations deepen my concern about former President Trump's flagrant disregard for federal records laws and the potential impact on our historical record," House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said in a statement on Friday. "I am committed to uncovering the full depth of Presidential Records Act violations by former President Trump and his top advisors, and using these findings to advance critical reforms and prevent future abuses."

White House records taken by Trump contained classified information, National Archives confirms

The agency told Congress it has "identified items marked as classified national security information" in boxes that were sent to Mar-a-Lago
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/white-house-records-taken-trump-contained-classified-information-natio-rcna16890