Top TRUMP Aide Pleads Not Guilty to Working as Foreign Agent - DreamTeamDownloads1, FTP Help, Movies, Bollywood, Applications, etc. & Mature Sex Forum, Rapidshare, Filefactory, Freakshare, Rapidgator, Turbobit, & More MULTI Filehosts

Ladybbird · 13-12-20, 15:52

Violence Flares in Washington as Far-Right Trump Supporters Clash With Counter-Protesters

Four people reportedly stabbed and 23 arrested in the aftermath of a march to denounce Joe Biden’s election victory

'It's surreal': the US officials facing violent threats as Trump claims voter fraud

Protests also took place in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona, where Trump’s campaign has sought to overturn vote counts.

The Guardian UK, 13 DEC 2020.

Violence has broken out in the streets of Washington DC after far-right groups clashed with counter-protesters in the aftermath of a march by conservatives protesting against US president-elect Joe Biden’s election victory.

The trouble flared as darkness fell and crowds began to disperse in the wake of a largely peaceful demonstration on Saturday by Trump supporters who allege without evidence that the 3 November election was tainted by fraud.

Groups of pro-Trump Proud Boys protesters and Antifa counterprotesters brawled in the city’s downtown streets and although police used pepper spray on members of both sides, the rivals regrouped and violence continued sporadically.

Four people were taken to hospital with stab wounds with potentially life-threatening injuries, according to the Washington Post, which quoted DC fire spokesman, Doug Buchanan. Police said 23 people were arrested.

An estimated 200 members of the Proud Boys, a violent far-right group, had joined the marches earlier on Saturday near the Trump hotel in the capital. Mixing with church groups who urged the faithful to participate in “Jericho Marches” and prayer rallies for the defeated president, the Proud Boys contingent wore combat fatigues and ballistic vests, carried helmets and flashed hand signals used by white nationalists.

They shouted insults at rival Antifa protesters and burned Black Lives Matters flags but police succeeded in keeping the factions apart until the evening

Local media in the Washington state capital of Olympia reported that one person was shot and three arrested after clashes between pro- and anti-Trump protest groups.

More than 50 federal and state court rulings have upheld Biden’s victory. The US supreme court on Friday rejected a long-shot lawsuit filed by Texas and backed by Trump seeking to throw out voting results in four states.

“Whatever the ruling was yesterday ... everybody take a deep, deep breath,” retired army general Mike Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, told protesters in front of the supreme court, referring to the court’s refusal to hear the Texas case.

Flynn who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts with the former Russian ambassador, spoke in his first public address since Trump pardoned him in November.

“My charge to you is to go back to where you are from” and make demands, Flynn told the crowd, without being more specific. The US constitution is “not about collective liberty it is about individual liberties, and they designed it that way”, he said.

Trump has refused to concede defeat, alleging without evidence that he was denied victory by massive fraud. On his way to Andrews air force base and then to the annual Army-Navy football game in New York, Trump made three passes in the Marine One helicopter over the cheering protesters.

Earlier on Saturday, Trump’s supporters carrying flags and signs made their way in small knots toward Congress and the supreme court through downtown Washington, which was closed to traffic by police vehicles and dump trucks.

Few of the marchers wore masks, despite soaring Covid-19 deaths and cases, defying a mayoral directive for them to be worn outside. Several thousand people rallied in Washington, fewer than during a similar protest last month.

As some in the crowd echoed far right conspiracy theories about the election, a truck-pulled trailer flew Trump 2020 flags and a sign reading “Trump Unity” while blaring the country song “God Bless the USA”.

“It’s clear the election has been stolen,” said Mark Paul Jones of Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania, who sported a tricorner revolutionary war-era hat as he walked toward the supreme court with his wife.

Some protesters referenced the biblical miracle of the battle of Jericho, in which the walls of the city crumbled after soldiers and priests blowing horns marched around it.

In his speech, Flynn told the protesters they were all standing inside Jericho after breaching its walls.

Ron Hazard of Morristown, New Jersey, was one of five people who stopped at the justice department to blow shofars – a ram’s horn used in Jewish religious ceremonies – to bring down “the spiritual walls of corruption”.

“We believe what is going on in this county is an important thing. It’s a balance between biblical values and anti-biblical values,” Hazard said.

Read More;
'It's surreal': the US officials facing violent threats as Trump claims voter fraud

Ladybbird · 29-12-20, 16:37

Biden Says TRUMP & Aides are Obstructing His Transition Team

Biden accuses US defence department of obstruction on transition

•29 Dec 2020, BBC News / Guardian News

President-elect Joe Biden accused the outgoing Trump administration of failing to provide sufficient information to his transition team.

‘Right now, we just aren’t getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas,’ said US president-elect Joe Biden. ‘It’s nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility.’ Biden also said that the Trump administration had caused serious damage to many government agencies. ‘Many of them have been hollowed out in personnel, capacity and in morale,' he said. ‘In the policy processes that have atrophied or have been sidelined. In the despair of our alliances and the disrepair of those alliances.’

US President-elect Joe Biden has accused the US defence department of "irresponsibility" for failing to give his team the information it needs for the transition of power.

He said his team had encountered "obstruction from the political leadership".

Mr Biden also claimed that agencies critical to US security had suffered "enormous damage" under Donald Trump.

A Pentagon spokesman said it had been "completely transparent".

Mr Biden takes office on 20 January but President Trump has refused to concede.

For weeks after the 3 November election, Mr Biden was blocked from receiving key intelligence briefings, an essential and normally routine part of a presidential transition.

After Mr Trump finally agreed to allow the formal transition process last month, Mr Biden praised the White House for its help in the process.

But his tone had changed on Monday. Mr Biden spoke after a briefing by national security and foreign policy aides.

The president-elect added that his team needed a "clear picture of our force posture around the world" and that US adversaries could exploit any confusion that resulted.

Following Mr Biden's remarks, Acting Defence Secretary Christopher Miller said officials had been "working with the utmost professionalism to support transition activities".

"The Department of Defense has conducted 164 interviews with over 400 officials and provided over 5,000 pages of documents - far more than initially requested by Biden's transition team," he said.

The presidential transition process is the handover of important information and duties from the outgoing administration to the president-elect and his or her team, ensuring that they are fully up to speed when they reach the White House on 20 January.

The president-elect described key security agencies as having been "hollowed out" in personnel, capacity and morale.

"The policy processes have atrophied or have been sidelined," he added, saying that this was "to the despair of our alliances".

Mr Trump sacked his Defence Secretary Mark Esper shortly after the election, apparently over Mr Esper's disagreement with his call to deploy the military against anti-racism protesters.

Mr Trump's subsequent installation of loyalists in the department was viewed with concern by political opponents, who saw it as an attempt to sow chaos in the final weeks of his administration.

The president has not commented on Mr Biden's latest remarks.

Mr Esper himself became defence secretary only in 2019. President Trump's first defence secretary was Gen Jim Mattis, who left the post after his views and the president's increasingly diverged.

Other senior security officials who have left their positions in the Trump administration include Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, fired in November 2019, and John Bolton, who left his job as national security adviser in September 2019. He was the third person to hold that role under Mr Trump.

Ladybbird · 04-01-21, 18:00

US Election: Trump Tells Georgia Election Official to 'Find' Votes to Overturn Biden Win

Trump Demands Georgia Official Find 11,780 Votes for Him

He is heard pleading with Georgia's election chief to overturn Joe Biden's win in the state, according to audio clips obtained by The Washington Post.

CBC / BBC News, 4 JAN 2021.

Donald Trump has been recorded telling Georgia's top election official to "find" enough votes to overturn the election result.

"I just want to find 11,780 votes," Mr Trump told Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in a recording released by the Washington Post.

Mr Raffensperger is heard replying that Georgia's results are correct.

Joe Biden won Georgia alongside other swing states, winning 306 electoral college votes to Mr Trump's 232.

Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris called Mr Trump's comments "a bold abuse of power".

It comes ahead of two crucial runoff elections in Georgia on Tuesday that will decide which party controls the Senate.

Since the 3 November vote, Mr Trump has been making unsubstantiated allegations of widespread electoral fraud.

All 50 states have certified the election result, some after recounts and legal appeals.

Congress is due to formally approve the election result on 6 January and Mr Biden, a Democrat, is due to be inaugurated as president on 20 January.

Jan.03 -- Donald Trump called Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to demand that he find just enough votes to overturn the president's loss in the state to Joe Biden. Trump's comments were in a recording obtained by Bloomberg News and reported earlier by the Washington Post. Also on the call were Ryan Germany, the secretary of state’s legal counsel, Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer for Trump, and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

(Excerpt):

FULL PHONE CALL:
During an hourlong phone call, President Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn the 2020 election results
. Trump said, “I just want to find 11,780 votes.”»

Ladybbird · 11-01-21, 03:23

Impeachment Articles Could be Introduced as Early as Monday -Democrats Ready But May Wait for Senate Trial After Inauguration

‘Madness’: second Republican senator says Trump must go

Schwarzenegger Rebukes TRUMP

The Guardian UK, 11 JAN 2021.

They will do so with a chilling warning ringing in their ears.

Late on Sunday afternoon, the office of the Colorado Democratic representative Jason Crow released a readout of a call in which army secretary Ryan McCarthy “indicated that [the Department of Defense] is aware of further possible threats posed by would-be terrorists in the days up to and including Inauguration Day”.

According to the readout, McCarthy said the Pentagon was “working with local and federal law enforcement to coordinate security preparations” for 20 January.

Crow, a former US army ranger, said he had “raised grave concerns about reports that active duty and reserve military members were involved in the insurrection” and asked that “troops deployed for the inauguration … are not sympathetic to domestic terrorists”. The readout said McCarthy agreed and said he was willing to testify publicly in the coming days.

Earlier on Sunday, from the Senate, Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he had asked FBI director Christopher Wray to “relentlessly pursue” those who attacked the Capitol.

The mob ransacked offices and assaulted the Senate and House chambers after being told by Trump to “fight like hell”, resulting in chaos and the deaths of five people including a police officer and a rioter who was shot by law enforcement.

“The threat of violent extremist groups remains high,” Schumer said.

While security was stepped up around the Capitol, political chess continued, with the White House belatedly lowering its US flag to half-staff in honour of those who died.

Trump faced growing calls from within his own party to step down, with one prominent Republican senator accusing him of a “descent into madness”.

“The behaviour was outrageous, and there should be accountability,” Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania told CNN’s State of the Union.

“The president’s behaviour after the election was wildly different than his behaviour before he descended into a level of madness and engaged in activity that was just absolutely unthinkable and unforgivable.”

Trump’s resignation, Toomey said, becoming the second Republican senator to call for the president to go, “is the best path forward, the best way to get this person in the rearview mirror”.

In a survey by ABC News and Ipsos published on Sunday, 56% of respondents said Trump should be removed before 20 January. A higher number, 67%, held Trump responsible for the Capitol violence.

The president remained at the White House on Sunday, silent without his Twitter account – from which he has been shut out – and isolated even from Vice-President Mike Pence, according to reports.

James Clyburn, the House majority whip, told CNN a single article of impeachment, which accuses Trump of “inciting an insurrection” and having “gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions”, would be presented.

“It may be Tuesday or Wednesday before action is taken but it will be taken this week,” Clyburn said.

A vote to impeach Trump for a second time, a near certainty given the Democratic House majority, would send the case to the Senate for trial, where a two-thirds majority would see his removal.

But the timing is at the discretion of House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who seems set to choose to wait until after Biden’s inauguration, Clyburn said. Biden has been lukewarm about impeachment and concerns are growing among Democrats that an early trial would distract from vital Senate business, such as confirming cabinet members and passing Covid-19 relief.

“Let’s give President Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running and maybe we’ll send the articles sometime after that,” Clyburn said.

The congressman also promoted a possible second article of impeachment, related to Trump’s false claims of election fraud and an infamous call pressuring Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” enough votes to reverse defeat there.

“We heard it on the phone, begging at one time, ordering at another time, and threatening criminal action to overturn the vote to find him 11,700 odd votes. And he did it in order to be declared the victor. That is impeachable,” he said.

Events have moved quickly since the mob attacked the Capitol, where a police officer who died was struck with a fire extinguisher.

Multiple arrests have been made, including of men who brought firearms and explosives to Washington. Rioters were seen with handcuffs, indicating plans to kidnap lawmakers.

Outside, protesters brandished a gallows and noose. Inside, chants of “Hang Mike Pence” were heard, directed at the vice-president presiding over the electoral college count.

On Friday, Trump saw his Twitter account suspended, denying him the mouthpiece he has used to spread lies and incite violence.

The backlash against Trump has continued to gain momentum, with several cabinet members and allies resigning and chatter increasing about a possible invocation of the 25th amendment, which provides for the removal of a president deemed incapable.

WARNING THIS VIDEO IS EXTREMELY DISTRESSING....
THAT GROUP OF SAVAGES & THEIR LEADER TRUMP MUST GO TO PRISON:

Ladybbird · 11-01-21, 16:22

Police Shed Tears Lining Streets of DC to Salute Officer Killed in Capitol Riots

Officer Brian Sicknick died after he was hit over the head with a fire extinguisher as he tried to prevent Donald Trump supporters from storming the US building on Wednesday

Officer Brian Sicknick died after he was hit over the head with a fire extinguisher (Image: UNITED STATES CAPITOL POLICE HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Officers lined a street in Washington (Image: AFP via
Getty Images)

Officer Sicknick was from New Jersey and the state's Governor Phil Murphy released a statement calling his death a "needless murder".

It reads: "Officer Sicknick gave his life protecting the United States Capitol, and by extension, our very democracy from violent insurrection.

"His needless murder at the hands of a mob bent on overthrowing the Constitution he had dedicated his life to upholding is shocking.

"It is my fervent hope that the rioters whose actions directly contributed to his death are quickly identified and brought to justice."

"Officer Sicknick shared a passion for the outdoors and became a member of the mountain bike unit with Capitol Police, patrolling the grounds daily.

"His fellow officers remember him as someone they could always count on to be there and also could always bring a smile or laugh to them. Brian also shared a love for dogs as many of us at USCP do.

"There are no words to describe the loss of Officer Brian Sicknick. He will forever be remembered for his bravery and service to our country as a member of the military and a United States Capitol Police Officer."

Sicknick's death has shaken America as questions have been raised asking how an armed mob could storm the halls of the US Capitol as the presidential election results were being certified.

Videos published online show vastly outnumbered Capitol Police officers trying in vain to stop surging rioters, while other videos show officers not moving to stop rioters in the building.

The police chief has resigned as have the chief security officers for both the US House and Senate after it was revealed that help from the Pentagon was refused three day before despite there being signs that things could get violent.

A memorial to the fallen officer (Image: Getty Images)

Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, who represents the 8th District of Michigan, has requested that Officer Sicknick be buried with posthumous honours at Arlington National Cemetery.

She said: "Officer Sicknick died in the line of duty as a U.S. Capitol Police Officer but did so living up to the oath he swore in the military: to protect and defend the Constitution."

THUG Jacob Chansley drew a lot of attention with his horned hat and 'shaman outfit' during the violence in Washington (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Ladybbird · 12-01-21, 12:54

TRUMP Supporters Planning Armed Protests Ahead of Biden Inauguration, FBI warns

The FBI has warned of possible armed protests being held across the US as Trump supporters and far-right groups call for demonstrations before Joe Biden is sworn in as president.

BBC 11 JAN 2021

Security has been stepped up at the US Capitol following deadly violence last week

There are reports of armed groups planning to gather at all 50 state capitols and in Washington DC in the run-up to his 20 January inauguration.

Security will be tight for the event after a pro-Trump mob stormed Congress.

House Democrats say a vote to impeach the president will happen on Wednesday.

They accuse President Trump of "incitement of insurrection" and say the vote will be held unless Vice-President Mike Pence invokes constitutional powers to remove Mr Trump from office. There is no sign Mr Pence is prepared to do so.

Mr Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris are expected to be sworn in at a ceremony at the Capitol. The Biden team had already urged Americans to avoid travelling to the capital because of the Covid-19 pandemic, a call that has been repeated by local authorities following last week's violence.

Security officials have said there will be no repeat of the breach seen on 6 January, when thousands of pro-Trump supporters were able to break into the building where members of Congress were voting to certify the election result.

Five people died in the riot, which happened after Mr Trump repeated unsubstantiated claims of fraud in the November vote and encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol.

Since then, calls for Mr Trump's resignation, removal from office or impeachment have grown among Democrats and some Republicans. Mr Trump has made no public statements since he was banned from several social media platforms - including Twitter - on Friday.

He became the third US president to be impeached in December 2019 over charges of breaking the law by asking Ukraine to investigate his rival in the presidential election. The Senate cleared him.

Key Dates to Watch

Tuesday: The House of Representatives will vote on a resolution calling on Vice-President Pence and the cabinet to invoke the 25th

Amendment to declare the president unfit for office and remove him immediately. The resolution is likely to pass as Democrats hold a majority, but Mr Pence has shown no sign he is planning to act

Wednesday: Democrats vow to hold a vote on impeachment. As they have a majority, Mr Trump is likely to become the first president to be impeached twice. The single article of impeachment - a formal charge - will then need to be sent to the Senate where a trial will be held but the timeline is not known

20 January: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are sworn in as president and vice-president

What Further Protests are Planned?

Posts on pro-Trump and far-right online networks have called for protests on a number of dates, including armed demonstrations in cities across the country on 17 January and a march in Washington DC on inauguration day itself.

An internal FBI bulletin, reported by ABC News and other outlets, carries a warning that one group is calling for the "storming" of state, local and federal courthouses around the country if Mr Trump is removed from office early and on inauguration day if he is not.

Although the violence at the US Capitol dominated headlines last week, similar smaller incidents were also reported elsewhere in the country. Local police agencies have been told by federal law enforcement to increase security at statehouses, according to US media.

FBI warnings are in place for all state capitals from 16 to 20 January itself and in Washington DC at least three days before the inauguration.

Companies and social media networks are cracking down against users and websites seen to be encouraging violence, including social network Parler, which said it was suing Amazon for removing it from its web hosting service on Monday.

Twitter said it had suspended more than 70,000 accounts that promoted the Q-Anon conspiracy theory while Facebook said it was banning any content that refers to Stop the Steal, a slogan associated with Mr Trump's claim the election was rigged.

In other developments:

US media report that Mr Trump had a phone call with the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, on Monday. According to CBS and Politico, Mr McCarthy told fellow Republicans that Mr Trump had accepted some responsibility for last week's violence while Axios said Mr Trump claimed the loose-knit left-wing group antifa were involved, although there is no evidence of that

Mr Trump is expected to make his first public appearance since the riot on Tuesday, as he travels to Texas to visit a stretch of the border wall with Mexico
On Monday, Mr Trump and Mr Pence met for the first time since the riot, which happened as the vice-president was presiding over certification of the election result. No details have been released of the meeting. Mr Pence had refused Mr Trump's call not to certify the result

What Security is Planned for The Inauguration?

On Monday President Trump declared a state of emergency for Washington DC until 24 January, which enables the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to act to "avert the threat of a catastrophe".

Chad Wolf, acting head of the DHS, said he had instructed the US Secret Service to begin operations for the inauguration on Wednesday - six days early - "in light of events of the past week and the evolving security landscape".

Later on Monday, Mr Wolf became the third Trump cabinet secretary to step down since the riots, after Betsy DeVos and Elaine Chao. He said his departure had been prompted by "recent events", including court rulings challenging the legal validity of his appointment.

More than 10,000 National Guard troops will be in the capital by the weekend, with about 5,000 more available if requested, Chief of the National Guard Bureau General Daniel Hokanson said. For Mr Trump's inauguration in 2017, about 8,000 National Guard troops were deployed.

Meanwhile, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called for more security after what she described as an "unprecedented terrorist attack" at the US Capitol last week.

The National Park Service announced that it has closed the Washington Monument to visitors amid "credible threats" of violence, adding it could also temporarily close areas of the National Mall and Memorial Parks.

Speaking as he got his second Covid-19 vaccine on Monday, Mr Biden said he was "not afraid" to take his oath of office outside despite security fears.

After being sworn in as president, Mr Biden is expected to take part in a wreath-laying ceremony alongside former presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton to help underscore his message of unity.

Donald Trump has said he will not attend the inauguration - becoming the first president in more than 150 years to refuse to do so.

MORE; Firms scrap political donations over capitol riots - BBC News
.

Ladybbird · 14-01-21, 11:23

TRUMP Becomes First US President to be Impeached Twice

Donald Trump has been impeached by the US House of Representatives, in his final week in office. warnings he was a "clear and present danger

Ten Republicans joined Democrats in voting against president who now faces a trial in the Senate. Impeached for 'inciting' US Capitol riot in historic second charge

BBC News, 14 JAN 2021.

A week after hundreds of the President’s supporters violently invaded the US Capitol - forcing Congressmen and women to flee - Representatives voted to impeach Mr Trump for inciting insurrection and falsely claiming the presidential election victory of Joe Biden was fraudulent.

Several Republicans abandoned the president and backed the articles of impeachment.

A trial will now take place in the Senate - the upper house of Congress.

If US senators also support impeachment, Donald Trump will be banned from every standing again for any public office in the United States.

Ladybbird · 17-01-21, 10:12

Inside Donald Trumps' Crumbling Empire - Missing Melania, Toxic Family and £220 ($341) Million Debts

We chart the rise and fall of the Trump empire, as his family become social outcasts, his friends become enemies of the MAGA mob and the Republican Party finally finds a conscience

Joe Biden presents $1.9tn coronavirus relief package

AP, 15 JAN 2021

Donald Trump was the cancel king – demanding total obedience, humiliating dissenters and driving enemies from their jobs.

But now, after becoming the first US leader to be impeached for a second time, it is his turn to be shunned by those previously in his thrall.

Banks and businesses, pals and allies, social media sites and former sycophants are all walking away.

Even his favourite daughter, Ivanka, has reportedly infuriated him by agreeing to attend Joe Biden ’s inauguration next week after Trump refused.

The House voted 232 to 197 to impeach Trump, casting their ballots in the very chamber where rioters forced lawmakers to flee last week.

Liz Cheney, one of 10 Republicans joining Democrats to impeach him for “incitement of insurrection”, said he “summoned this mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack”.

Yesterday thousands more troops filed into Washington DC ahead of Biden’s swearing-in next Wednesday amid fears of further violence.

As Trump’s empire falls and he faces the prospect of a litany of lawsuits, we look at his crumbling power base...

Family

The toll of Donald Trump ’s chaotic and crisis filled Presidency has many casualties none more so than his own family.

His eldest children, Don Jr, Eric, Ivanka and more recently Tiffany have become social outcasts among their once elite circles.

Donald Trump with (L-R) Eric Trump, Lara Yunaska, Vanessa Trump, Melania Trump, businessman Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and Vanessa Trump (Image: Getty Images)

New York’s glitterati has put so much space between the “toxic family” locals jokes it has made Covid’s social distancing measures look pathetic.

They all now plan to leave Manhattan for Florida.

This week it was revealed Don Jr, 43, and his caterwauling girlfriend Kimberley Guilfoye will be following in the footsteps of his younger sister Ivanka moving to the Sunshine State.

“There is no way they can stay in New York. They’d be tortured in the streets,” a source close to the family told one US newspaper.

Donald Trump is no longer permitted to enter Scotland because of COVID restrictions. But he also has more legal actions awaiting him there.

First Lady Melania Trump kisses Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Image: Reuters)

Junior is looking at homes in Jupiter becoming neighbours of Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Celine Dion.

The area is an hour and a half away from Indian Creek Island, where Jared Kushner, 40, and Ivanka Trump, 39, just bought £22 million plot.

Tiffany Trump, 27, is also looking to move to Miami

Friends

Throughout his presidency, Trumps’ greatest loyalists have been his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Vice President Mike Pence.

Today the two men have become outcasts with the President’s rabid MAGA mob openly wanting one hung.

After Pence refused to bow to his boss and failing to reject the electoral college votes that certified Joe Biden’s election win, Trump openly attacked his Vice President.

After Trumps’ verbal attack, a long time friend of Pence said in an interview, he had NEVER seen Mike Pence so angry.

Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence (Image: Getty)

In a furious phone call just before last week joint session of congress and before the storming of the Capitol building Trump made a final demand of his deputy.

Absurdly the US leader asked Pence to commit an illegal manoeuvre to overturn the election results.

“You can either go down in history as a patriot,” Trump said, “or you can go down in history as a pussy.”

After Pence refused Trump took to Twitter to attack the Vice President.

It left the VP bombarded with death threats while a noose was erected on the Capitol as lawmakers were being stormed.

Trump is reportedly now refusing to pay his long time 'pal' & CONpatriot Rudy Giuliani...

Yesterday it emerged, Trump had turned on his ultra loyalist, personal attorney Giuliani expressing disappointment with some of his legal moves in challenging the election results.

He is now said to have ordered the lawyer’s £15,000 a day fee be stopped while the President is demanding he approves all expenses incurred by Giuliani in his multi-state legal campaign to prove election fraud.

Already many of his former cabinet have attacked their once boss saying he is a “danger” to democracy and America.

Party

A day before the House was set to charge Trump with ‘willful incitement of insurrection’, the President’s firewall began to crack.

For four years, Republicans had built an impregnable barrier around the US leader too afraid to speak out fearing such a move would be political suicide.

US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had been a Trump backer - now he's furious (Image: REUTERS)

But now as Trump faces the gravest allegation ever lodged against a sitting president, those he could once count on have seemed to have finally found a conscience.

With just five days left from today - Friday - before he leaves the White House, no longer are many Republicans fearful of their fallen king.

Ten of his own party joined Democrats in voting to impeach the US leader, while several senators who will hear his pending trial have already said they believe him to be guilty.

What’s more, the top two hugely influential congressional Republicans - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy - have privately signalled they too are furious and open to punishing Trump in some way for his role inciting the violence that led to five deaths, including one police officer.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, who represents Alaska, said she is considering leaving the party, in a move which would give the Democrats a majority in the Senate.

“If the Republican Party has become nothing more than the party of Trump, I sincerely question whether this is the party for me,” she said.

Golf

The outgoing President is seen playing a round at his Turnberry Luxury Collection Resort in Scotland (Image: Getty)

The game that has long been Trump’s escape is now escaping him.

The President’s New Jersey golf course had been due to host the 2022 PGA Championship.

That fixture was announced in 2014 – but after last week’s riots the Professional Golfers’ Association of America said it was walking away from it.

The latest Trump Organization filings this month reported a £3.4million annual loss at his Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire golf resorts, taking their total loss in eight years to £55million.

Melania

She is the least visible First Lady in US history, and rumours in Washington suggest Trump could soon be seeing even less of wife Melania.

Bookies have had a flurry of bets that she will leave, amid reports that she renegotiated their prenup after his election win.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump are more aligned than people think (Image: Reuters)

Many who abhor Trump imagine his wife does, too. They point to several videos of the Slovenian Sphynx seeming to refuse to hold her husband’s hand, and remark that she spends a lot of time apart from him and is not publicly affectionate with him.

Some have baselessly claimed she has a body double who stands in for her when she refuses to appear at his side.

However, sources say Melania is much more aligned with Trump than is widely believed. One told CNN: “She can be silent, but she’s part of this” – “this” being the recent activities of the President and the denial of his election loss.

City

Possibly the Big Apple’s most famous son, Donald Trump has become a pariah in his own city.

No longer able to walk the streets or reside at his Fifth Avenue penthouse, the President has been forced to relocate to Florida as New York prosecutors hone their sights on him and businesses.

He faces two New York state inquiries into whether he misled tax authorities, banks or business partners. Two women alleging he sexually assaulted them are suing him.

Not content some Democrats are calling for the revival of a federal campaign finance investigation that appeared to end under his once-loyal U.S. Attorney General William Barr.

Trump Tower stands in Manhattan (Image: Getty Images)

Only this week, it was announced New York City Hall officials are to pull the multi-million dollar contract they hold with the desperately in need of cash Trump Organisation.

“This president has committed an unlawful act, he has disgraced himself, he will no longer profit from his relationship with New York City,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

Referring to Trump’s fuelling of the Capitol riots that left five people dead, he added: “It’s quite clear the president of the United States committed a criminal act.

“He directed an insurrection against the United States Capitol. Period. That’s criminal, that’s treasonous.”

The Trump Organisation had operated four major attractions in city parks: Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point in The Bronx, the Wollman Rink at the southern part of Central Park, the Lasker Rink at the northern end of Central Park and the famed Central Park Carousel.

Backers

The President’s greatest long term fear will be in business after one-by-one banks have begun to dump Trump.

After personally guaranteeing some £220 million in loans and with his companies haemorrhaging money, the US leader needs lenders more than ever.

Yet following his fuelling of last week’s riot, bankers are cutting ties with the president with one even calling publicly for his resignation.

Both Deutsche Bank and Signature Bank have made the decision to end their business relationships with the outgoing president - a potentially huge blow to Trump’s business future as they were among the last banks willing to lend money to Trump and his family for their various businesses.

Deutsche Bank’s move to sever its relationship with Trump will send a shiver through the US leader and his inner circle.

He owes the troubled German lender more than £200 million and his primary contact at the bank, Rosemary Vrablic, left Deutsche in late December, leading many to speculate the bank was preparing to sever all Trump ties.

New York-based Signature confirmed it too has begun the process of closing Trump’s two personal accounts at the £3.7 billion bank and “will not do business in the future with any members of Congress who voted to disregard the Electoral College.”

Signature also demanded he resigns as President.

Trump may, however, be able to land lucrative opportunities for him in right-wing media, including a possible role at a news channel, his own media venture or a book deal.

With his removal from social media, including Snapchat on Thursday, he has also claimed to be launching his own site to rival those he is now banned from including Twitter.

'Fuming': How Trump is reacting to his second impeachment

Tracking down the militia among the 'Oath Keepers' who stormed the US Capitol

FOR THOSE OF YOU that still believe in TRUMP.. You should watch EMPIRES OF NEW YORK
.

Ladybbird · 22-01-21, 14:18

TRUMPS' Bizarre New Life Where Staff Must Call Him King as He Plots Comeback

The world watched the 74-year-old bid farewell to his chaotic four years in the Oval Office with a speech in front of a couple of hundred loyalists as if he was still speaking to the masses.

TRUMPS' Impeachment: Republicans seek delay until February

BBC News, 22 JAN 2021.

Rejected by America, Donald Trumps’ enforced abdication as the worlds’ most powerful man was too much for his ego to take.

With his pride bruised, Nancy Pelosi claiming he could be an “accessory to murder” and aides and supporters deserting him in their droves, he was desperate to find the adoration he once commanded.

His post-presidential options will be defined by the fallout over his incendiary US Capitol speech on January 6 that spurred his supporters to riot, killing five and led to his historic second impeachment.

On the eve of the inauguration, House of Congress speaker Pelosi took aim at Trump. She said: “[The] President’s words are important, they weigh a ton. And if you’re Donald Trump talking to these people, they believe it and they used his words...

“This president is an accessory to that crime because he instigated that insurrection that caused those deaths.”

“This has been an incredible four years,” he said as his sons Donald Jr and Eric looked on with sisters Ivanka and Tiffany.

He went on: “I just want to say goodbye, but hopefully it’s not a long-term goodbye. We’ll see each other again.

“I want to thank all the great people of Washington DC, all of the people that we worked with to put this miracle together. So, have a good life. We will see you soon. Thank you.”

No longer welcome in his native New York, Trump flew to his Florida mansion MaraLago where today he will wake up in silk sheets surrounded by his gaudy gold-adorned bedroom.

A flashback through four turbulent years of Donald Trump - BBC News

TRUMPS' Antifa mob vowing REVENGE smash Dem HQ and burn US flags after Biden sworn in

Ladybbird · 23-01-21, 03:25

TRUMPS' Second Impeachment Trial to Begin 8 February 2021

ABC News (Australia) 23 JAN 2021

Former US president Donald Trump's impeachment trial will begin the week of 8 February, after Democrats and Republicans reached a compromise on the proposed timeline.

Mr Trump will be the first former president to face an impeachment trial after leaving office.

Under the timeline, the House of Representatives will formally deliver the impeachment article against Mr Trump to the chamber late on Monday (US time), with initial proceedings set down for Tuesday.

Ladybbird · 23-01-21, 18:08

Courtrooms and Creditors Likely to Loom Large in Trumps Post-Presidency Life

Carter campaigned for human rights, Bush painted … but Trump faces several criminal investigations and a mountain of debt

Donald Trumps' post-presidency may be filled with legal woes.....

The Guardian UK, 23JAN 2021.

Each US president has charted a unique course after leaving the White House, taking up vocations from philanthropy to human rights to oil painting.

Donald Trump’s post-presidency appears likely to be taken up by meetings with lawyers and creditors, possible sworn depositions about tax practices or sexual assault allegations and, in some long-tail scenarios, fines, criminal charges, bankruptcy or other legal sanction.

With Trump gone from Washington, and now lacking the immunity protections of the presidency, prosecutors in at least three jurisdictions are either weighing or actively pursuing criminal cases against him, and a fourth prosecutor is investigating allegedly fraudulent business practices inside the Trump Organization.

Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, is reportedly a major figure in two of the investigations, over more than $700,000 in “consulting fees” she allegedly received from the Trump Organization, which then allegedly claimed those fees as tax-deductible business expenses.

“This is harassment pure and simple,” Ivanka Trump tweeted in November, denying the allegations.

Donald Trump has long conducted himself, as a businessman and as president, as if the law did not apply to him or his cronies, dozens of whom he pardoned for crimes on the eve of his departure from office.

But criminal investigations now under way mean that the law might finally catch up to Trump in his post-presidency life, just as a $300m avalanche of debt coming due over four years that Trump has personally guaranteed threatens to sink him financially, according to a New York Times analysis of his tax records,

Trump has denied all wrongdoing, and his son Eric Trump has boasted that the Trump empire is healthy, with liquid real estate assets and branding opportunities overseas.

One solution to Trump’s financial woes might be suggested by the $270m he has raised since November, mostly from small donors, in a false “defend the election” campaign.

“You have a man who would get followed to the ends of the Earth by a hundred million Americans,” Eric Trump told the Associated Press, inflating by almost half the votes Trump received. “He created the greatest political movement in American history and his opportunities are endless.”

The legal hazards facing Trump can also seem endless. The Senate is preparing to hold a trial in Trump’s second impeachment, on charges that he incited the 6 January insurrection at the Capitol.

A conviction in the Senate is not only likely to result in Trump’s being barred from ever again holding office – it could increase the likelihood of criminal charges being brought against Trump by the US attorney’s office in Washington DC, which is investigating the attack on the Capitol.

“We are looking at all actors here, and anyone that had a role, if the evidence fits the element of a crime, they’re going to be charged,” acting US attorney Michael R Sherwin told reporters when asked directly about Trump, who directed the mob to march on the Capitol.

That statement echoed one by the Fulton county district attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, who is weighing an investigation of a phone call Trump made this month in which the president pressured the Georgia secretary of state to overturn the state’s election result.

“Like many Americans, I have found the news reports about the president’s telephone call with the Georgia secretary of state disturbing,” the prosecutor, Fani Wills, said in a statement. “Anyone who commits a felony violation of Georgia law in my jurisdiction will be held accountable.”

The New York state attorney general, Laetitia James, who is conducting a civil, as opposed to a criminal, investigation, of Trump Organization business practices, made a similar statement on national television last month.

Trump cannot avoid justice in the great state of New York,” said James, whose office has previously, and successfully, pursued accusations of fraud within a Trump “university” and a Trump “charity”, leading to a $25m settlement and a $2m damages payment, respectively.

In perhaps the most threatening legal action facing Trump, the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance, is conducting what his office has described as a “complex criminal investigation” into Trump’s business dealings, including sworn allegations by the Trump lawyer-turned-enemy Michael Cohen that the Trump Organization kept separate sets of books for tax and debt purposes.

Defending a subpoena for eight years of Trump’s tax records, in court documents Vance has cited “public reports of possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization”.

Vance’s investigation also encompasses hush payments Trump caused to be made to the pornographic movie actor Stormy Daniels and former model Karen McDougal. Cohen, who orchestrated the payments, pleaded guilty in federal court in 2018 to campaign finance violations in the scheme and has said he was directed by Trump.

The lawsuits do not stop there. The magazine writer E Jean Carroll, who accuses Trump of raping her inside a New York department store in the mid-1990s, has brought what legal observers see as a powerful defamation lawsuit against Trump for calling her a liar. Trump said in a 2019 Oval Office interview that the rape could not have happened because “she’s not my type”.

Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, is representing clients in two other lawsuits against Trump, including one brought by Mary Trump, the former president’s niece, charging her uncle and two siblings with defrauding her of an inheritance worth millions.

“His terror is that he will no longer be protected by the office and will have to deal with these lawsuits,” Mary Trump told the Washington Post.

Kaplan is seeking sworn depositions from Trump in all three cases.

“When we depose you, you’re not going to get away with that,” she told the Washington Post. “He had the mantle of the presidency, and that’s now gone.”

Ladybbird · 25-01-21, 18:20

Dominion Sues Rudy Giuliani for $1.3 Billion Over False Election Claims

Trump Plotted to Pick Loyalist as Acting AG to Overturn Election

Trump Supporters' Campaign of Intimidation

BBC News, 25 JAN 2021.

Dominion Voting Systems has sued former President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani for defamation after he pushed claims of election fraud against the company.

Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark nearly convinced then-President Donald Trump to remove then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and use the Department of Justice to undo Georgia's election results, The New York Times reported on 22 January.

“Death threats happened. My wife actually got the first ones.”

Following the US election, Trump’s supporters carried out a campaign of intimidation. Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, proved a tough target.

This film charts Donald Trump’s last months as president as he attempts to win, and subsequently overturn, the results of the 2020 election – culminating in scenes of violent ‘insurrection’ against the US Congress.

Friends, advisers and close observers tell the story of Trump’s last days, from packed rallies - held as coronavirus besieges America - to riots on Capitol Hill. The film provides a blow-by-blow account of the final weeks of his administration - and a gripping psychological study of the controversial leader’s final days in power.

Ladybbird · 26-01-21, 09:21

House Managers Deliver Impeachment Article to Senate

Ladybbird · 28-01-21, 20:13

TRUMP Opens a Florida Office to Start Re-Election Campaign

Former US President Donald Trump opened an office in Florida on Monday to continue his administration's agenda and handle his duties as a former president.

•28 Jan 2021 The Sun

In a statement, the office said:

"The Office will be responsible for managing President Trump's correspondence, public statements, appearances, and official activities to advance the interests of the United States and to carry on the agenda of the Trump Administration through advocacy, organizing, and public activism."

Trump's announcement came the same day the US House of Representatives delivered his second impeachment charge to the Senate for inciting insurrection at the Capitol earlier this month.

The Senate trial is expected to start on Feb. 9.

In farewell remarks last week, Trump told his supporters that he would return: "We love you. We will be back in some form."

He hasn't been seen publicly since that address and flight to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

The Wall Street Journal reported that before leaving office, Trump talked with associates about forming his own political party called the 'Patriot Party.'

Ladybbird · 31-01-21, 14:48

Donald TRUMP Impeachment Defence in Disarray as Lead Lawyers Quit

Butch Bowers clashed with Trump over strategy, according to reports, and leaves along with Deborah Barberi and three others

The Guardian , 31 JAN 2021.

Donald Trump has abruptly parted ways with the two lead lawyers working on his defence for his Senate impeachment trial, a source familiar with the situation said, leaving the former US president’s legal strategy in disarray.

Butch Bowers and Deborah Barberi, two South Carolina lawyers, are no longer on Trump’s team, the source said, describing the move as a “mutual decision”.

Three other lawyers associated with the team, Josh Howard of North Carolina and Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris of South Carolina, also parted ways with Trump, another source said.

A third source said Trump had differences with Bowers over strategy ahead of the trial. The president is still contending that he was the victim of mass election fraud in the 3 November election won by Joe Biden.

It leaves Trump’s defence team in turmoil as he prepares for a trial starting on 9 February to consider an article of impeachment passed by the House of Representatives charging him with inciting his supporters to storm the US Capitol on 6 January.

It was unclear who would now represent the former president at the trial. His White House lawyers at his first impeachment trial last year, Pat Cipollone and Patrick Philbin, are not expected to be a part of the proceedings.

“The Democrats’ efforts to impeach a president who has already left office is totally unconstitutional and so bad for our country,” said Jason Miller, a Trump adviser.

“In fact, 45 senators have already voted that it is unconstitutional. We have done much work, but have not made a final decision on our legal team, which will be made shortly,” Miller said.

Forty-five Senate Republicans backed a failed effort last Tuesday to halt Trump’s impeachment trial, in a show of party unity that some cited as a clear sign he will not be convicted of inciting insurrection at the Capitol.

Ladybbird · 01-02-21, 13:26

Donald Trump Hires New Impeachment Defense Team After Lead Lawyers Quit

Lawyers David Schoen and Bruce L Castor will head up new legal team after Butch Bowers clashed with Trump over strategy, according to reports

The Guardian, 1 FEB, 2021.

Donald Trump has hired a new defence team for next week’s trial in the Senate, after his previous team fell apart after mass resignations.

The former president has until Tuesday to submit a preliminary memo laying out his defence.

The new team is not without controversy: David Schoen defended Roger Stone (who was convicted in November 2019 of obstructing a congressional investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election and then had his prison sentence commuted by Trump)

The Atlanta-based lawyer also met with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein when the financier was preparing for trial in New York on charges relating to sexual exploitation and shortly before Epstein died in jail in 2019.

The other new lead lawyer, Bruce Castor, is a former acting attorney general of Pennsylvania and a prominent Republican who has been criticised by advocates for victims of sexual crimes because of his stance against reforms involving help for past victims of Catholic priests. He gained notoriety for declining to prosecute Bill Cosby when he was a district attorney in 2005.

Trial lawyers David Schoen and Bruce L Castor will head up Trump’s new legal team, the former US president announced on Sunday evening.

The ability of Republican senators who plan to acquit Donald Trump to weigh the case on the merits remained challenged, however, after the mass resignation of Trump’s previous legal team and the looming Senate deadline of Tuesday to submit a preliminary memo laying out his defense.

The House impeached Trump earlier this month on a single article charging “incitement of insurrection” – a historic second impeachment of a US president.

Bruce Castor is a former acting attorney general of Pennsylvania and a prominent Republican who has been slammed by advocates for victims of sexual crimes because of his stance against reforms involving help for past victims of Catholic priests and in the case of university football coach and predator Jerry Sandusky.

And Castor gained notoriety for declining to prosecute Bill Cosby more than a decade before the entertainer was eventually convicted in 2018, and also sued Cosby’s victim, Andrea Constand, in a case that was dismissed, and then was sued by Constand for defamation, which was settled.

Trump’s new team will have very little time to prepare for the impeachment trial.

According to a schedule hammered out by leaders from both parties, House prosecutors were to respond to Trump’s defense memo, after which arguments were to begin on the Senate floor on 9 February.

But the trial schedule, and its substance, have been thrown into doubt with the departure of five lawyers on Trump’s defense team – apparently the entire team. The resignations were first reported by CNN, which said the lawyers and Trump disagreed over strategy.

A Trump spokesperson told the New York Times that there had been a strategy disagreement but denied it was over Trump’s insistence that his defense center on the wild, false accusations of election fraud that he has been peddling for months.

Those false accusations drew Trump supporters, many affiliated with anti-government and white supremacist groups, to Washington on 6 January to contest the certification by Congress of Joe Biden’s victory, the supporters later told law enforcement.

After Trump encouraged the group in a speech to march on the Capitol, they broke into the building and vandalized it, killed a police officer and injured dozens, trampled a woman to death and caused three additional deaths, not counting two additional officers who later died by suicide.

In a sense the resignation of Trump’s lawyers was irrelevant, because Republicans are planning to acquit Trump in any case, observed Princeton University historian Julian Zelizer.

“The ‘crisis’ over Trump’s legal team quitting assumes that the substance of the impeachment case will sway Senate Republicans,” Zelizer tweeted. “Most already have their answer. Trump could offer no defense or he can go on the floor to read lines from the Joker movie – they would still vote to acquit.”

Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union show on Sunday morning, Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman, who announced last week that he will not seek re-election, indicated that any notion of Donald Trump basing his defense in his second impeachment trial on a claim that he actually won the November election, rather than a constitutionality argument, “will not benefit” him.

Portman noted that there was not adequate evidence of fraud to change the election result from a victory for Biden and that was “the view of the Trump Department of Justice”, too.

“We need to be very clear to the American people, we have to acknowledge that this election was lost and we have to move on,” Portman said. “Joe Biden was duly elected.”

Trump’s former legal team, which had been led by the South Carolina attorney Butch Bowers, appeared to be crafting a defense that would have challenged the constitutionality of trying a president after he has left office. The team was also expected to argue that Trump’s speech was covered by the first amendment on free speech and did not constitute “incitement”.

In a vote last week, 45 out of 50 Republican senators backed a resolution supporting the argument that it would be unconstitutional to try a former president. Most constitutional scholars disagree sharply, saying there is clear historic precedent for trying defendantswho have left office and indeed Trump was still in office when he was impeached.

The departure of Bowers and Deborah Barberi, two South Carolina lawyers, was described by a source familiar with the situation as a “mutual decision”.

Three other lawyers associated with the team, Josh Howard of North Carolina and Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris of South Carolina, also parted ways with Trump, another source said.

Ladybbird · 06-02-21, 10:14

Biden: 'Erratic' TRUMP Should Not Get Intelligence Briefings

President Joe Biden has said his predecessor Donald Trump should not be given access to intelligence briefings because of his "erratic behaviour".

The US has a tradition of allowing former presidents to be briefed on the nation's security issues - as a courtesy extended by the incumbent.

BBC News, 6 FEB, 2021.

But when asked by CBS News if Mr Trump would receive the same courtesy, President Biden said "I think not".

He cited Mr Trump's "erratic behaviour" as his reason for refusing access.

"I don't think there's any need for him to have an intelligence briefing," Mr Biden said in his first sit-down interview since becoming president.

He declined to speculate on what his worst fears would be if Mr Trump were allowed to see classified reports, but he suggested the former president could not be trusted to keep confidential information to himself.

"What value is giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?" Mr Biden said.

The move is the first time a former president has been excluded from the tradition of being granted continued access to the briefings, according to the New York Times.

Mr Trump feuded with the intelligence community throughout his four-year presidency and went through six national intelligence directors.

He questioned reports by US agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, and assailed intelligence chiefs for being "extremely passive and naive" over Iran.

In 2017, he disclosed highly-classified information to Russia's foreign minister about an Islamic State operation in what was seen as a breach of trust by many in the US intelligence community.

During his CBS interview, President Biden was asked about the impeachment trial Mr Trump is facing in the US Senate for his role in the riot at the Capitol on 6 January.

Mr Biden said he "ran like hell to defeat" Mr Trump in the election "because I thought he was unfit to be president", but he would leave the Senate to decide whether the Republican should be barred from ever holding public office again.

Ladybbird · 09-02-21, 09:38

TRUMPS' Second Impeachment Trial Set to Begin in US Senate

Former president faces charge of incitement of insurrection. Prosecution expected to show footage of US Capitol attack. Trumps' lawyers deny insurrection

"Moving forward" without a public reckoning is an act of willful blindness — and a massive historical mistake

The Guardian, 9 FEB, 2021.

Amnesia nation: To "forget" the Trump era is a toxic act of privilege — and very dangerous

Trump Refuses To Testify In 'Unconstitutional' Impeachment Trial

The second impeachment trial of Donald Trump will begin in the US Senate on Tuesday, with the former president facing a charge of “incitement of insurrection” after his supporters stormed the US Capitol last month and engaged in clashes that left five people dead.

The prosecution is expected to brandish dramatic footage of the violence at the Capitol on 6 January. The trial is set to strike a sharp contrast of tone with Trump’s first trial in early 2020, at which prosecutors used documents, emails and testimony to tell a complicated story about a Trump pressure campaign in Ukraine.

Trump said and tweeted things like “Big protest in DC on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”; “Election Rigged & Stolen”; “They’re not taking this White House. We’re going to fight like hell, I’ll tell you right now”

This time the alleged crime scene is much closer to home – in the very chamber where the trial will play out, which was invaded by Trump supporters moments after members of Congress and staff had been evacuated.

With a majority of Americans expressing horror and outrage at the attack on the Capitol, the allegations against Trump could land much more powerfully with the public than did the story of his seeking political favors from Ukraine in return for official acts.

Seeking to defuse the incendiary potential of the footage that Democrats are preparing to air on the Senate floor, defense lawyers for Trump on Monday made the extraordinary claim that presenting the events of the attack would amount to “a brazen attempt to glorify violence”.

The defense team, led by Bruce Castor, a former county prosecutor from Pennsylvania, also argued in a legal brief that the Senate does not have jurisdiction to try Trump, because he has already left office. Additionally they claimed that Trump’s speeches and tweets whipping up a frenzy about false election fraud did not amount to incitement and were protected under the first amendment.

The prosecutors sent by the House of Representatives, known as impeachment managers, are led by Jamie Raskin of Maryland and represent an entirely new team from Trump’s previous impeachment.

The core of their argument, laid out in an 80-page brief submitted last week, documents statements Trump made and tweeted, from “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” to “Election Rigged & Stolen” to “they’re not taking this White House. We’re going to fight like hell, I’ll tell you right now” to “So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue!”

Dozens of the nearly 140 people who have been charged so far in relation with the Capitol attack have argued as part of their criminal defenses that they stormed the building because the president told them to.

The trial is expected to last at least through the week, but leaders from both parties are seen as not wanting it to run as long as the prior impeachment trial, which stretched to 15 days over January and February.

An early push by Democrats to call witnesses at the current trial, possibly including police officers who were injured in the attack, lost momentum out of concerns that a longer timeline could interrupt efforts by the Joe Biden administration to pass a $1.9tn Covid-19 aid and economic relief package into law and pursue other policy initiatives.

Under rules that were still being settled on Monday, the trial would begin with four hours of debate Tuesday on the constitutional questions of whether the Senate can try a former president in an impeachment proceeding and whether the Senate’s power to bar an official from seeking office again hinges on the antecedent act of “removal”.

Each side would then have up to 16 hours starting at noon Wednesday, under draft rules, to make their cases.

In a pre-trial brief filed Monday, lawyers for Trump argued that the former president’s false claims about a stolen election were protected by the first amendment and did not amount to an incitement to violence.

“Even taking every one of Mr Trump’s prior statements about the election in the most negative light, they were, at most, only abstract discussions that never advocated for physical force,” the brief said.

Unlike at his first impeachment trial in early 2020, Trump is at risk this time of suffering multiple defections by Republican senators outraged by the threat to their personal safety and dreaming, perhaps, of a longshot opportunity to jettison Trump from core conservative politics.

But 17 Republicans would need to join Democrats to convict Trump and then bar him from holding office in the future – a tally that appears all but unattainable.

Trump is the only president in US history to be impeached twice. There have been impeachment proceedings against three other presidents: Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon and Andrew Johnson. None was convicted at trial.

In 2019, Trump was impeached in the House for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, but he was acquitted in the Senate with only one Republican, Mitt Romney of Utah, voting to convict.

Ladybbird · 10-02-21, 02:58

Senate Voted to Proceed with Donald TRUMPs' Impeachment Trial

Divided chamber finds process constitutional during emotional day as Democrats recount Capitol attack

Senate votes trial constitutional; six Republicans vote 'yes'

YEA-56 NAY-44

Lauren Gambino in Washington. Wed 10 Feb 2021 00.28 GMT

A divided US Senate voted to proceed with the historic second impeachment trial of Donald Trump after an emotional opening day in which the prosecution argued that the former president was singularly responsible for inciting the deadly assault on the US Capitol while the defense warned that the proceedings would further cleave a divided nation.

After nearly four hours of debate in the same chamber that was invaded by pro-Trump rioters on 6 January, the senators, now seated as jurors and sworn to deliver “impartial justice”, voted 56 to 44 on the question of whether there was a constitutional basis for putting an impeached former president on trial. Six Republicans joined all Democrats in an early victory for the prosecution that undermined one of the central pillars of Trump’s defense.

Trump is the first president to face an impeachment trial after leaving office, and the only president in American history to be impeached twice. But the assault on the Capitol, an event that one House impeachment manager called the “the framers’ worst nightmare come to life”, shook the nation and the world as loyalists to the former president stormed the seat of the American government in an effort to prevent Congress from formalizing Joe Biden’s victory. Though they ultimately failed, the domestic attack left five people dead and America’s commitment to a peaceful transfer of power tarnished.

Republicans’ near-uniform opposition to holding a trial strongly suggested that there were not enough votes in the chamber to convict the de-platformed, one-term president even after he brazenly sought to overturn his election defeat with baseless claims of a stolen election. At least 17 Republicans would have to join all Democrats to find Trump guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. A conviction would allow the Senate to disqualify him from ever again holding office.

Last month, only five Republicans joined Democrats to defeat an attempt to dismiss the impeachment charge as unconstitutional. Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican of Louisiana, was the only member to switch his vote, leaving open the possibility that some lawmakers could yet change their minds.

Republicans have largely coalesced around the argument that the Senate did not have the authority to hold the trial because impeachment was intended to lead to a president’s removal from office, a position that has allowed them to avoid weighing in on whether Trump’s conduct amounted to an impeachable offense. But that view has been challenged by constitutional scholars, including the leading conservative lawyer Charles Cooper, who argued that the claims were unfounded.

Citing these scholars, writings by the nation’s framers and historical precedents, the House impeachment managers warned that allowing Trump to escape punishment would establish a “January exception” for presidents to betray their oaths of office.

House Democrats opened the trial with a chilling and dramatic video of the Capitol siege that threatened the lives of the former vice-president, Mike Pence, members of Congress, and everyone working in the building that day. The video pulled from the extensive visual recordings from rioters, reporters and witnesses to create a reel juxtaposing the president’s incendiary speech to supporters at a rally near the White House with scenes of mayhem and violence on Capitol Hill. There, Trump encouraged his supporters to “fight like hell” and march to the Capitol to make their voices heard before lawmakers certified Biden’s victory.

The cries and chants from the video echoed through the chamber, where just over a month ago rioters sat in the dais and swung from the balcony. It concluded with a tweet from Trump, sent only moments after the building was secured on 6 January: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”

“You ask what a high crime and misdemeanor is under our constitution? That’s a high crime and misdemeanor,” the congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the leader of the House Democrats prosecuting the case, told the silent chamber, after playing the video. “If that’s not an impeachable offense, then there is no such thing.”

In their rebuttal, Trump’s defense team argued that the impeachment trial was not only unconstitutional but would “open up new and bigger wounds across the nation”.

Accusing Democrats of abuse of power, Trump’s lawyer David Schoen said the party was fueled by their “hatred” of Trump and their determination to see him impeached. He played a video compilation of Democratic politicians calling for Trump’s impeachment as early as 2017.

“This trial will tear this country apart, perhaps like we have only seen once before in American history,” he said, warning: “If these proceedings go forward, everyone will look bad.”

In a meandering defense that reportedly left Trump enraged, his lead lawyer Bruce Castor denounced the Capitol assault as “repugnant”, praised the senators as “patriots” and concluded by suggesting that if the former president had committed a crime, the punishment should be criminal prosecution, not impeachment.

“There is no opportunity where the president of the United States can run rampant in January at the end of his term and just go away scot free,” Castor said. “The Department of Justice does know what to do with such people.”

The trial will resume on Wednesday with the substantive arguments over the sole charge of “incitement of insurrection”. Each side has 16 hours to present its case, and the trial is expected to stretch into the holiday weekend. Prosecutors have promised to present new evidence to prove that Trump was “singularly and directly responsible” for the Capitol attack.

Trump’s lawyers have argued that the president’s claims of voter fraud and his fiery rhetoric to the crowd on 6 January were not only protected under the first amendment, but similar to language used by Democrats to rally their own supporters. In pre-trial briefings, they emphasized his instruction that the crowd march “peacefully” to the Capitol.

Trump, who left Washington for his Mar-a-Lago resort on the day of Biden’s inauguration, has refused a request by Democrats to testify voluntarily at his trial. It appears unlikely that the House managers will call witnesses, appealing instead to the collective memories of the senators who lived through harrowing afternoon.

Concluding the Democrats’ argument for the day, Raskin offered an emotional and deeply personal account of his experience that day. Still grieving the loss of his son, who had died by suicide just days before, the former constitutional law professor brought his family to work with him, eager for them to witness “this historic event – the peaceful transfer of power in America”.

When the riot erupted, they were separated. His daughter and son-in-law hid in an office, fearing for their lives, Raskin recalled, his voice quivering. When it was all over and they were reunited, his daughter said she never wanted to return to the Capitol, a place known as the People’s House.

“Senators, this cannot be our future,” he said through tears. “This cannot be the future of America.”

Ladybbird · 11-02-21, 14:25

Trump Impeachment Trial: Day 2 Key Moments

Prosecutors Open Criminal Investigation of Trump Phone Call

Ladybbird · 14-02-21, 01:34

TRUMP Acquitted in Second Impeachment Trial

Final vote tally 57-43 but Senate fails to achieve two-thirds majority needed to convict former president of incitement

The Guardian, 13 FEB, 2021.

The former US president Donald Trump has been acquitted of inciting insurrection after last month's storming of the US Capitol building.

At the end of his impeachment trial the US Senate voted by 57 to 43 in support of the charges -- but short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict him.

In a statement Mr Trump said his impeachment had been “another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of America”.

A conviction would have allowed the Senate to vote to disqualify him from holding future office.

Seven Republicans joined every Democrat to declare Trump guilty on the charge of “incitement of insurrection” after his months-long quest to overturn his defeat by Joe Biden and its deadly conclusion on 6 January, when Congress met to formalize the election results.

The 57-43 vote was most bipartisan support for conviction ever in a presidential impeachment trial. The result, which was never in doubt, reflected both the still raw anger of senators over Trump’s conduct as his supporters stormed the Capitol last month – and the vice-like grip the defeated president still holds over his party.

Among the Republicans who broke ranks were Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.

At a news conference after the vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi denounced as “cowardly” those who voted to acquit Trump on procedural grounds and said she would refuse to entertain their calls for a censure.

Ladybbird · 21-02-21, 16:06

Growing Number of Republican Donors Aim to Prise Party From Trump Influence

Trumps’ critics – and the donors backing them – are scrambling fast to try to prise control away from the pro-Trump majority

AP. Sun 21 Feb 2021

Some four dozen Republican donors were on a fundraising conference call on 5 February with Liz Cheney, the congresswoman and only Republican House leader to vote for Donald Trump’s impeachment for his role in the mob attack on the Capitol on 6 January.

Many of the donors on the Cheney call are expected to donate the maximum amount of $5,800 to her 2022 re-election campaign before the end of the first quarter of this year, to ward off a primary challenge to her which Trump loyalists like congressman Matt Gaetz are encouraging, said Michael Epstein, a leading Maryland Republican donor.

“We want to show a really big cycle for her to scare off competition,” Epstein said in an interview. “We want people who make judgments based on what’s right.”

The number of donors on the call reflects in part a growing movement among Republican fundraisers to try to fight off threats from the Trump-supporting majority, which has maintained its hold on the Republican base, despite Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

Though still a minority in Republican political circles, Trump’s critics – and the moneyed donors who are backing them – are scrambling fast on multiple fronts to try to prise control of the party away from those loyally toeing the Trump line.

Nikki Haley, the ex-Trump UN ambassador who is eyeing a presidential run in 2024, is hosting Zoom fundraisers on 3 and 4 March for her Pac, and is expected to draw dozens of big Republican donors attracted to her criticism of Trump during the Senate trial, when Haley told Politico she was “disgusted” and “angry” at Trump’s role in the 6 January riot.

Haley’s fundraising Pac, dubbed Stand for America, is expected to support Cheney and others who voted to impeach Trump – plus other candidates who voted against impeachment – say fundraisers with ties to her.

Haley’s fundraising Pac, dubbed Stand for America, is expected to support Cheney and others who voted to impeach Trump – plus other candidates who voted against impeachment – say fundraisers with ties to her.

A more aggressive effort to try to take on Trump and his allies and move the Republican party away from their influence, is also being mounted by a new Pac called Country First, which was unveiled in late January by the Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger, one of just 10 Republican House members who voted to impeach Trump

Kinzinger, who has been censured by his local party for backing Trump’s impeachment, was outspoken after the Senate failed to convict Trump.

Trump “encouraged an angry mob of his supporters to storm the United States Capitol to stop the counting of the electoral votes”, Kinzinger has said. But he stressed that “We have a lot of work to do to restore the Republican party,” and to reverse “personality politics”.

However, campaign finance experts caution that the fight to reduce Trump’s fundraising influence will be tough in a party that he maintains a powerful grip on, and the ex-president has signaled that he will be involved in 2022 races with an eye to ousting his critics.

In a statement berating Mitch McConnell – the Republican Senate minority leader who voted to acquit Trump but later delivered a blistering criticism of his actions – Trump warned ominously: “I will back primary rivals who espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First. We want brilliant, strong, thoughtful and compassionate leadership.”

Before leaving office, Trump raised tens of millions for a new Pac, called Save America, which is expected to spend generously in 2022 to keep his political ambitions alive and exact retribution against those who voted to impeach and convict him. Save America had over $30m in its coffers at the start of 2021, and Trump raked in tens of millions more via three other committees he controls, according to public filings.

“It will be difficult for Kinzinger and others who voted to impeach or convict Trump to keep up money-wise,” said Sheila Krumholz, who runs the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics. “As of most recent filings, Trump had $105m in the bank. He also has the biggest list of loyal supporters in politics he can tap for donations whenever he needs money.”

Analysts and Republican donors expect that Trump’s ego will prompt big battles against Cheney, as well as the other outspoken members who voted to impeach Trump, such as Kinzinger.

Republican operatives say that another possible Trump target could be Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who was one of only seven Republican senators to vote to convict Trump and is the only one of them up for re-election in 2022.

Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor who gave Trump a key endorsement in 2016, is considered to be a possible primary challenger against Murkowski.

But some Republican sources say that McConnell could help scuttle a primary challenge to Murkowski: McConnell has indicated he will be active in backing candidates that are best for the party’s future and, after voting to acquit Trump, he unequivocally stated Trump was “practically and morally responsible” for the Capitol riot.

Some Republican operatives are trying to persuade the party that Trump, despite his continuing high approval ratings of almost 80% with Republican voters, is a serious liability for the party’s future with the broader electorate.

“The GOP must focus on nominating candidates that can win in the fall of ’22 and stop the Trump litmus test,” said veteran operative Scott Reed.

Other operatives note that the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House’s Republican campaign arm, seems on track to back Cheney and others who voted to impeach Trump.

“The NRCC is going to try to help Cheney and I suspect they will be for others who voted for impeachment,” said Charlie Black, a longtime GOP operative.

Still, Krumholz warns that in the near term pledging fealty to Trump is likely to be a magnet for Republican candidates to raise funds. “The way to rake in campaign cash as a GOP candidate, especially from small donors, is to put yourself out there as a Trump loyalist,” Krumholz said.

Ladybbird · 23-02-21, 10:58

Supreme Court Allows Release of TRUMP Tax Returns to NY Prosecutor

Ruling on Trump tax records could be costliest defeat of his losing streak

He lost the presidential election, lost more than 60 legal challenges to the result, lost his bid to overturn the electoral college, lost control of the Senate and lost an impeachment trial 43-57, though he was spared conviction on a technicality. On Monday, Trump lost yet again – with potentially far-reaching consequences.

•22 Feb 2021 CNN

The Supreme Court cleared the way for a New York prosecutor to obtain former President Donald Trump's tax returns, dealing a massive loss to Trump who has fiercely fought to shield his financial papers from prosecutors.

The documents will be subject to grand jury secrecy rules that restrict their public release.

The ruling is a bitter loss for Trump, even if the tax records are shielded from public disclosure, after he consistently argued that the subpoena issued by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance was overbroad and issued in bad faith.

It means that the grand jury investigation into alleged hush money payments and other issues will no longer be hampered by Trump's fight to keep the documents secret.

The ruling was issued without comment or dissent.

Ladybbird · 21-03-21, 14:48

Donald Trumps' Wealth Takes Tumble During Presidency
Courtrooms and Creditors Likely to Loom Large in Trumps Post-Presidency Life

Trump faces several criminal investigations and a mountain of debt

Trumps' net worth dropped by about $700m to $2.3bn (£1.65bn) during his time as president, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

BBC News, 21 MAR 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic hit his fortunes hard, with Trump's office buildings, branded hotels and resorts losing revenue and falling in value.

His fleet of planes and golf courses have also seen drops in their value.

Trump is currently under a criminal investigation into his financial affairs and his family business.

Trumps’ taxes matter to a criminal probe

Donald Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes'

Bloomberg analysed financial documents and other filings from May 2016 and January 2021 to calculate Mr Trump's wealth before and after he became US president.

Mr Trump's commercial real estate accounts for about three-quarters of his net worth. The office towers he owns or co-owns have seen big drops in valuations as more people work from home, a trend that could last in the long term.

Bloomberg, which provides financial news and data, estimates a 26% drop in the value of his main commercial property holdings.

He also owns, manages or licenses his name to about a dozen hotels and resorts, plus 19 golf courses.

Although golf has become popular during the pandemic as a socially distanced outdoor sport, Mr Trump's two courses in Scotland have consistently lost money, filings show.

After the Capitol Hill siege in January, the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) of America ended an agreement to host its 2022 championship tournament at Mr Trump's New Jersey golf course, saying it would hurt the group's brand.

Deutsche Bank, the only bank willing to lend to him after his bankruptcies in the 1990s, also said after the riots that it would not do business with him again.

Mr Trump also owns a fleet of planes that includes a Boeing 757. These planes are decades old and have been marked down in value over the years, according to financial disclosures seen by Bloomberg.

Seven planes were valued at around $59m in 2015 and five were valued at about $6.5m in 2020. The value of Mr Trumps aircraft has dropped over the years, in part because he has sold some of his fleet.

Criminal Investigation

During his presidency, Mr Trumps finances were regularly in the spotlight and he has been very secretive about how much tax he pays.

Last month the Supreme Court ordered Mr Trump to hand over his tax returns and other financial records to prosecutors in New York.

For months they have been trying to obtain eight years' worth of Mr Trump's personal and corporate tax returns.

The investigation was originally started in 2018 to examine the Trump Organization's role in hush-money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to two women who said they had had affairs with Mr Trump.

Book Deal?

As a former president, Donald Trump can expect to sign some lucrative media deals to recover some of his lost wealth, such as a post-presidential memoir.

Barack and Michelle Obama reportedly got paid about $65m for their memoirs, while Bill Clinton earned a $15m advance for his 2004 book.

Bloomberg says the most obvious way Mr Trump can profit post-presidency is with a news channel or social media platform that would appeal to his 74m voters in the 2020 election.

Ladybbird · 06-04-21, 14:17

TRUMP Money Bomb Scheme Raised Millions From Unwitting Donors

Practice that used pre-checked boxes and obscure design on fundraising emails condemned by unwitting victims as ‘unethical and inappropriate’

The Guardian UK, 6 APR 2021

Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign used pre-checked boxes and obscure design on fundraising emails to wring millions of dollars out of unwitting supporters, detonating a “money bomb” which allowed the Republican to compete against Joe Biden in the last months of the race.

The practice, pursued by the campaign and WinRed, a for-profit company, was detailed in an extensive report by the New York Times on Saturday. It is legal, but Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, told the paper it was “unfair, unethical and inappropriate”.

Another expert quoted by the Times said such “dark pattern” digital marketing “should be in textbooks of what you shouldn’t do” in politics.

The “money bomb” did not bring victory, as Trump lost the electoral college by 306 votes to 232. He also lost the popular vote by more than 7m ballots.

But, the Times said, “the recurring donations swelled Trump’s treasury in September and October, just as his finances were deteriorating. He was then able to use tens of millions of dollars he raised after the election, under the guise of fighting his unfounded fraud claims, to help cover the refunds he owed.”

Sly Trump still claims his defeat was caused by massive electoral fraud. It was not, as a succession of court cases concluded.

After escaping conviction in his second impeachment trial, for inciting the Capitol riot of 6 January, the former president is free to run for office again. He continues to seek donations, leading to friction with the party he dominates.

The Republican WinRed operation was conceived as a response to ActBlue, an online fundraising platform set up by Democrats to attract small-dollar donations.

As the Times reported, refunds to donors are not unusual and can be made when individuals give more than the legal limit. The paper said that at the end of 2020, after Trump’s defeat, the Biden campaign and Democratic bodies made 37,000 online refunds worth $5.6m.

The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee made more than 530,000 refunds, returning $64.3m.

“In effect,” the Times wrote, “the money that Mr Trump eventually had to refund amounted to an interest-free loan from unwitting supporters at the most important juncture of the 2020 race.”

Jason Miller, a Trump spokesman, told the Times: “Our campaign was built by the hardworking men and women of America and cherishing their investments was paramount to anything else we did.”

The Times reported that the practice was used for the Georgia Senate runoffs in January and continues to be used by the Republican party.

It also detailed distressing experiences affecting Trump donors hit by surprise deductions and consequent trouble with banks and credit card companies.

Victor Amelino, a 78-year-old from California, donated $990 in September. It recurred seven times for a total of almost $8,000, the Times said.

Calling the Trump campaign and the RNC “bandits”, Amelino told the paper: “I’m retired. I can’t afford to pay all that damn money.”

Ladybbird · 19-05-21, 06:37

New York Prosecutor Says Trump Inquiry Now Criminal

The New York attorney general's office says it is investigating the Trump Organization "in a criminal capacity".

A spokesman for the state's top prosecutor says the inquiry is "no longer purely civil".

BBC News, 19 MAY 2021

A spokesman for the state's top prosecutor, Letitia James, said the inquiry into Mr Trump's property company was "no longer purely civil".

Ms James has been scrutinising the ex-Republican president's financial dealings before he took office.

The Trumps deny wrongdoing and say the inquiry by a Democratic prosecutor is a political vendetta.

Ms James' spokesman, Fabien Levy, told the BBC on Tuesday: "We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the Organization is no longer purely civil in nature.

"We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA. We have no additional comment."

The statement did not say what turned the inquiry from civil to criminal in nature, or whether the former president himself might be personally implicated in any allegations.

Ms James launched a civil inquiry in March 2019 into claims that Mr Trump had inflated the value of his assets to banks when seeking loans, and understated them to lower his taxes.

Her office has also been seeking documents on four Trump Organization properties in Manhattan, upstate New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr said in court documents last August that his office was investigating alleged "protracted criminal conduct" at the Trump Organization.

Mr Vance's legal filing cited newspaper articles about purported bank and insurance fraud at the company.

The Manhattan district attorney has also been investigating whether any of Mr Trump's financial records were doctored to cover up hush-money payments to two women in 2016 who say they had affairs with him.

Mr Vance's office said in February it had obtained Mr Trump's tax returns as part of the investigation, after a long legal battle.

Throughout his presidency, Mr Trump resolutely refused to reveal his tax returns, despite coming under great pressure to do so.

A Significant Development

Will Grant, BBC News, Washington DC

Throughout his time in office, Donald Trump dismissed any probe into his financial dealings or those of his organisation as a politically-motivated "witch hunt" led by Democrats desperate to see him forced from power.

Yet now that he no longer enjoys protection from prosecution, this latest development will trouble him. That a former US president is facing not one but two criminal investigations is a significant development, one which could have repercussions for his political future.

The New York State Attorney General, Letitia James, clearly believes that there is enough at play to warrant moving the investigation from a civil to a criminal one. When combined with the ongoing examination of the former president's tax returns by the Manhattan District Attorney, Cy Vance,

Trump is looking at a complex and tangled legal battle ahead — one which he remains adamant he shouldn't have to face but which he now almost certainly cannot avoid.

RELATED;
Six legal battles looming for Trump

Ladybbird · 26-05-21, 22:26

Grand Jury Convened to Hear Evidence in Donald Trump Criminal Probe

Prosecutors in New York have convened a grand jury to decide whether to indict former US President Donald Trump on criminal charges, local media report.

•26 May 2021 CNBC Television / The Washington Post.

The Manhattan District Attorney has convened a grand jury to hear evidence connected to the criminal probe of Donald J. Trump. David Fahrenthold, one of The Washington Post reporters who broke the story, joins 'The News with Shepard Smith' to discuss. For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: https://cnb.cx/2NGeIvi

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. has convened a grand jury in his wide-ranging investigation into former President Donald Trump, The Washington Post reported Tuesday, citing two sources familiar with the probe.

Prosecutors have been investigating Trump, the Trump Organization and its officers since at least 2018. The grand jury signals that they are ready to present evidence and potentially seek indictments.

The panel was convened recently, according to the Post, but it was unclear precisely when. It will meet three days a week over a span of six months.

A spokesperson for Trump did not reply to a request from CNBC for a response to the legal developments.

In New York state, this kind of special grand jury typically hears a number of different cases and is especially useful in complex, long-running matters.

Although much of Vance’s investigation is still opaque, court filings and witnesses have confirmed that prosecutors are investigating several kinds of financial activities that Trump and the Trump Organization engaged in.

One of them is whether the former president and his company falsely inflated the value of their properties for insurance adjusters and then undervalued the properties for tax purposes.

Another area under investigation is how the Trump Organization paid its top executives and whether taxes were paid on various forms of compensation.

Earlier this year, Vance and his team won a court battle over Trump’s tax returns, which they subpoenaed from the firm that prepared them.

The former president has repeatedly and forcefully denied any wrongdoing. He has accused the district attorney’s office of engaging in a politically motivated investigation.

New York state’s attorney general, Letitia James, is also investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity.

The attorney general’s office had initially opened a civil investigation into the Trump Organization. But earlier this month, James’ spokesman announced that the case had evolved into a criminal probe.

Ladybbird · 08-06-21, 14:06

TRUMP Teases 2024 Run But Legal Threat Rises as Investigations Ramp Up

As the EX president hints at running for president once again, his future could lie in the courtroom, not the Oval Office

He’s Teflon Don no more, at least when it comes to court.

The Guardian UK 8 JUN 2021

Teflon Don no more

Donald Trump, no longer insulated by claims of presidential protections, faces a host of increasingly serious legal problems in some of the US’s most high-profile courts, including both criminal investigation and civil litigation.

So even as Trump maintains his grip on the Republican party and teases ambitions to run again for president in 2024 – his legal woes could render all that debate meaningless: Trump’s future could lie in the courtroom, not the Oval Office.

Trump “can face criminal charges for activities that took place before he was president, after he was president, and while he was president – as long as they were not part of his duties while he was president of the United States,” said attorney David S Weinstein, partner at Jones Walker LLP’s Miami office.

Trump has not been charged with any crimes, and he has repeatedly denied wrongdoing personally and in his business dealings. His attorneys did not respond to requests for comment. A request for comment through his website received an automatic response of: “Thank you for your inquiry. Our staff is currently reviewing your request.”

But the exact impact of this on Trump’s political future is unclear. Political science experts say that legal actions against Trump might not pose problems, as even if he were found to have committed wrongdoing, his loyalists might stick with him.

The most threatening legal investigation, which involves potential for jail either for Trump or his associates if it proceeded and resulted in conviction, does not relate to his presidential duties.

The Washington Post reported on 25 May that Manhattan prosecutors had convened the grand jury that is “expected to decide whether to indict Donald Trump, other executives at his company or the business itself, should prosecutors present the panel with criminal charges”.

This development suggests that Manhattan prosecutors’ inquiry into Trump and his business concerns have hit an “advanced stage” after proceeding for more than two years. More, it indicates that Manhattan prosecutors believe they have discovered evidence of a crime. This potential evidence could be against Trump, an executive at his company, or his business.

This inquiry is broad-ranging, involving Trump’s business dealings prior to his presidency. The investigation is exploring whether the value of some real estate in his company’s portfolio were manipulated in a manner that defrauded insurance companies and banks. The investigation is also seeking to determine whether questionable assessment of property values might have resulted in unlawful tax breaks, per the Washington Post...

The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment.

Meanwhile, the New York state attorney general has ramped up its investigation. “We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature. We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA. We have no additional comment at this time,” a spokesman for the office said in an email to the Guardian.

Fani Willis, district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, said in February that there were plans to investigate Trump’s call to the Georgia secretary of state, in which he urged him to “find” sufficient votes to allow him to win. Willis also announced plans to probe other “attempts to influence the administration of the 2020 Georgia general election,” the Post said.

In New York, Trump faces several major civil suits. Two women who accused Trump of sexual assault, ex-Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos and advice columnist E Jean Carroll, have filed defamation actions against him for statements he made about their allegations. He also faces a lawsuit filed by Efrain Galicia, an activist, over allegedly being attacked by Trump’s security during a 2015 protest outside Trump Tower.

Something like criminal proceedings involving taxes could firm up support, as Trump could ramp up his claims of victimhood, playing to aggrieved voters who think the system is rigged against them. Plus, experts said, some of Trump’s base is attracted to his boorish, bullying behavior.

“The majority of the evidence that we have on hand says that people who like Trump don’t care what he does – it just doesn’t matter if he breaks the law,” said Francisco I Pedraza, a political scientist at University of California Riverside. For those voters, “he can do no wrong”.

“We know from a lot of social science research that people who back Trump also register very high on validated and reliable indexes of racial resentment, for example, he serves that and offers a kind of politics that responds to that flavor of politics,” Pedraza said. “Anything else doesn’t matter as long as he continues to be a champion for racist [sentiments].”

Several experts said, however, that Trump could lose some support if allegations offended economically disadvantaged persons in his base – if he cheated the proverbial little guy, for example, those who feel cheated by the system might turn on him.

Samuel Popkin, a research professor at the University of California San Diego and author of Crackup: The Republican Implosion and the Future of Presidential Politics, said: “If he gets nailed on stuff that is very complicated and hard to decipher and just looks like taxes are too high and everybody gets screwed, ‘I’m just another businessman trying to [give] the government no more than they deserve.’ It will not hurt him.

“If there’s a conviction that has to deal with real theft, and stealing and scamming people, like the business with Trump University but on a massive scale, then it could hurt him.”

“It really depends on which charges.”

Susan MacManus, professor emerita of political science at the University of South Florida, similarly said: “If it’s taxes, people are less likely to see that as big an issue” compared to something more serious, such as security.

However, “any kind of conviction of some kind of criminal offense could definitely sway” a number of Republicans, MacManus said.

“The question is when you start looking at the fringes of the base, and you start looking at independent voters, not Republicans,” said Thomas Patterson, a professor at Harvard Kennedy School. With that group, legal action could carry the “possibility of erosion” in supporting Trump.

Regardless of whether Trump, his employees, or company are prosecuted, it’s all but guaranteed to result in unprecedented attention and controversy, exacerbated by the ex-president’s notorious recalcitrance.

One New York courts insider told the Guardian that the frenzy would make the Harvey Weinstein case “look like somebody with training wheels”.

“I can only imagine what a circus it would be,” the insider said.

Manhattan Grand Jury

On 25 May, the Washington Post reported that Manhattan prosecutors had “convened the grand jury that is expected to decide whether to indict former president Donald Trump, other executives at his company or the business itself, should prosecutors present the panel with criminal charges”.

Vance’s office is exploring whether the valuation of any real estate in his company was gamed to cheat insurers or banks, and whether any value manipulation enabled illegal tax breaks. The New York attorney general has also intensified its inquiry from a civil investigation, saying: “We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA.”

Read more:
Defamation to Georgia voting: the top Trump legal cases ..

Ladybbird · 18-06-21, 10:31

New York Grand Jury Stores Up Trouble for Trump Organization Executives

Glimpses of the deliberations behind closed doors suggest a case is being built against Trumps’ CFO, Allen Weisselberg, which could be bad news for his boss

The Guardian UK, 18 JUN 2021

Manhattan’s district attorney is reportedly in ‘the final stages of a criminal tax investigation’ of Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA

Following a deluge of bombshell news about Donald Trump-related criminal investigations in New York, including the Manhattan district attorney’s convening of a special grand jury, more details have emerged that might suggest intensifying legal woes for one of the former president’s business lieutenants.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that the Manhattan district attorney’s office has apparently “entered the final stages of a criminal tax investigation” of Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer.

The report that prosecutors might be nearing the final stages of their criminal tax inquiry into Weisselberg comes in the wake of reports that Jeff McConney – a senior vice-president and controller for the Trump Organization – has testified before the Manhattan special grand jury.

McConney, “one of the most senior officials” in this company, is also the first Trump Organization staffer called to testify – and is one of “a number of witnesses” who have been before the panel, ABC reported.

McConney’s role as the Trump Organization’s money man could have dramatic implications for an investigation into possible financial crimes at the sprawling business empire. The special grand jury convened by the Manhattan district attorney’s office is expected to decide whether to indict Trump, other executives at his company or the business itself if presented with criminal charges by prosecutors.

The investigation is broad and relates to Trump’s business affairs predating his presidency. The inquiry is examining whether the value of some property in his company’s real estate portfolio was presented in a way that defrauded insurance companies and banks. The investigation is also trying to determine whether sketchy property valuations might have led to unlawful tax breaks, according to the Washington Post.

With Weisselberg, the Manhattan district attorney’s office is reportedly probing whether he received any “fringe benefits” from the company on top of his salary, and if said benefits were taxed adequately.

Although Trump and Weisselberg were usually the “only two people in the room”, when prepping tax paperwork and other financial documents, McConney brought them the “original documents and tranches of raw data”, the Daily Beast reported. So, McConney might have financial information that could potentially be used against Weisselberg or Trump.

Weisselberg’s attorney said “no comment” when asked about the inquiry and Times report.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment.

Longtime defense attorneys told the Guardian that such revelations about grand jury witness testimony might give clues about prosecutors’ strategy and thoughts about potential wrongdoing. When prosecutors start calling witnesses before grand juries, it typically means the investigation has hit the stage where prosecutors feel they have a criminal case against someone.

Daniel R Alonso, a partner at Buckley LLP’s New York office whose past work includes serving as chief assistant district attorney with the Manhattan district attorney, said: “You’ve got to start with the proposition that it’s pretty clear they’re targeting Allen Weisselberg, the CFO. If that’s correct, which it seems to be, it’s an obvious move to get the testimony of the controller on record.

“It appears from the reporting that he’s getting immunity,” Alonso said of McConney. “They either don’t think that he has criminal exposure or if he does, they’re more interested in getting people higher up on the food chain if they can.”

Allen Weisselberg stands behind Donald Trump and his son Don Jr. Photograph: Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images

And because a controller has daily interaction with a CFO, “there are undoubtedly lots and lots of questions that the [district attorney] has asked him, or will ask him, or lots and lots of documents that they can show him that will make it difficult for him to feign a lack of memory,” Alonso also said.

McConney did not respond to an email request for comment.

Rebecca Roiphe, a former prosecutor with the Manhattan district attorney’s office who now works as a professor at New York Law School, explained that in New York state courts, a witness called before the grand jury can’t be prosecuted for what they testify about.

“You really don’t want to use the grand jury, at least in terms of calling witnesses, at an early stage of your investigation because you don’t want to have to accidentally give somebody immunity,” Roiphe said.

So, if prosecutors are calling witnesses before a grand jury, they have a strong sense of who they want to prosecute – they are not just calling people in a way that could jeopardize a case.

“They must have a sense that they have a criminal case against somebody, because of the grand jury practice of New York,” Roiphe said.

“It seems that it’s a more advanced investigation. It’s not just the detectives and prosecutors thinking in theory about an investigation – they’re actively interviewing witnesses and putting a possible indictment together,” said Jeffrey Lichtman, a longtime criminal defense attorney.

“They don’t just call these people out of the blue.”

There appears to be no shortage of high-profile figures willing to discuss Trump, his businesses, or his cronies.

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer, has met with prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office. They have reportedly asked Cohen questions about Trump’s business activities. Cohen pleaded guilty to tax evasion, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress.

Jennifer Weisselberg, Allen Weisselberg’s former daughter-in-law, has provided investigators with extensive tax records and other financial documents. A representative for Jennifer Weisselberg said: “She is still being considered as a potential witness and she’s been in conversation with the district attorney about her information and her potential [grand jury] testimony if necessary.”

The adult film star Stormy Daniels – who claimed to have had sex with Trump about 12 or so years ago, and received $130,000 in hush money during the 2016 presidential race not to discuss the alleged affair – said she would readily testify before a grand jury.

“I would love nothing more than my day in court and to give a deposition and to provide whatever evidence that they need from me,” Daniels reportedly said.

Trump has claimed he did not have a sexual liaison with Daniels.

Trump’s attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.

Ladybbird · 28-06-21, 09:30

New York Prosecutors Set Deadline For TRUMP on Legal Action

Ex-president’s lawyers have 24 hours Monday to say why the Trump Organization should not face charges, reports claim

The Guardian UK, 28 JUN 2021.

New York prosecutors have given lawyers for Donald Trump 24 hours to respond with any last arguments as to why criminal charges should not be filed against his family business, according to a report on Sunday.

The deadline set for Monday was another strong signal that the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance, and the New York attorney general, Letitia James, are considering criminal charges against the former president’s company as an entity, according to sources quoted by the Washington Post.

On Friday, it was reported that Vance could announce charges against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, within seven days.

Any criminal charges would be the first in Vance’s probe into Trump and his business dealings.

Legal experts have said an indictment against the Trump Organization could bankrupt the company by undermining its relationships with banks and other business partners.

Vance’s office has said it was investigating “possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct” at the Trump Organization, including tax and insurance fraud and falsification of business records.

Even if no charges were brought, Vance’s investigation could complicate any return to politics by Trump, who has lost some of his ability to communicate publicly after being permanently banned from Twitter and suspended for two years by Facebook.

James’ office has been investigating whether the Trump Organization inflated the values of some properties to obtain better terms on loans, and lowered their values to obtain property tax breaks.

Ladybbird · 01-07-21, 15:04

TRUMP Organization Indicted in Tax Investigation,

Former US President Donald Trump's company and its finance chief have been indicted in an investigation into alleged tax crimes, US media report.

BBC News, 1 JUL 2021

TRUMP ordered to hand tax returns to prosecutors

The specific charges against the company and Allen Weisselberg, 73, are still unclear. They are expected to be made public on Thursday.

Trump is not expected to be implicated personally in the case.

New York City has already cut business ties with the twice-impeached former president.

The Trump Organization is a family holding company that owns hotels, golf clubs and other properties.

Any criminal charges brought against it would mark the first in long-running investigations on alleged fraud by both the Manhattan district attorney and the state attorney general.

Charges by District Attorney Cyrus Vance are expected to focus on whether Mr Weisselberg and other company executives received benefits such as apartment rentals or leased cars without reporting them properly on their tax returns.

Mr Weisselberg and lawyers for the Trump Organization are expected to make their first court appearance on Thursday, according to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Associated Press, which quote unnamed sources.

Mr Trump and his allies have said the investigations are politically motivated.

In a statement earlier this week, Mr Weisselberg said the case was looking at "things that are standard practice throughout the US business community, and in no way a crime".

If the company is found guilty, however, certain business partners might draw a line under their relationship with the Trump Organization and the company could face fines.

New York City, for example, has already announced it will terminate contracts with the firm to run skating rinks, a carousel and a golf course, in the aftermath of the US Capitol riots.

Daniel Goldman, who was lead lawyer in the US House of Representatives for the first impeachment of Mr Trump in 2019, tweeted that the indictment could spur lenders to call in their loans, driving the Trump Organization to bankruptcy.

The investigations will also take into account eight years of Mr Trump's personal and corporate tax returns, obtained by prosecutors after a long legal battle, which ended in the Supreme Court in February.

Mr Trump, who inherited money from his father and went on to become a property developer, is the first president since Gerald Ford in the 1970s not to have made his tax returns public.

Despite facing a number of investigations, the former president has denied any wrongdoing personally or in his business.

Representatives for the Trump Organization, Donald Trump and Allen Weisselberg did not immediately respond to the BBC's request for comment.

Ladybbird · 02-07-21, 08:07

Allen Weisselberg Arrives in Cuffs as He and Trump Organization Face Charges

2 Jul 2021 The Sun

The Trump Organization and Allen Weisselberg pleaded not guilty over an alleged 15-year tax fraud scheme after the CFO arrived at court in handcuffs.

The charges against Weisselberg - who worked for the company for 48 years - were revealed on Thursday after a grand jury heard evidence and moved to indict him.

Ladybbird · 02-07-21, 09:59

Is Trump Next on The Legal Chopping Block?

ABC News 2 Jul 2021

Ladybbird · 02-07-21, 14:36

TRUMP Exposed as Prosecutors Make First Move in High Stakes Chess Game

The charges against Allen Weisselberg might seem small fry, but the threat to those higher up the food chain is mounting

The Guardian UK, 2 JUL 2021.

Trump on Wednesday, when Weisselberg reportedly surrendered to authorities.

The charges represent the start of a process that could crack the secretive Trump empire wide open. Photograph: Reuters

Michael Cohen sounded giddy on the latest episode of his podcast, Mea Culpa. Allen Weisselberg, a key lieutenant to Donald Trump, Cohen’s former boss, was about to be charged alongside Trump’s company with tax fraud.

“This case is being prosecuted like a mob case. And that means they are starting at the bottom of the tree, and working their way up, by getting the smaller fish to flip with pressure on people like Weisselberg to rat on their former boss of bosses!” Cohen said, gleefully mixing his metaphors.

Cohen knows this score. Trump has been under investigation by New York’s top prosecutors for three years – in large part thanks to Cohen, once his trusted lawyer. Cohen – who once said he would “take a bullet” for Trump – turned on the former president as he was sentenced to 36 months in prison for crimes including facilitating illegal payments to silence two women who allegedly had sex with Trump.

On the surface, the Weisselberg charges did seem like “smaller fish”. In an interview with Politico, Trump’s lawyer Ronald Fischetti said: “It’s like the Shakespeare play Much Ado About Nothing. This is so small that I can’t believe I’m going to have to try a case like this.”

But surfaces can be deceptive.

After three years of subpoenas, supreme court hearings and existential legal rows about the legality of charging a president of the United States with wrongdoing, New York’s fearsome prosecutorial team have charged a little-known 73-year-old accountant with defrauding taxpayers of $1.7m over 15 years. That is big money for most people, but not an amount that would worry Trump, who Forbes calculates is worth $2.4bn.

Downplaying the significance of this week’s indictment would, however, be a mistake. Alongside Weisselberg, Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance, and the New York state attorney general Letitia James also charged the Trump Organization with tax fraud, the start of a process that could crack the secretive Trump empire wide open.

The salvo in the long-brewing legal battle will, at the very least, wrap up Trump for years in legal woes, and at worst could destroy his family business and put not just Weisselberg but the Trump family members who run his business and Trump himself in the dock.

The indictment would “raise the unprecedented prospect of a former president having to defend the company he founded and has run for decades against accusations of criminal behavior,” Cohen cooed.

No longer insulated by claims of presidential protections, Trump faces a flotilla of legal actions. Alongside the charges brought this week against Weisselberg and the Trump Organization, Vance and James are investigating questionable payments to former Trump sex partners and whether the value of real estate in his company’s portfolio was manipulated to defraud insurance companies and banks and to generate unlawful tax breaks.

In some ways, the charges against Weisselberg give us a glimpse of the bumpy road ahead for the former president.

“This has been framed as a ‘fringe benefits’ issue,’” said University of Chicago Law School professor Daniel Hemel, an expert on taxation and federal courts. “Another way of looking at it is that the Trump Organization was paying its CFO [chief financial officer] under the table.”

Such a move – if proven – would be an extraordinary thing for a company the size of Trump’s to have done, and will likely lay the groundwork for what’s ahead.

Ironically, one parallel case Hemel pointed to was the prosecution of Leona Helmsley, the late Manhattan hotel empress and long-time sparring partner of Donald Trump.

Helmsley v Trump was a Manhattan feud for the ages. Trump was an admirer of Harry Helmsley, the billionaire property tycoon who once owned the Empire State Building. Leona Helmsley not so much. He once called her a “disgrace to humanity”. Helmsley simply said:

“I hate Donald Trump.”

Leona Helsmley, who was sentenced to four years in jail for tax evasion. Photograph: Rex Features

In 1988 the Helmsleys were charged with evading more than $4m in income taxes. In another historical twist, the charges were brought by Rudy Giuliani, then federal prosecutor and more recently one of Trump’s staunchest allies.

The following year, Helmsley – her husband was too sick to stand trial – was sentenced to four years in jail after being found guilty on 33 counts of tax evasion including fraudulently charging a $1m marble dance floor for their private mansion to their hotel and real-estate empire.

“These are things that are unequivocally not business expenses,” said Hemel. Even Trump agreed, saying shortly after Leona Helmsley’s death that it was “foolish” for her husband to have committed tax evasion “because he was such a rich man”.

Given that sentiment, why would the Trump Organization – allegedly – cook the books for such relatively small sums?

The coming cases may provide an answer. Both Weisselberg and the company deny any wrongdoing, and have said they will fight the case in court, but the cases will blow open Trump’s finances, something he has fought hard to prevent, even going as far as to go against recent presidential precedent and refusing to release his tax returns.

But while there are many similarities between the polarizing property plutocrats Trump and Helmsley, Trump’s case is in many ways unusual.

First, said Hemel, it’s highly unusual a business as large as Trump’s would engage in these kinds of alleged tax frauds. With its army of lawyers and accountants, it should have been easy enough for his advisers to find perfectly legal ways to avoid paying taxes – just as ProPublica’s revelations have shown his billionaire peers have done.

Second, when a tax-avoidance scheme is exposed as potentially open to prosecution, it is highly unusual for businesses to fight those charges. The normal course of action is to apologize and pay up.

Add on that in this case the man at the top is a former president of the United States and: “Everything about this case is unusual and everything about it is political,” said Hemel. “That doesn’t mean the district attorney is wrong to go after it.”

Allen Weisselberg is escorted to his arraignment hearing in New York City on 1 July.

In the high-stakes chess game Vance and James are now playing against Trump, this is an opening move that immediately threatens one of their opponent’s key pieces.

Weisselberg has worked for the Trump family for close to 50 years. Outside the family, and arguably inside, no one knows how the Trump business really operates better than him. His two sons have worked with Trump. Jennifer Weisselberg, one of his son’s ex-wives, is a key witness for the prosecution and has handed over what her lawyer, Duncan Levin, describes as 10 banker’s boxes of evidence to the authorities.

The pressure is on for Weisselberg to flip but his indictment also puts pressure on Trump insiders lower down the tree.

Robert Mintz, a former federal organized crime prosecutor and now partner at law firm McCarter & English, said: “Complex white-collar fraud cases are very difficult to prove, and generally require more than financial records to demonstrate clear evidence of criminality. Prosecutors typically build these cases with the benefit of a cooperating witness who can walk them through the documents and add an insider’s perspective to the conspiracy.”

As Cohen pointed out this week Trump can no longer hold out the promise of a presidential pardon to his allies. Facing potential ruin and jail time, will Weisselberg stay true? And as the charges keep coming, where will others decide their loyalty lies?

“Loyalty is hard to maintain when it can put you in jail,” said Hemel.

Read More
Trump Organization tax-crime charges: what it all means | New ...

Ladybbird · 09-07-21, 20:28

Toyota Halts Donations to Republican Election Objectors

Toyota has said it will halt donations to members of the US Congress who voted against certification of President Biden's election victory.

BBC News, 9 JUL 2021

The Japanese company faced criticism over the contributions after the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.

Toyota donated more than $50,000 to Republicans who tried to block approval of the US President's win in some states, it emerged last month.

The company had previously defended the payments.

"Toyota is committed to supporting and promoting actions that further our democracy," Toyota said.

The statement went on to say: "We are actively listening to our stakeholders and, at this time, we have decided to stop contributing to those Members of Congress who contested the certification of certain states in the 2020 election."

The company also noted that its political action committee equally supported Democrats and Republicans, adding, "in 2021, the vast majority of the contributions went to Democrats and Republicans who supported the certification of the 2020 election."

The decision came after Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) in June reported that Toyota directly contributed a total of $56,000 to 38 of the 147 Republican lawmakers who voted against President Biden's electoral certification.

CREW also said it was the most money any one company contributed to lawmakers who opposed certification.

Japan's biggest car manufacturer faced criticism in the wake of the disclosure and subsequent coverage in the media.

The Lincoln Project, a group largely made up of Republicans critical of former US President Donald Trump, posted an advert calling on Toyota to stop making donations to lawmakers who voted against President Biden's election certification.

A CREW spokesperson welcomed Toyota's decision but said, "it shouldn't take a public pressure campaign to get them to do the right thing, but we're glad it worked."

Since the attack on the Capitol, dozens of companies have changed their policies on contributions to politicians.

In February, Microsoft said its political action committee would suspend all donations until the end of 2022 to the 147 lawmakers who voted against President Biden's certification.

For the same period it also halted contributions to state officials and organisations who called for the election result to be overturned.

Google and General Electric's political action committees also suspended donations until the end of 2022.

More than 535 people have been arrested and charged for joining the 6 January attack on the US Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to stop Congress from certifying President Biden's election victory over Trump.

Ladybbird · 10-07-21, 15:21

Rupert Murdoch Approved Fox News Arizona Call That Signalled TRUMP Defeat

Loss of Arizona signalled Donald TRUMPs’ 2020 election defeat

Murdoch reportedly said: ‘**** him’

The Guardian UK, 10 JUL 2021

On election night last year Rupert Murdoch reportedly gave his son Lachlan permission for Fox News to call Arizona for Joe Biden, a decision that signalled Donald Trump’s defeat, with “a signature grunt” and a pithy barb: “**** him.”

John Kelly listens as Donald Trump talks to the media beside Air Force One.

Trump told chief of staff Hitler ‘did a lot of good things’

The news is sure to anger Trump as he pushes his lie that he lost the White House because of electoral fraud. It is contained in Michael Wolff’s third book on the Trump presidency, Landslide, which will be published next week.

The Daily Beast first reported Murdoch’s remark.

Wolff, a former Guardian columnist, is one of a number of authors who have interviewed Trump for new books. Wolff has also written widely about the Murdochs and Fox News.

In Landslide, he writes that “the marriage between Trump and the Murdochs, in some ways the foundation of the Trump movement, was quite a sadomasochistic one”.

The Arizona call was particularly punishing for Trump. Shortly after 11pm ET on 3 November, Wolff writes, Lachlan Murdoch was told by the Fox News decision desk it was ready to call the state for Biden.

It was, Wolff writes, “still, by most measures, hotly contested and still a definite Trump win” in one forecasting model. But the decision desk was “independent of Fox News’ otherwise partisan views [if] merely as [a way] to bypass the news desk and to be directly answerable to the Murdochs”.

Delaying the Arizona call would have been defensible, Wolff writes, given the closeness of the contest. But Lachlan Murdoch called his father and asked if he wanted to make a call which was sure to anger Trump.

Reportedly, Rupert did.

In a statement emailed to the Guardian on Friday, a Fox News spokesperson called Wolff’s account “completely false”.

“Arnon Mishkin who leads the Fox News decision desk made the Arizona call on election night and Fox News Media president Jay Wallace was then called in the control room. Any other version of the story is wildly inaccurate.”

Wolff also reports the scene at the White House, where he says Trump was being assured by “merry” and “untroubled” aides “about how good everything looked” before one aide, Jason Miller, was told Fox News was going to call Arizona for Biden.

“Miller involuntarily rose from his seat,” Wolff writes. “‘What the ****?’ he said out loud.”

Electoral college results from Arizona and Pennsylvania were the subject of formal objections from Republicans in Congress on 6 January, the day a mob incited by Trump attacked the Capitol, resulting in five deaths.

Trump was impeached and acquitted. Fox News has remained behind him as he pushes his electoral fraud lie while controlling a party seeking to block investigation of 6 January, to restrict voting access and to make it easier to overturn election results.

In Arizona’s most populous county, a controversial and partisan ballot audit goes on.

The decision to call the state cost some at Fox News dear. One editor, Chris Stirewalt, has said he was subjected to “murderous rage” from Trump supporters.

Murdoch’s dismissal of Trump, while blunt, should not entirely be a surprise. In his first of three books on the Trump presidency, Fire and Fury, Wolff recounted the fallout from a meeting in 2016 between the president-elect and big tech executives.

Wolff reported that Trump called Murdoch to enthuse about how he was going to help big tech more than Barack Obama.

Murdoch, Wolff writes, got off the phone, shrugged and said: “What a ****ing idiot.”

Ladybbird · 28-07-21, 07:33

Thomas Barrack: Top TRUMP Aide Pleads Not Guilty to Working asForeign Agent

Billionaire investor and former Donald Trump adviser Thomas Barrack has pleaded not guilty to charges of acting as an agent of a foreign government.

BBC News, 28 JUL 2021

Mr Barrack, 74, was a key aide to Mr Trump during his 2016 campaign.

He has been accused of illegally lobbying on behalf of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during and after the election, as well as lying to the FBI.

Mr Barrack entered his not guilty plea during his first court appearance on Monday in New York City.

The ex-Trump official faces federal charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making multiple false statements to the FBI during a 2019 interview. He was arrested in California last week.

As he left court on Monday, Mr Barrack told reporters: "As you'd expect, the system is working... you'll all see that I'm 100% innocent."

On Monday Matthew Grimes, a former executive at Mr Barrack's company, also pleaded not guilty to charges of illegal lobbying. A UAE citizen, Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi, 43, was charged as well and remains at large.

The three men are accused of unlawfully trying to promote UAE government interests by using Mr Barrack's connections to influence officials and media appearances.

They also allegedly promoted the candidacy of a UAE-favoured individual as US ambassador to Abu Dhabi.

Mr Barrack, who also served as Mr Trump's inaugural committee chairman, had been friends with the former president for four decades.

The wealthy investor is the latest ex-Trump aide to face criminal charges, like former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former Trump Organization lawyer Michael Cohen.

His next court appearance is 2 September.

Mr Barrack is currently free on a $250m (£180m) bond, but must wear an electronic GPS ankle bracelet, restrict his travel and follow a curfew.

13-12-20, 15:52	#1
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	Top TRUMP Aide Pleads Not Guilty to Working as Foreign Agent Violence Flares in Washington as Far-Right Trump Supporters Clash With Counter-Protesters Four people reportedly stabbed and 23 arrested in the aftermath of a march to denounce Joe Biden’s election victory 'It's surreal': the US officials facing violent threats as Trump claims voter fraud Protests also took place in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona, where Trump’s campaign has sought to overturn vote counts. The Guardian UK, 13 DEC 2020. Violence has broken out in the streets of Washington DC after far-right groups clashed with counter-protesters in the aftermath of a march by conservatives protesting against US president-elect Joe Biden’s election victory. The trouble flared as darkness fell and crowds began to disperse in the wake of a largely peaceful demonstration on Saturday by Trump supporters who allege without evidence that the 3 November election was tainted by fraud. Groups of pro-Trump Proud Boys protesters and Antifa counterprotesters brawled in the city’s downtown streets and although police used pepper spray on members of both sides, the rivals regrouped and violence continued sporadically. Four people were taken to hospital with stab wounds with potentially life-threatening injuries, according to the Washington Post, which quoted DC fire spokesman, Doug Buchanan. Police said 23 people were arrested. An estimated 200 members of the Proud Boys, a violent far-right group, had joined the marches earlier on Saturday near the Trump hotel in the capital. Mixing with church groups who urged the faithful to participate in “Jericho Marches” and prayer rallies for the defeated president, the Proud Boys contingent wore combat fatigues and ballistic vests, carried helmets and flashed hand signals used by white nationalists. They shouted insults at rival Antifa protesters and burned Black Lives Matters flags but police succeeded in keeping the factions apart until the evening Local media in the Washington state capital of Olympia reported that one person was shot and three arrested after clashes between pro- and anti-Trump protest groups. More than 50 federal and state court rulings have upheld Biden’s victory. The US supreme court on Friday rejected a long-shot lawsuit filed by Texas and backed by Trump seeking to throw out voting results in four states. “Whatever the ruling was yesterday ... everybody take a deep, deep breath,” retired army general Mike Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, told protesters in front of the supreme court, referring to the court’s refusal to hear the Texas case. Flynn who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts with the former Russian ambassador, spoke in his first public address since Trump pardoned him in November. “My charge to you is to go back to where you are from” and make demands, Flynn told the crowd, without being more specific. The US constitution is “not about collective liberty it is about individual liberties, and they designed it that way”, he said. Trump has refused to concede defeat, alleging without evidence that he was denied victory by massive fraud. On his way to Andrews air force base and then to the annual Army-Navy football game in New York, Trump made three passes in the Marine One helicopter over the cheering protesters. Earlier on Saturday, Trump’s supporters carrying flags and signs made their way in small knots toward Congress and the supreme court through downtown Washington, which was closed to traffic by police vehicles and dump trucks. Few of the marchers wore masks, despite soaring Covid-19 deaths and cases, defying a mayoral directive for them to be worn outside. Several thousand people rallied in Washington, fewer than during a similar protest last month. As some in the crowd echoed far right conspiracy theories about the election, a truck-pulled trailer flew Trump 2020 flags and a sign reading “Trump Unity” while blaring the country song “God Bless the USA”. “It’s clear the election has been stolen,” said Mark Paul Jones of Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania, who sported a tricorner revolutionary war-era hat as he walked toward the supreme court with his wife. Some protesters referenced the biblical miracle of the battle of Jericho, in which the walls of the city crumbled after soldiers and priests blowing horns marched around it. In his speech, Flynn told the protesters they were all standing inside Jericho after breaching its walls. Ron Hazard of Morristown, New Jersey, was one of five people who stopped at the justice department to blow shofars – a ram’s horn used in Jewish religious ceremonies – to bring down “the spiritual walls of corruption”. “We believe what is going on in this county is an important thing. It’s a balance between biblical values and anti-biblical values,” Hazard said. Read More; 'It's surreal': the US officials facing violent threats as Trump claims voter fraud __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

29-12-20, 16:37	#2
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMPs' Crumbling Empire-$300+Mil Debts & Missing Melania Biden Says TRUMP & Aides are Obstructing His Transition Team Biden accuses US defence department of obstruction on transition •29 Dec 2020, BBC News / Guardian News President-elect Joe Biden accused the outgoing Trump administration of failing to provide sufficient information to his transition team. ‘Right now, we just aren’t getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas,’ said US president-elect Joe Biden. ‘It’s nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility.’ Biden also said that the Trump administration had caused serious damage to many government agencies. ‘Many of them have been hollowed out in personnel, capacity and in morale,' he said. ‘In the policy processes that have atrophied or have been sidelined. In the despair of our alliances and the disrepair of those alliances.’ US President-elect Joe Biden has accused the US defence department of "irresponsibility" for failing to give his team the information it needs for the transition of power. He said his team had encountered "obstruction from the political leadership". Mr Biden also claimed that agencies critical to US security had suffered "enormous damage" under Donald Trump. A Pentagon spokesman said it had been "completely transparent". Mr Biden takes office on 20 January but President Trump has refused to concede. For weeks after the 3 November election, Mr Biden was blocked from receiving key intelligence briefings, an essential and normally routine part of a presidential transition. After Mr Trump finally agreed to allow the formal transition process last month, Mr Biden praised the White House for its help in the process. But his tone had changed on Monday. Mr Biden spoke after a briefing by national security and foreign policy aides. The president-elect added that his team needed a "clear picture of our force posture around the world" and that US adversaries could exploit any confusion that resulted. Following Mr Biden's remarks, Acting Defence Secretary Christopher Miller said officials had been "working with the utmost professionalism to support transition activities". "The Department of Defense has conducted 164 interviews with over 400 officials and provided over 5,000 pages of documents - far more than initially requested by Biden's transition team," he said. The presidential transition process is the handover of important information and duties from the outgoing administration to the president-elect and his or her team, ensuring that they are fully up to speed when they reach the White House on 20 January. The president-elect described key security agencies as having been "hollowed out" in personnel, capacity and morale. "The policy processes have atrophied or have been sidelined," he added, saying that this was "to the despair of our alliances". Mr Trump sacked his Defence Secretary Mark Esper shortly after the election, apparently over Mr Esper's disagreement with his call to deploy the military against anti-racism protesters. Mr Trump's subsequent installation of loyalists in the department was viewed with concern by political opponents, who saw it as an attempt to sow chaos in the final weeks of his administration. The president has not commented on Mr Biden's latest remarks. Mr Esper himself became defence secretary only in 2019. President Trump's first defence secretary was Gen Jim Mattis, who left the post after his views and the president's increasingly diverged. Other senior security officials who have left their positions in the Trump administration include Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, fired in November 2019, and John Bolton, who left his job as national security adviser in September 2019. He was the third person to hold that role under Mr Trump. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

04-01-21, 18:00	#3
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMPs' Crumbling Empire-$300+Mil Debts & Missing Melania US Election: Trump Tells Georgia Election Official to 'Find' Votes to Overturn Biden Win Trump Demands Georgia Official Find 11,780 Votes for Him He is heard pleading with Georgia's election chief to overturn Joe Biden's win in the state, according to audio clips obtained by The Washington Post. CBC / BBC News, 4 JAN 2021. Donald Trump has been recorded telling Georgia's top election official to "find" enough votes to overturn the election result. "I just want to find 11,780 votes," Mr Trump told Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in a recording released by the Washington Post. Mr Raffensperger is heard replying that Georgia's results are correct. Joe Biden won Georgia alongside other swing states, winning 306 electoral college votes to Mr Trump's 232. Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris called Mr Trump's comments "a bold abuse of power". It comes ahead of two crucial runoff elections in Georgia on Tuesday that will decide which party controls the Senate. Since the 3 November vote, Mr Trump has been making unsubstantiated allegations of widespread electoral fraud. All 50 states have certified the election result, some after recounts and legal appeals. Congress is due to formally approve the election result on 6 January and Mr Biden, a Democrat, is due to be inaugurated as president on 20 January. Jan.03 -- Donald Trump called Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to demand that he find just enough votes to overturn the president's loss in the state to Joe Biden. Trump's comments were in a recording obtained by Bloomberg News and reported earlier by the Washington Post. Also on the call were Ryan Germany, the secretary of state’s legal counsel, Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer for Trump, and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. (Excerpt): FULL PHONE CALL: During an hourlong phone call, President Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn the 2020 election results . Trump said, “I just want to find 11,780 votes.”» __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

11-01-21, 03:23	#4
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMPs' Crumbling Empire-$300+Mil Debts & Missing Melania Impeachment Articles Could be Introduced as Early as Monday -Democrats Ready But May Wait for Senate Trial After Inauguration ‘Madness’: second Republican senator says Trump must go Schwarzenegger Rebukes TRUMP The Guardian UK, 11 JAN 2021. They will do so with a chilling warning ringing in their ears. Late on Sunday afternoon, the office of the Colorado Democratic representative Jason Crow released a readout of a call in which army secretary Ryan McCarthy “indicated that [the Department of Defense] is aware of further possible threats posed by would-be terrorists in the days up to and including Inauguration Day”. According to the readout, McCarthy said the Pentagon was “working with local and federal law enforcement to coordinate security preparations” for 20 January. Crow, a former US army ranger, said he had “raised grave concerns about reports that active duty and reserve military members were involved in the insurrection” and asked that “troops deployed for the inauguration … are not sympathetic to domestic terrorists”. The readout said McCarthy agreed and said he was willing to testify publicly in the coming days. Earlier on Sunday, from the Senate, Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he had asked FBI director Christopher Wray to “relentlessly pursue” those who attacked the Capitol. The mob ransacked offices and assaulted the Senate and House chambers after being told by Trump to “fight like hell”, resulting in chaos and the deaths of five people including a police officer and a rioter who was shot by law enforcement. “The threat of violent extremist groups remains high,” Schumer said. While security was stepped up around the Capitol, political chess continued, with the White House belatedly lowering its US flag to half-staff in honour of those who died. Trump faced growing calls from within his own party to step down, with one prominent Republican senator accusing him of a “descent into madness”. “The behaviour was outrageous, and there should be accountability,” Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania told CNN’s State of the Union. “The president’s behaviour after the election was wildly different than his behaviour before he descended into a level of madness and engaged in activity that was just absolutely unthinkable and unforgivable.” Trump’s resignation, Toomey said, becoming the second Republican senator to call for the president to go, “is the best path forward, the best way to get this person in the rearview mirror”. In a survey by ABC News and Ipsos published on Sunday, 56% of respondents said Trump should be removed before 20 January. A higher number, 67%, held Trump responsible for the Capitol violence. The president remained at the White House on Sunday, silent without his Twitter account – from which he has been shut out – and isolated even from Vice-President Mike Pence, according to reports. James Clyburn, the House majority whip, told CNN a single article of impeachment, which accuses Trump of “inciting an insurrection” and having “gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions”, would be presented. “It may be Tuesday or Wednesday before action is taken but it will be taken this week,” Clyburn said. A vote to impeach Trump for a second time, a near certainty given the Democratic House majority, would send the case to the Senate for trial, where a two-thirds majority would see his removal. But the timing is at the discretion of House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who seems set to choose to wait until after Biden’s inauguration, Clyburn said. Biden has been lukewarm about impeachment and concerns are growing among Democrats that an early trial would distract from vital Senate business, such as confirming cabinet members and passing Covid-19 relief. “Let’s give President Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running and maybe we’ll send the articles sometime after that,” Clyburn said. The congressman also promoted a possible second article of impeachment, related to Trump’s false claims of election fraud and an infamous call pressuring Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” enough votes to reverse defeat there. “We heard it on the phone, begging at one time, ordering at another time, and threatening criminal action to overturn the vote to find him 11,700 odd votes. And he did it in order to be declared the victor. That is impeachable,” he said. Events have moved quickly since the mob attacked the Capitol, where a police officer who died was struck with a fire extinguisher. Multiple arrests have been made, including of men who brought firearms and explosives to Washington. Rioters were seen with handcuffs, indicating plans to kidnap lawmakers. Outside, protesters brandished a gallows and noose. Inside, chants of “Hang Mike Pence” were heard, directed at the vice-president presiding over the electoral college count. On Friday, Trump saw his Twitter account suspended, denying him the mouthpiece he has used to spread lies and incite violence. The backlash against Trump has continued to gain momentum, with several cabinet members and allies resigning and chatter increasing about a possible invocation of the 25th amendment, which provides for the removal of a president deemed incapable. WARNING THIS VIDEO IS EXTREMELY DISTRESSING.... THAT GROUP OF SAVAGES & THEIR LEADER TRUMP MUST GO TO PRISON: __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

11-01-21, 16:22	#5
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMPs' Crumbling Empire-$300+Mil Debts & Missing Melania Police Shed Tears Lining Streets of DC to Salute Officer Killed in Capitol Riots Officer Brian Sicknick died after he was hit over the head with a fire extinguisher as he tried to prevent Donald Trump supporters from storming the US building on Wednesday Officer Brian Sicknick died after he was hit over the head with a fire extinguisher (Image: UNITED STATES CAPITOL POLICE HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock) Officers lined a street in Washington (Image: AFP via Getty Images) Officer Sicknick was from New Jersey and the state's Governor Phil Murphy released a statement calling his death a "needless murder". It reads: "Officer Sicknick gave his life protecting the United States Capitol, and by extension, our very democracy from violent insurrection. "His needless murder at the hands of a mob bent on overthrowing the Constitution he had dedicated his life to upholding is shocking. "It is my fervent hope that the rioters whose actions directly contributed to his death are quickly identified and brought to justice." "Officer Sicknick shared a passion for the outdoors and became a member of the mountain bike unit with Capitol Police, patrolling the grounds daily. "His fellow officers remember him as someone they could always count on to be there and also could always bring a smile or laugh to them. Brian also shared a love for dogs as many of us at USCP do. "There are no words to describe the loss of Officer Brian Sicknick. He will forever be remembered for his bravery and service to our country as a member of the military and a United States Capitol Police Officer." Sicknick's death has shaken America as questions have been raised asking how an armed mob could storm the halls of the US Capitol as the presidential election results were being certified. Videos published online show vastly outnumbered Capitol Police officers trying in vain to stop surging rioters, while other videos show officers not moving to stop rioters in the building. The police chief has resigned as have the chief security officers for both the US House and Senate after it was revealed that help from the Pentagon was refused three day before despite there being signs that things could get violent. A memorial to the fallen officer (Image: Getty Images) Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, who represents the 8th District of Michigan, has requested that Officer Sicknick be buried with posthumous honours at Arlington National Cemetery. She said: "Officer Sicknick died in the line of duty as a U.S. Capitol Police Officer but did so living up to the oath he swore in the military: to protect and defend the Constitution." THUG Jacob Chansley drew a lot of attention with his horned hat and 'shaman outfit' during the violence in Washington (Image: AFP via Getty Images) __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

12-01-21, 12:54	#6
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMPs' Crumbling Empire-$300+Mil Debts & Missing Melania TRUMP Supporters Planning Armed Protests Ahead of Biden Inauguration, FBI warns The FBI has warned of possible armed protests being held across the US as Trump supporters and far-right groups call for demonstrations before Joe Biden is sworn in as president. BBC 11 JAN 2021 Security has been stepped up at the US Capitol following deadly violence last week There are reports of armed groups planning to gather at all 50 state capitols and in Washington DC in the run-up to his 20 January inauguration. Security will be tight for the event after a pro-Trump mob stormed Congress. House Democrats say a vote to impeach the president will happen on Wednesday. They accuse President Trump of "incitement of insurrection" and say the vote will be held unless Vice-President Mike Pence invokes constitutional powers to remove Mr Trump from office. There is no sign Mr Pence is prepared to do so. Mr Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris are expected to be sworn in at a ceremony at the Capitol. The Biden team had already urged Americans to avoid travelling to the capital because of the Covid-19 pandemic, a call that has been repeated by local authorities following last week's violence. Security officials have said there will be no repeat of the breach seen on 6 January, when thousands of pro-Trump supporters were able to break into the building where members of Congress were voting to certify the election result. Five people died in the riot, which happened after Mr Trump repeated unsubstantiated claims of fraud in the November vote and encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol. Since then, calls for Mr Trump's resignation, removal from office or impeachment have grown among Democrats and some Republicans. Mr Trump has made no public statements since he was banned from several social media platforms - including Twitter - on Friday. He became the third US president to be impeached in December 2019 over charges of breaking the law by asking Ukraine to investigate his rival in the presidential election. The Senate cleared him. Key Dates to Watch Tuesday: The House of Representatives will vote on a resolution calling on Vice-President Pence and the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to declare the president unfit for office and remove him immediately. The resolution is likely to pass as Democrats hold a majority, but Mr Pence has shown no sign he is planning to act Wednesday: Democrats vow to hold a vote on impeachment. As they have a majority, Mr Trump is likely to become the first president to be impeached twice. The single article of impeachment - a formal charge - will then need to be sent to the Senate where a trial will be held but the timeline is not known 20 January: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are sworn in as president and vice-president What Further Protests are Planned? Posts on pro-Trump and far-right online networks have called for protests on a number of dates, including armed demonstrations in cities across the country on 17 January and a march in Washington DC on inauguration day itself. An internal FBI bulletin, reported by ABC News and other outlets, carries a warning that one group is calling for the "storming" of state, local and federal courthouses around the country if Mr Trump is removed from office early and on inauguration day if he is not. Although the violence at the US Capitol dominated headlines last week, similar smaller incidents were also reported elsewhere in the country. Local police agencies have been told by federal law enforcement to increase security at statehouses, according to US media. FBI warnings are in place for all state capitals from 16 to 20 January itself and in Washington DC at least three days before the inauguration. Companies and social media networks are cracking down against users and websites seen to be encouraging violence, including social network Parler, which said it was suing Amazon for removing it from its web hosting service on Monday. Twitter said it had suspended more than 70,000 accounts that promoted the Q-Anon conspiracy theory while Facebook said it was banning any content that refers to Stop the Steal, a slogan associated with Mr Trump's claim the election was rigged. In other developments: US media report that Mr Trump had a phone call with the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, on Monday. According to CBS and Politico, Mr McCarthy told fellow Republicans that Mr Trump had accepted some responsibility for last week's violence while Axios said Mr Trump claimed the loose-knit left-wing group antifa were involved, although there is no evidence of that Mr Trump is expected to make his first public appearance since the riot on Tuesday, as he travels to Texas to visit a stretch of the border wall with Mexico On Monday, Mr Trump and Mr Pence met for the first time since the riot, which happened as the vice-president was presiding over certification of the election result. No details have been released of the meeting. Mr Pence had refused Mr Trump's call not to certify the result What Security is Planned for The Inauguration? On Monday President Trump declared a state of emergency for Washington DC until 24 January, which enables the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to act to "avert the threat of a catastrophe". Chad Wolf, acting head of the DHS, said he had instructed the US Secret Service to begin operations for the inauguration on Wednesday - six days early - "in light of events of the past week and the evolving security landscape". Later on Monday, Mr Wolf became the third Trump cabinet secretary to step down since the riots, after Betsy DeVos and Elaine Chao. He said his departure had been prompted by "recent events", including court rulings challenging the legal validity of his appointment. More than 10,000 National Guard troops will be in the capital by the weekend, with about 5,000 more available if requested, Chief of the National Guard Bureau General Daniel Hokanson said. For Mr Trump's inauguration in 2017, about 8,000 National Guard troops were deployed. Meanwhile, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called for more security after what she described as an "unprecedented terrorist attack" at the US Capitol last week. The National Park Service announced that it has closed the Washington Monument to visitors amid "credible threats" of violence, adding it could also temporarily close areas of the National Mall and Memorial Parks. Speaking as he got his second Covid-19 vaccine on Monday, Mr Biden said he was "not afraid" to take his oath of office outside despite security fears. After being sworn in as president, Mr Biden is expected to take part in a wreath-laying ceremony alongside former presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton to help underscore his message of unity. Donald Trump has said he will not attend the inauguration - becoming the first president in more than 150 years to refuse to do so. MORE; Firms scrap political donations over capitol riots - BBC News . __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

14-01-21, 11:23	#7
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMPs' Crumbling Empire-$300+Mil Debts & Missing Melania TRUMP Becomes First US President to be Impeached Twice Donald Trump has been impeached by the US House of Representatives, in his final week in office. warnings he was a "clear and present danger Ten Republicans joined Democrats in voting against president who now faces a trial in the Senate. Impeached for 'inciting' US Capitol riot in historic second charge BBC News, 14 JAN 2021. A week after hundreds of the President’s supporters violently invaded the US Capitol - forcing Congressmen and women to flee - Representatives voted to impeach Mr Trump for inciting insurrection and falsely claiming the presidential election victory of Joe Biden was fraudulent. Several Republicans abandoned the president and backed the articles of impeachment. A trial will now take place in the Senate - the upper house of Congress. If US senators also support impeachment, Donald Trump will be banned from every standing again for any public office in the United States. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

17-01-21, 10:12	#8
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMPS' 2nd Impeachment Trial to Begin 8 FEB 2021 Inside Donald Trumps' Crumbling Empire - Missing Melania, Toxic Family and £220 ($341) Million Debts We chart the rise and fall of the Trump empire, as his family become social outcasts, his friends become enemies of the MAGA mob and the Republican Party finally finds a conscience Joe Biden presents $1.9tn coronavirus relief package AP, 15 JAN 2021 Donald Trump was the cancel king – demanding total obedience, humiliating dissenters and driving enemies from their jobs. But now, after becoming the first US leader to be impeached for a second time, it is his turn to be shunned by those previously in his thrall. Banks and businesses, pals and allies, social media sites and former sycophants are all walking away. Even his favourite daughter, Ivanka, has reportedly infuriated him by agreeing to attend Joe Biden ’s inauguration next week after Trump refused. The House voted 232 to 197 to impeach Trump, casting their ballots in the very chamber where rioters forced lawmakers to flee last week. Liz Cheney, one of 10 Republicans joining Democrats to impeach him for “incitement of insurrection”, said he “summoned this mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack”. Yesterday thousands more troops filed into Washington DC ahead of Biden’s swearing-in next Wednesday amid fears of further violence. As Trump’s empire falls and he faces the prospect of a litany of lawsuits, we look at his crumbling power base... Family The toll of Donald Trump ’s chaotic and crisis filled Presidency has many casualties none more so than his own family. His eldest children, Don Jr, Eric, Ivanka and more recently Tiffany have become social outcasts among their once elite circles. Donald Trump with (L-R) Eric Trump, Lara Yunaska, Vanessa Trump, Melania Trump, businessman Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and Vanessa Trump (Image: Getty Images) New York’s glitterati has put so much space between the “toxic family” locals jokes it has made Covid’s social distancing measures look pathetic. They all now plan to leave Manhattan for Florida. This week it was revealed Don Jr, 43, and his caterwauling girlfriend Kimberley Guilfoye will be following in the footsteps of his younger sister Ivanka moving to the Sunshine State. “There is no way they can stay in New York. They’d be tortured in the streets,” a source close to the family told one US newspaper. Donald Trump is no longer permitted to enter Scotland because of COVID restrictions. But he also has more legal actions awaiting him there. First Lady Melania Trump kisses Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Image: Reuters) Junior is looking at homes in Jupiter becoming neighbours of Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Celine Dion. The area is an hour and a half away from Indian Creek Island, where Jared Kushner, 40, and Ivanka Trump, 39, just bought £22 million plot. Tiffany Trump, 27, is also looking to move to Miami Friends Throughout his presidency, Trumps’ greatest loyalists have been his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Vice President Mike Pence. Today the two men have become outcasts with the President’s rabid MAGA mob openly wanting one hung. After Pence refused to bow to his boss and failing to reject the electoral college votes that certified Joe Biden’s election win, Trump openly attacked his Vice President. After Trumps’ verbal attack, a long time friend of Pence said in an interview, he had NEVER seen Mike Pence so angry. Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence (Image: Getty) In a furious phone call just before last week joint session of congress and before the storming of the Capitol building Trump made a final demand of his deputy. Absurdly the US leader asked Pence to commit an illegal manoeuvre to overturn the election results. “You can either go down in history as a patriot,” Trump said, “or you can go down in history as a pussy.” After Pence refused Trump took to Twitter to attack the Vice President. It left the VP bombarded with death threats while a noose was erected on the Capitol as lawmakers were being stormed. Trump is reportedly now refusing to pay his long time 'pal' & CONpatriot Rudy Giuliani... Yesterday it emerged, Trump had turned on his ultra loyalist, personal attorney Giuliani expressing disappointment with some of his legal moves in challenging the election results. He is now said to have ordered the lawyer’s £15,000 a day fee be stopped while the President is demanding he approves all expenses incurred by Giuliani in his multi-state legal campaign to prove election fraud. Already many of his former cabinet have attacked their once boss saying he is a “danger” to democracy and America. Party A day before the House was set to charge Trump with ‘willful incitement of insurrection’, the President’s firewall began to crack. For four years, Republicans had built an impregnable barrier around the US leader too afraid to speak out fearing such a move would be political suicide. US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had been a Trump backer - now he's furious (Image: REUTERS) But now as Trump faces the gravest allegation ever lodged against a sitting president, those he could once count on have seemed to have finally found a conscience. With just five days left from today - Friday - before he leaves the White House, no longer are many Republicans fearful of their fallen king. Ten of his own party joined Democrats in voting to impeach the US leader, while several senators who will hear his pending trial have already said they believe him to be guilty. What’s more, the top two hugely influential congressional Republicans - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy - have privately signalled they too are furious and open to punishing Trump in some way for his role inciting the violence that led to five deaths, including one police officer. Senator Lisa Murkowski, who represents Alaska, said she is considering leaving the party, in a move which would give the Democrats a majority in the Senate. “If the Republican Party has become nothing more than the party of Trump, I sincerely question whether this is the party for me,” she said. Golf The outgoing President is seen playing a round at his Turnberry Luxury Collection Resort in Scotland (Image: Getty) The game that has long been Trump’s escape is now escaping him. The President’s New Jersey golf course had been due to host the 2022 PGA Championship. That fixture was announced in 2014 – but after last week’s riots the Professional Golfers’ Association of America said it was walking away from it. The latest Trump Organization filings this month reported a £3.4million annual loss at his Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire golf resorts, taking their total loss in eight years to £55million. Melania She is the least visible First Lady in US history, and rumours in Washington suggest Trump could soon be seeing even less of wife Melania. Bookies have had a flurry of bets that she will leave, amid reports that she renegotiated their prenup after his election win. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump are more aligned than people think (Image: Reuters) Many who abhor Trump imagine his wife does, too. They point to several videos of the Slovenian Sphynx seeming to refuse to hold her husband’s hand, and remark that she spends a lot of time apart from him and is not publicly affectionate with him. Some have baselessly claimed she has a body double who stands in for her when she refuses to appear at his side. However, sources say Melania is much more aligned with Trump than is widely believed. One told CNN: “She can be silent, but she’s part of this” – “this” being the recent activities of the President and the denial of his election loss. City Possibly the Big Apple’s most famous son, Donald Trump has become a pariah in his own city. No longer able to walk the streets or reside at his Fifth Avenue penthouse, the President has been forced to relocate to Florida as New York prosecutors hone their sights on him and businesses. He faces two New York state inquiries into whether he misled tax authorities, banks or business partners. Two women alleging he sexually assaulted them are suing him. Not content some Democrats are calling for the revival of a federal campaign finance investigation that appeared to end under his once-loyal U.S. Attorney General William Barr. Trump Tower stands in Manhattan (Image: Getty Images) Only this week, it was announced New York City Hall officials are to pull the multi-million dollar contract they hold with the desperately in need of cash Trump Organisation. “This president has committed an unlawful act, he has disgraced himself, he will no longer profit from his relationship with New York City,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said. Referring to Trump’s fuelling of the Capitol riots that left five people dead, he added: “It’s quite clear the president of the United States committed a criminal act. “He directed an insurrection against the United States Capitol. Period. That’s criminal, that’s treasonous.” The Trump Organisation had operated four major attractions in city parks: Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point in The Bronx, the Wollman Rink at the southern part of Central Park, the Lasker Rink at the northern end of Central Park and the famed Central Park Carousel. Backers The President’s greatest long term fear will be in business after one-by-one banks have begun to dump Trump. After personally guaranteeing some £220 million in loans and with his companies haemorrhaging money, the US leader needs lenders more than ever. Yet following his fuelling of last week’s riot, bankers are cutting ties with the president with one even calling publicly for his resignation. Both Deutsche Bank and Signature Bank have made the decision to end their business relationships with the outgoing president - a potentially huge blow to Trump’s business future as they were among the last banks willing to lend money to Trump and his family for their various businesses. Deutsche Bank’s move to sever its relationship with Trump will send a shiver through the US leader and his inner circle. He owes the troubled German lender more than £200 million and his primary contact at the bank, Rosemary Vrablic, left Deutsche in late December, leading many to speculate the bank was preparing to sever all Trump ties. New York-based Signature confirmed it too has begun the process of closing Trump’s two personal accounts at the £3.7 billion bank and “will not do business in the future with any members of Congress who voted to disregard the Electoral College.” Signature also demanded he resigns as President. Trump may, however, be able to land lucrative opportunities for him in right-wing media, including a possible role at a news channel, his own media venture or a book deal. With his removal from social media, including Snapchat on Thursday, he has also claimed to be launching his own site to rival those he is now banned from including Twitter. 'Fuming': How Trump is reacting to his second impeachment Tracking down the militia among the 'Oath Keepers' who stormed the US Capitol *FOR THOSE OF YOU that still believe in TRUMP.. You should watch EMPIRES OF NEW YORK* . __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

22-01-21, 14:18	#9
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMPS' 2nd Impeachment Trial to Begin 8 FEB 2021 TRUMPS' Bizarre New Life Where Staff Must Call Him King as He Plots Comeback The world watched the 74-year-old bid farewell to his chaotic four years in the Oval Office with a speech in front of a couple of hundred loyalists as if he was still speaking to the masses. TRUMPS' Impeachment: Republicans seek delay until February BBC News, 22 JAN 2021. Rejected by America, Donald Trumps’ enforced abdication as the worlds’ most powerful man was too much for his ego to take. With his pride bruised, Nancy Pelosi claiming he could be an “accessory to murder” and aides and supporters deserting him in their droves, he was desperate to find the adoration he once commanded. His post-presidential options will be defined by the fallout over his incendiary US Capitol speech on January 6 that spurred his supporters to riot, killing five and led to his historic second impeachment. On the eve of the inauguration, House of Congress speaker Pelosi took aim at Trump. She said: “[The] President’s words are important, they weigh a ton. And if you’re Donald Trump talking to these people, they believe it and they used his words... “This president is an accessory to that crime because he instigated that insurrection that caused those deaths.” “This has been an incredible four years,” he said as his sons Donald Jr and Eric looked on with sisters Ivanka and Tiffany. He went on: “I just want to say goodbye, but hopefully it’s not a long-term goodbye. We’ll see each other again. “I want to thank all the great people of Washington DC, all of the people that we worked with to put this miracle together. So, have a good life. We will see you soon. Thank you.” No longer welcome in his native New York, Trump flew to his Florida mansion MaraLago where today he will wake up in silk sheets surrounded by his gaudy gold-adorned bedroom. A flashback through four turbulent years of Donald Trump - BBC News TRUMPS' Antifa mob vowing REVENGE smash Dem HQ and burn US flags after Biden sworn in __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

23-01-21, 03:25	#10
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMPS' 2nd Impeachment as Courtrooms & Creditors LOOM TRUMPS' Second Impeachment Trial to Begin 8 February 2021 ABC News (Australia) 23 JAN 2021 Former US president Donald Trump's impeachment trial will begin the week of 8 February, after Democrats and Republicans reached a compromise on the proposed timeline. Mr Trump will be the first former president to face an impeachment trial after leaving office. Under the timeline, the House of Representatives will formally deliver the impeachment article against Mr Trump to the chamber late on Monday (US time), with initial proceedings set down for Tuesday. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

23-01-21, 18:08	#11
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Wealth Tumbles as Court Cases & Creditors Loom Courtrooms and Creditors Likely to Loom Large in Trumps Post-Presidency Life Carter campaigned for human rights, Bush painted … but Trump faces several criminal investigations and a mountain of debt Donald Trumps' post-presidency may be filled with legal woes..... The Guardian UK, 23JAN 2021. Each US president has charted a unique course after leaving the White House, taking up vocations from philanthropy to human rights to oil painting. Donald Trump’s post-presidency appears likely to be taken up by meetings with lawyers and creditors, possible sworn depositions about tax practices or sexual assault allegations and, in some long-tail scenarios, fines, criminal charges, bankruptcy or other legal sanction. With Trump gone from Washington, and now lacking the immunity protections of the presidency, prosecutors in at least three jurisdictions are either weighing or actively pursuing criminal cases against him, and a fourth prosecutor is investigating allegedly fraudulent business practices inside the Trump Organization. Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, is reportedly a major figure in two of the investigations, over more than $700,000 in “consulting fees” she allegedly received from the Trump Organization, which then allegedly claimed those fees as tax-deductible business expenses. “This is harassment pure and simple,” Ivanka Trump tweeted in November, denying the allegations. Donald Trump has long conducted himself, as a businessman and as president, as if the law did not apply to him or his cronies, dozens of whom he pardoned for crimes on the eve of his departure from office. But criminal investigations now under way mean that the law might finally catch up to Trump in his post-presidency life, just as a $300m avalanche of debt coming due over four years that Trump has personally guaranteed threatens to sink him financially, according to a New York Times analysis of his tax records, Trump has denied all wrongdoing, and his son Eric Trump has boasted that the Trump empire is healthy, with liquid real estate assets and branding opportunities overseas. One solution to Trump’s financial woes might be suggested by the $270m he has raised since November, mostly from small donors, in a false “defend the election” campaign. “You have a man who would get followed to the ends of the Earth by a hundred million Americans,” Eric Trump told the Associated Press, inflating by almost half the votes Trump received. “He created the greatest political movement in American history and his opportunities are endless.” The legal hazards facing Trump can also seem endless. The Senate is preparing to hold a trial in Trump’s second impeachment, on charges that he incited the 6 January insurrection at the Capitol. A conviction in the Senate is not only likely to result in Trump’s being barred from ever again holding office – it could increase the likelihood of criminal charges being brought against Trump by the US attorney’s office in Washington DC, which is investigating the attack on the Capitol. “We are looking at all actors here, and anyone that had a role, if the evidence fits the element of a crime, they’re going to be charged,” acting US attorney Michael R Sherwin told reporters when asked directly about Trump, who directed the mob to march on the Capitol. That statement echoed one by the Fulton county district attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, who is weighing an investigation of a phone call Trump made this month in which the president pressured the Georgia secretary of state to overturn the state’s election result. “Like many Americans, I have found the news reports about the president’s telephone call with the Georgia secretary of state disturbing,” the prosecutor, Fani Wills, said in a statement. “Anyone who commits a felony violation of Georgia law in my jurisdiction will be held accountable.” The New York state attorney general, Laetitia James, who is conducting a civil, as opposed to a criminal, investigation, of Trump Organization business practices, made a similar statement on national television last month. Trump cannot avoid justice in the great state of New York,” said James, whose office has previously, and successfully, pursued accusations of fraud within a Trump “university” and a Trump “charity”, leading to a $25m settlement and a $2m damages payment, respectively. In perhaps the most threatening legal action facing Trump, the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance, is conducting what his office has described as a “complex criminal investigation” into Trump’s business dealings, including sworn allegations by the Trump lawyer-turned-enemy Michael Cohen that the Trump Organization kept separate sets of books for tax and debt purposes. Defending a subpoena for eight years of Trump’s tax records, in court documents Vance has cited “public reports of possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization”. Vance’s investigation also encompasses hush payments Trump caused to be made to the pornographic movie actor Stormy Daniels and former model Karen McDougal. Cohen, who orchestrated the payments, pleaded guilty in federal court in 2018 to campaign finance violations in the scheme and has said he was directed by Trump. The lawsuits do not stop there. The magazine writer E Jean Carroll, who accuses Trump of raping her inside a New York department store in the mid-1990s, has brought what legal observers see as a powerful defamation lawsuit against Trump for calling her a liar. Trump said in a 2019 Oval Office interview that the rape could not have happened because “she’s not my type”. Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, is representing clients in two other lawsuits against Trump, including one brought by Mary Trump, the former president’s niece, charging her uncle and two siblings with defrauding her of an inheritance worth millions. “His terror is that he will no longer be protected by the office and will have to deal with these lawsuits,” Mary Trump told the Washington Post. Kaplan is seeking sworn depositions from Trump in all three cases. “When we depose you, you’re not going to get away with that,” she told the Washington Post. “He had the mantle of the presidency, and that’s now gone.” __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

25-01-21, 18:20	#12
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Wealth Tumbles as Court Cases & Creditors Loom Dominion Sues Rudy Giuliani for $1.3 Billion Over False Election Claims Trump Plotted to Pick Loyalist as Acting AG to Overturn Election Trump Supporters' Campaign of Intimidation BBC News, 25 JAN 2021. Dominion Voting Systems has sued former President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani for defamation after he pushed claims of election fraud against the company. Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark nearly convinced then-President Donald Trump to remove then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and use the Department of Justice to undo Georgia's election results, The New York Times reported on 22 January. “Death threats happened. My wife actually got the first ones.” Following the US election, Trump’s supporters carried out a campaign of intimidation. Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, proved a tough target. This film charts Donald Trump’s last months as president as he attempts to win, and subsequently overturn, the results of the 2020 election – culminating in scenes of violent ‘insurrection’ against the US Congress. Friends, advisers and close observers tell the story of Trump’s last days, from packed rallies - held as coronavirus besieges America - to riots on Capitol Hill. The film provides a blow-by-blow account of the final weeks of his administration - and a gripping psychological study of the controversial leader’s final days in power. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

26-01-21, 09:21	#13
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Wealth Tumbles as Court Cases & Creditors Loom House Managers Deliver Impeachment Article to Senate __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

28-01-21, 20:13	#14
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Wealth Tumbles as Court Cases & Creditors Loom TRUMP Opens a Florida Office to Start Re-Election Campaign Former US President Donald Trump opened an office in Florida on Monday to continue his administration's agenda and handle his duties as a former president. •28 Jan 2021 The Sun In a statement, the office said: "The Office will be responsible for managing President Trump's correspondence, public statements, appearances, and official activities to advance the interests of the United States and to carry on the agenda of the Trump Administration through advocacy, organizing, and public activism." Trump's announcement came the same day the US House of Representatives delivered his second impeachment charge to the Senate for inciting insurrection at the Capitol earlier this month. The Senate trial is expected to start on Feb. 9. In farewell remarks last week, Trump told his supporters that he would return: "We love you. We will be back in some form." He hasn't been seen publicly since that address and flight to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. The Wall Street Journal reported that before leaving office, Trump talked with associates about forming his own political party called the 'Patriot Party.' __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

31-01-21, 14:48	#15
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Wealth Tumbles as Court Cases & Creditors Loom Donald TRUMP Impeachment Defence in Disarray as Lead Lawyers Quit Butch Bowers clashed with Trump over strategy, according to reports, and leaves along with Deborah Barberi and three others The Guardian , 31 JAN 2021. Donald Trump has abruptly parted ways with the two lead lawyers working on his defence for his Senate impeachment trial, a source familiar with the situation said, leaving the former US president’s legal strategy in disarray. Butch Bowers and Deborah Barberi, two South Carolina lawyers, are no longer on Trump’s team, the source said, describing the move as a “mutual decision”. Three other lawyers associated with the team, Josh Howard of North Carolina and Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris of South Carolina, also parted ways with Trump, another source said. A third source said Trump had differences with Bowers over strategy ahead of the trial. The president is still contending that he was the victim of mass election fraud in the 3 November election won by Joe Biden. It leaves Trump’s defence team in turmoil as he prepares for a trial starting on 9 February to consider an article of impeachment passed by the House of Representatives charging him with inciting his supporters to storm the US Capitol on 6 January. It was unclear who would now represent the former president at the trial. His White House lawyers at his first impeachment trial last year, Pat Cipollone and Patrick Philbin, are not expected to be a part of the proceedings. “The Democrats’ efforts to impeach a president who has already left office is totally unconstitutional and so bad for our country,” said Jason Miller, a Trump adviser. “In fact, 45 senators have already voted that it is unconstitutional. We have done much work, but have not made a final decision on our legal team, which will be made shortly,” Miller said. Forty-five Senate Republicans backed a failed effort last Tuesday to halt Trump’s impeachment trial, in a show of party unity that some cited as a clear sign he will not be convicted of inciting insurrection at the Capitol. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

01-02-21, 13:26	#16
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Wealth Tumbles as Court Cases & Creditors Loom Donald Trump Hires New Impeachment Defense Team After Lead Lawyers Quit Lawyers David Schoen and Bruce L Castor will head up new legal team after Butch Bowers clashed with Trump over strategy, according to reports The Guardian, 1 FEB, 2021. Donald Trump has hired a new defence team for next week’s trial in the Senate, after his previous team fell apart after mass resignations. The former president has until Tuesday to submit a preliminary memo laying out his defence. The new team is not without controversy: David Schoen defended Roger Stone (who was convicted in November 2019 of obstructing a congressional investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election and then had his prison sentence commuted by Trump) The Atlanta-based lawyer also met with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein when the financier was preparing for trial in New York on charges relating to sexual exploitation and shortly before Epstein died in jail in 2019. The other new lead lawyer, Bruce Castor, is a former acting attorney general of Pennsylvania and a prominent Republican who has been criticised by advocates for victims of sexual crimes because of his stance against reforms involving help for past victims of Catholic priests. He gained notoriety for declining to prosecute Bill Cosby when he was a district attorney in 2005. Trial lawyers David Schoen and Bruce L Castor will head up Trump’s new legal team, the former US president announced on Sunday evening. The ability of Republican senators who plan to acquit Donald Trump to weigh the case on the merits remained challenged, however, after the mass resignation of Trump’s previous legal team and the looming Senate deadline of Tuesday to submit a preliminary memo laying out his defense. The House impeached Trump earlier this month on a single article charging “incitement of insurrection” – a historic second impeachment of a US president. Bruce Castor is a former acting attorney general of Pennsylvania and a prominent Republican who has been slammed by advocates for victims of sexual crimes because of his stance against reforms involving help for past victims of Catholic priests and in the case of university football coach and predator Jerry Sandusky. And Castor gained notoriety for declining to prosecute Bill Cosby more than a decade before the entertainer was eventually convicted in 2018, and also sued Cosby’s victim, Andrea Constand, in a case that was dismissed, and then was sued by Constand for defamation, which was settled. Trump’s new team will have very little time to prepare for the impeachment trial. According to a schedule hammered out by leaders from both parties, House prosecutors were to respond to Trump’s defense memo, after which arguments were to begin on the Senate floor on 9 February. But the trial schedule, and its substance, have been thrown into doubt with the departure of five lawyers on Trump’s defense team – apparently the entire team. The resignations were first reported by CNN, which said the lawyers and Trump disagreed over strategy. A Trump spokesperson told the New York Times that there had been a strategy disagreement but denied it was over Trump’s insistence that his defense center on the wild, false accusations of election fraud that he has been peddling for months. Those false accusations drew Trump supporters, many affiliated with anti-government and white supremacist groups, to Washington on 6 January to contest the certification by Congress of Joe Biden’s victory, the supporters later told law enforcement. After Trump encouraged the group in a speech to march on the Capitol, they broke into the building and vandalized it, killed a police officer and injured dozens, trampled a woman to death and caused three additional deaths, not counting two additional officers who later died by suicide. In a sense the resignation of Trump’s lawyers was irrelevant, because Republicans are planning to acquit Trump in any case, observed Princeton University historian Julian Zelizer. “The ‘crisis’ over Trump’s legal team quitting assumes that the substance of the impeachment case will sway Senate Republicans,” Zelizer tweeted. “Most already have their answer. Trump could offer no defense or he can go on the floor to read lines from the Joker movie – they would still vote to acquit.” Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union show on Sunday morning, Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman, who announced last week that he will not seek re-election, indicated that any notion of Donald Trump basing his defense in his second impeachment trial on a claim that he actually won the November election, rather than a constitutionality argument, “will not benefit” him. Portman noted that there was not adequate evidence of fraud to change the election result from a victory for Biden and that was “the view of the Trump Department of Justice”, too. “We need to be very clear to the American people, we have to acknowledge that this election was lost and we have to move on,” Portman said. “Joe Biden was duly elected.” Trump’s former legal team, which had been led by the South Carolina attorney Butch Bowers, appeared to be crafting a defense that would have challenged the constitutionality of trying a president after he has left office. The team was also expected to argue that Trump’s speech was covered by the first amendment on free speech and did not constitute “incitement”. In a vote last week, 45 out of 50 Republican senators backed a resolution supporting the argument that it would be unconstitutional to try a former president. Most constitutional scholars disagree sharply, saying there is clear historic precedent for trying defendantswho have left office and indeed Trump was still in office when he was impeached. The departure of Bowers and Deborah Barberi, two South Carolina lawyers, was described by a source familiar with the situation as a “mutual decision”. Three other lawyers associated with the team, Josh Howard of North Carolina and Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris of South Carolina, also parted ways with Trump, another source said. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

06-02-21, 10:14	#17
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Wealth Tumbles as Court Cases & Creditors Loom Biden: 'Erratic' TRUMP Should Not Get Intelligence Briefings President Joe Biden has said his predecessor Donald Trump should not be given access to intelligence briefings because of his "erratic behaviour". The US has a tradition of allowing former presidents to be briefed on the nation's security issues - as a courtesy extended by the incumbent. BBC News, 6 FEB, 2021. But when asked by CBS News if Mr Trump would receive the same courtesy, President Biden said "I think not". He cited Mr Trump's "erratic behaviour" as his reason for refusing access. "I don't think there's any need for him to have an intelligence briefing," Mr Biden said in his first sit-down interview since becoming president. He declined to speculate on what his worst fears would be if Mr Trump were allowed to see classified reports, but he suggested the former president could not be trusted to keep confidential information to himself. "What value is giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?" Mr Biden said. The move is the first time a former president has been excluded from the tradition of being granted continued access to the briefings, according to the New York Times. Mr Trump feuded with the intelligence community throughout his four-year presidency and went through six national intelligence directors. He questioned reports by US agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, and assailed intelligence chiefs for being "extremely passive and naive" over Iran. In 2017, he disclosed highly-classified information to Russia's foreign minister about an Islamic State operation in what was seen as a breach of trust by many in the US intelligence community. During his CBS interview, President Biden was asked about the impeachment trial Mr Trump is facing in the US Senate for his role in the riot at the Capitol on 6 January. Mr Biden said he "ran like hell to defeat" Mr Trump in the election "because I thought he was unfit to be president", but he would leave the Senate to decide whether the Republican should be barred from ever holding public office again. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

09-02-21, 09:38	#18
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Wealth Tumbles as Court Cases & Creditors Loom TRUMPS' Second Impeachment Trial Set to Begin in US Senate Former president faces charge of incitement of insurrection. Prosecution expected to show footage of US Capitol attack. Trumps' lawyers deny insurrection "Moving forward" without a public reckoning is an act of willful blindness — and a massive historical mistake The Guardian, 9 FEB, 2021. Amnesia nation: To "forget" the Trump era is a toxic act of privilege — and very dangerous Trump Refuses To Testify In 'Unconstitutional' Impeachment Trial The second impeachment trial of Donald Trump will begin in the US Senate on Tuesday, with the former president facing a charge of “incitement of insurrection” after his supporters stormed the US Capitol last month and engaged in clashes that left five people dead. The prosecution is expected to brandish dramatic footage of the violence at the Capitol on 6 January. The trial is set to strike a sharp contrast of tone with Trump’s first trial in early 2020, at which prosecutors used documents, emails and testimony to tell a complicated story about a Trump pressure campaign in Ukraine. Trump said and tweeted things like “Big protest in DC on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”; “Election Rigged & Stolen”; “They’re not taking this White House. We’re going to fight like hell, I’ll tell you right now” This time the alleged crime scene is much closer to home – in the very chamber where the trial will play out, which was invaded by Trump supporters moments after members of Congress and staff had been evacuated. With a majority of Americans expressing horror and outrage at the attack on the Capitol, the allegations against Trump could land much more powerfully with the public than did the story of his seeking political favors from Ukraine in return for official acts. Seeking to defuse the incendiary potential of the footage that Democrats are preparing to air on the Senate floor, defense lawyers for Trump on Monday made the extraordinary claim that presenting the events of the attack would amount to “a brazen attempt to glorify violence”. The defense team, led by Bruce Castor, a former county prosecutor from Pennsylvania, also argued in a legal brief that the Senate does not have jurisdiction to try Trump, because he has already left office. Additionally they claimed that Trump’s speeches and tweets whipping up a frenzy about false election fraud did not amount to incitement and were protected under the first amendment. The prosecutors sent by the House of Representatives, known as impeachment managers, are led by Jamie Raskin of Maryland and represent an entirely new team from Trump’s previous impeachment. The core of their argument, laid out in an 80-page brief submitted last week, documents statements Trump made and tweeted, from “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” to “Election Rigged & Stolen” to “they’re not taking this White House. We’re going to fight like hell, I’ll tell you right now” to “So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue!” Dozens of the nearly 140 people who have been charged so far in relation with the Capitol attack have argued as part of their criminal defenses that they stormed the building because the president told them to. The trial is expected to last at least through the week, but leaders from both parties are seen as not wanting it to run as long as the prior impeachment trial, which stretched to 15 days over January and February. An early push by Democrats to call witnesses at the current trial, possibly including police officers who were injured in the attack, lost momentum out of concerns that a longer timeline could interrupt efforts by the Joe Biden administration to pass a $1.9tn Covid-19 aid and economic relief package into law and pursue other policy initiatives. Under rules that were still being settled on Monday, the trial would begin with four hours of debate Tuesday on the constitutional questions of whether the Senate can try a former president in an impeachment proceeding and whether the Senate’s power to bar an official from seeking office again hinges on the antecedent act of “removal”. Each side would then have up to 16 hours starting at noon Wednesday, under draft rules, to make their cases. In a pre-trial brief filed Monday, lawyers for Trump argued that the former president’s false claims about a stolen election were protected by the first amendment and did not amount to an incitement to violence. “Even taking every one of Mr Trump’s prior statements about the election in the most negative light, they were, at most, only abstract discussions that never advocated for physical force,” the brief said. Unlike at his first impeachment trial in early 2020, Trump is at risk this time of suffering multiple defections by Republican senators outraged by the threat to their personal safety and dreaming, perhaps, of a longshot opportunity to jettison Trump from core conservative politics. But 17 Republicans would need to join Democrats to convict Trump and then bar him from holding office in the future – a tally that appears all but unattainable. Trump is the only president in US history to be impeached twice. There have been impeachment proceedings against three other presidents: Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon and Andrew Johnson. None was convicted at trial. In 2019, Trump was impeached in the House for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, but he was acquitted in the Senate with only one Republican, Mitt Romney of Utah, voting to convict. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

10-02-21, 02:58	#19
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Wealth Tumbles as Court Cases & Creditors Loom Senate Voted to Proceed with Donald TRUMPs' Impeachment Trial Divided chamber finds process constitutional during emotional day as Democrats recount Capitol attack Senate votes trial constitutional; six Republicans vote 'yes' YEA-56 NAY-44 Lauren Gambino in Washington. Wed 10 Feb 2021 00.28 GMT A divided US Senate voted to proceed with the historic second impeachment trial of Donald Trump after an emotional opening day in which the prosecution argued that the former president was singularly responsible for inciting the deadly assault on the US Capitol while the defense warned that the proceedings would further cleave a divided nation. After nearly four hours of debate in the same chamber that was invaded by pro-Trump rioters on 6 January, the senators, now seated as jurors and sworn to deliver “impartial justice”, voted 56 to 44 on the question of whether there was a constitutional basis for putting an impeached former president on trial. Six Republicans joined all Democrats in an early victory for the prosecution that undermined one of the central pillars of Trump’s defense. Trump is the first president to face an impeachment trial after leaving office, and the only president in American history to be impeached twice. But the assault on the Capitol, an event that one House impeachment manager called the “the framers’ worst nightmare come to life”, shook the nation and the world as loyalists to the former president stormed the seat of the American government in an effort to prevent Congress from formalizing Joe Biden’s victory. Though they ultimately failed, the domestic attack left five people dead and America’s commitment to a peaceful transfer of power tarnished. Republicans’ near-uniform opposition to holding a trial strongly suggested that there were not enough votes in the chamber to convict the de-platformed, one-term president even after he brazenly sought to overturn his election defeat with baseless claims of a stolen election. At least 17 Republicans would have to join all Democrats to find Trump guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. A conviction would allow the Senate to disqualify him from ever again holding office. Last month, only five Republicans joined Democrats to defeat an attempt to dismiss the impeachment charge as unconstitutional. Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican of Louisiana, was the only member to switch his vote, leaving open the possibility that some lawmakers could yet change their minds. Republicans have largely coalesced around the argument that the Senate did not have the authority to hold the trial because impeachment was intended to lead to a president’s removal from office, a position that has allowed them to avoid weighing in on whether Trump’s conduct amounted to an impeachable offense. But that view has been challenged by constitutional scholars, including the leading conservative lawyer Charles Cooper, who argued that the claims were unfounded. Citing these scholars, writings by the nation’s framers and historical precedents, the House impeachment managers warned that allowing Trump to escape punishment would establish a “January exception” for presidents to betray their oaths of office. House Democrats opened the trial with a chilling and dramatic video of the Capitol siege that threatened the lives of the former vice-president, Mike Pence, members of Congress, and everyone working in the building that day. The video pulled from the extensive visual recordings from rioters, reporters and witnesses to create a reel juxtaposing the president’s incendiary speech to supporters at a rally near the White House with scenes of mayhem and violence on Capitol Hill. There, Trump encouraged his supporters to “fight like hell” and march to the Capitol to make their voices heard before lawmakers certified Biden’s victory. The cries and chants from the video echoed through the chamber, where just over a month ago rioters sat in the dais and swung from the balcony. It concluded with a tweet from Trump, sent only moments after the building was secured on 6 January: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!” “You ask what a high crime and misdemeanor is under our constitution? That’s a high crime and misdemeanor,” the congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the leader of the House Democrats prosecuting the case, told the silent chamber, after playing the video. “If that’s not an impeachable offense, then there is no such thing.” In their rebuttal, Trump’s defense team argued that the impeachment trial was not only unconstitutional but would “open up new and bigger wounds across the nation”. Accusing Democrats of abuse of power, Trump’s lawyer David Schoen said the party was fueled by their “hatred” of Trump and their determination to see him impeached. He played a video compilation of Democratic politicians calling for Trump’s impeachment as early as 2017. “This trial will tear this country apart, perhaps like we have only seen once before in American history,” he said, warning: “If these proceedings go forward, everyone will look bad.” In a meandering defense that reportedly left Trump enraged, his lead lawyer Bruce Castor denounced the Capitol assault as “repugnant”, praised the senators as “patriots” and concluded by suggesting that if the former president had committed a crime, the punishment should be criminal prosecution, not impeachment. “There is no opportunity where the president of the United States can run rampant in January at the end of his term and just go away scot free,” Castor said. “The Department of Justice does know what to do with such people.” The trial will resume on Wednesday with the substantive arguments over the sole charge of “incitement of insurrection”. Each side has 16 hours to present its case, and the trial is expected to stretch into the holiday weekend. Prosecutors have promised to present new evidence to prove that Trump was “singularly and directly responsible” for the Capitol attack. Trump’s lawyers have argued that the president’s claims of voter fraud and his fiery rhetoric to the crowd on 6 January were not only protected under the first amendment, but similar to language used by Democrats to rally their own supporters. In pre-trial briefings, they emphasized his instruction that the crowd march “peacefully” to the Capitol. Trump, who left Washington for his Mar-a-Lago resort on the day of Biden’s inauguration, has refused a request by Democrats to testify voluntarily at his trial. It appears unlikely that the House managers will call witnesses, appealing instead to the collective memories of the senators who lived through harrowing afternoon. Concluding the Democrats’ argument for the day, Raskin offered an emotional and deeply personal account of his experience that day. Still grieving the loss of his son, who had died by suicide just days before, the former constitutional law professor brought his family to work with him, eager for them to witness “this historic event – the peaceful transfer of power in America”. When the riot erupted, they were separated. His daughter and son-in-law hid in an office, fearing for their lives, Raskin recalled, his voice quivering. When it was all over and they were reunited, his daughter said she never wanted to return to the Capitol, a place known as the People’s House. “Senators, this cannot be our future,” he said through tears. “This cannot be the future of America.” __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

11-02-21, 14:25	#20
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Wealth Tumbles as Court Cases & Creditors Loom Trump Impeachment Trial: Day 2 Key Moments Prosecutors Open Criminal Investigation of Trump Phone Call

14-02-21, 01:34	#21
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Wealth Tumbles as Court Cases & Creditors Loom TRUMP Acquitted in Second Impeachment Trial Final vote tally 57-43 but Senate fails to achieve two-thirds majority needed to convict former president of incitement The Guardian, 13 FEB, 2021. The former US president Donald Trump has been acquitted of inciting insurrection after last month's storming of the US Capitol building. At the end of his impeachment trial the US Senate voted by 57 to 43 in support of the charges -- but short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict him. In a statement Mr Trump said his impeachment had been “another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of America”. A conviction would have allowed the Senate to vote to disqualify him from holding future office. Seven Republicans joined every Democrat to declare Trump guilty on the charge of “incitement of insurrection” after his months-long quest to overturn his defeat by Joe Biden and its deadly conclusion on 6 January, when Congress met to formalize the election results. The 57-43 vote was most bipartisan support for conviction ever in a presidential impeachment trial. The result, which was never in doubt, reflected both the still raw anger of senators over Trump’s conduct as his supporters stormed the Capitol last month – and the vice-like grip the defeated president still holds over his party. Among the Republicans who broke ranks were Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. At a news conference after the vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi denounced as “cowardly” those who voted to acquit Trump on procedural grounds and said she would refuse to entertain their calls for a censure. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

21-02-21, 16:06	#22
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Wealth Tumbles as Court Cases & Creditors Loom Growing Number of Republican Donors Aim to Prise Party From Trump Influence Trumps’ critics – and the donors backing them – are scrambling fast to try to prise control away from the pro-Trump majority AP. Sun 21 Feb 2021 Some four dozen Republican donors were on a fundraising conference call on 5 February with Liz Cheney, the congresswoman and only Republican House leader to vote for Donald Trump’s impeachment for his role in the mob attack on the Capitol on 6 January. Many of the donors on the Cheney call are expected to donate the maximum amount of $5,800 to her 2022 re-election campaign before the end of the first quarter of this year, to ward off a primary challenge to her which Trump loyalists like congressman Matt Gaetz are encouraging, said Michael Epstein, a leading Maryland Republican donor. “We want to show a really big cycle for her to scare off competition,” Epstein said in an interview. “We want people who make judgments based on what’s right.” The number of donors on the call reflects in part a growing movement among Republican fundraisers to try to fight off threats from the Trump-supporting majority, which has maintained its hold on the Republican base, despite Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Though still a minority in Republican political circles, Trump’s critics – and the moneyed donors who are backing them – are scrambling fast on multiple fronts to try to prise control of the party away from those loyally toeing the Trump line. Nikki Haley, the ex-Trump UN ambassador who is eyeing a presidential run in 2024, is hosting Zoom fundraisers on 3 and 4 March for her Pac, and is expected to draw dozens of big Republican donors attracted to her criticism of Trump during the Senate trial, when Haley told Politico she was “disgusted” and “angry” at Trump’s role in the 6 January riot. Haley’s fundraising Pac, dubbed Stand for America, is expected to support Cheney and others who voted to impeach Trump – plus other candidates who voted against impeachment – say fundraisers with ties to her. Haley’s fundraising Pac, dubbed Stand for America, is expected to support Cheney and others who voted to impeach Trump – plus other candidates who voted against impeachment – say fundraisers with ties to her. A more aggressive effort to try to take on Trump and his allies and move the Republican party away from their influence, is also being mounted by a new Pac called Country First, which was unveiled in late January by the Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger, one of just 10 Republican House members who voted to impeach Trump Kinzinger, who has been censured by his local party for backing Trump’s impeachment, was outspoken after the Senate failed to convict Trump. Trump “encouraged an angry mob of his supporters to storm the United States Capitol to stop the counting of the electoral votes”, Kinzinger has said. But he stressed that “We have a lot of work to do to restore the Republican party,” and to reverse “personality politics”. However, campaign finance experts caution that the fight to reduce Trump’s fundraising influence will be tough in a party that he maintains a powerful grip on, and the ex-president has signaled that he will be involved in 2022 races with an eye to ousting his critics. In a statement berating Mitch McConnell – the Republican Senate minority leader who voted to acquit Trump but later delivered a blistering criticism of his actions – Trump warned ominously: “I will back primary rivals who espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First. We want brilliant, strong, thoughtful and compassionate leadership.” Before leaving office, Trump raised tens of millions for a new Pac, called Save America, which is expected to spend generously in 2022 to keep his political ambitions alive and exact retribution against those who voted to impeach and convict him. Save America had over $30m in its coffers at the start of 2021, and Trump raked in tens of millions more via three other committees he controls, according to public filings. “It will be difficult for Kinzinger and others who voted to impeach or convict Trump to keep up money-wise,” said Sheila Krumholz, who runs the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics. “As of most recent filings, Trump had $105m in the bank. He also has the biggest list of loyal supporters in politics he can tap for donations whenever he needs money.” Analysts and Republican donors expect that Trump’s ego will prompt big battles against Cheney, as well as the other outspoken members who voted to impeach Trump, such as Kinzinger. Republican operatives say that another possible Trump target could be Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who was one of only seven Republican senators to vote to convict Trump and is the only one of them up for re-election in 2022. Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor who gave Trump a key endorsement in 2016, is considered to be a possible primary challenger against Murkowski. But some Republican sources say that McConnell could help scuttle a primary challenge to Murkowski: McConnell has indicated he will be active in backing candidates that are best for the party’s future and, after voting to acquit Trump, he unequivocally stated Trump was “practically and morally responsible” for the Capitol riot. Some Republican operatives are trying to persuade the party that Trump, despite his continuing high approval ratings of almost 80% with Republican voters, is a serious liability for the party’s future with the broader electorate. “The GOP must focus on nominating candidates that can win in the fall of ’22 and stop the Trump litmus test,” said veteran operative Scott Reed. Other operatives note that the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House’s Republican campaign arm, seems on track to back Cheney and others who voted to impeach Trump. “The NRCC is going to try to help Cheney and I suspect they will be for others who voted for impeachment,” said Charlie Black, a longtime GOP operative. Still, Krumholz warns that in the near term pledging fealty to Trump is likely to be a magnet for Republican candidates to raise funds. “The way to rake in campaign cash as a GOP candidate, especially from small donors, is to put yourself out there as a Trump loyalist,” Krumholz said. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

23-02-21, 10:58	#23
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP Wealth Tumbles as Court Cases & Creditors Loom Supreme Court Allows Release of TRUMP Tax Returns to NY Prosecutor Ruling on Trump tax records could be costliest defeat of his losing streak He lost the presidential election, lost more than 60 legal challenges to the result, lost his bid to overturn the electoral college, lost control of the Senate and lost an impeachment trial 43-57, though he was spared conviction on a technicality. On Monday, Trump lost yet again – with potentially far-reaching consequences. •22 Feb 2021 CNN The Supreme Court cleared the way for a New York prosecutor to obtain former President Donald Trump's tax returns, dealing a massive loss to Trump who has fiercely fought to shield his financial papers from prosecutors. The documents will be subject to grand jury secrecy rules that restrict their public release. The ruling is a bitter loss for Trump, even if the tax records are shielded from public disclosure, after he consistently argued that the subpoena issued by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance was overbroad and issued in bad faith. It means that the grand jury investigation into alleged hush money payments and other issues will no longer be hampered by Trump's fight to keep the documents secret. The ruling was issued without comment or dissent. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

21-03-21, 14:48	#24
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP DUPED Unwitting Donors as Court Cases & Creditors Loom Donald Trumps' Wealth Takes Tumble During Presidency Courtrooms and Creditors Likely to Loom Large in Trumps Post-Presidency Life Trump faces several criminal investigations and a mountain of debt Trumps' net worth dropped by about $700m to $2.3bn (£1.65bn) during his time as president, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. BBC News, 21 MAR 2021 The Covid-19 pandemic hit his fortunes hard, with Trump's office buildings, branded hotels and resorts losing revenue and falling in value. His fleet of planes and golf courses have also seen drops in their value. Trump is currently under a criminal investigation into his financial affairs and his family business. Trumps’ taxes matter to a criminal probe Donald Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes' Bloomberg analysed financial documents and other filings from May 2016 and January 2021 to calculate Mr Trump's wealth before and after he became US president. Mr Trump's commercial real estate accounts for about three-quarters of his net worth. The office towers he owns or co-owns have seen big drops in valuations as more people work from home, a trend that could last in the long term. Bloomberg, which provides financial news and data, estimates a 26% drop in the value of his main commercial property holdings. He also owns, manages or licenses his name to about a dozen hotels and resorts, plus 19 golf courses. Although golf has become popular during the pandemic as a socially distanced outdoor sport, Mr Trump's two courses in Scotland have consistently lost money, filings show. After the Capitol Hill siege in January, the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) of America ended an agreement to host its 2022 championship tournament at Mr Trump's New Jersey golf course, saying it would hurt the group's brand. Deutsche Bank, the only bank willing to lend to him after his bankruptcies in the 1990s, also said after the riots that it would not do business with him again. Mr Trump also owns a fleet of planes that includes a Boeing 757. These planes are decades old and have been marked down in value over the years, according to financial disclosures seen by Bloomberg. Seven planes were valued at around $59m in 2015 and five were valued at about $6.5m in 2020. The value of Mr Trumps aircraft has dropped over the years, in part because he has sold some of his fleet. Criminal Investigation During his presidency, Mr Trumps finances were regularly in the spotlight and he has been very secretive about how much tax he pays. Last month the Supreme Court ordered Mr Trump to hand over his tax returns and other financial records to prosecutors in New York. For months they have been trying to obtain eight years' worth of Mr Trump's personal and corporate tax returns. The investigation was originally started in 2018 to examine the Trump Organization's role in hush-money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to two women who said they had had affairs with Mr Trump. Book Deal? As a former president, Donald Trump can expect to sign some lucrative media deals to recover some of his lost wealth, such as a post-presidential memoir. Barack and Michelle Obama reportedly got paid about $65m for their memoirs, while Bill Clinton earned a $15m advance for his 2004 book. Bloomberg says the most obvious way Mr Trump can profit post-presidency is with a news channel or social media platform that would appeal to his 74m voters in the 2020 election. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

06-04-21, 14:17	#25
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	Re: TRUMP DUPED Unwitting Donors as Court Cases & Creditors Loom TRUMP Money Bomb Scheme Raised Millions From Unwitting Donors Practice that used pre-checked boxes and obscure design on fundraising emails condemned by unwitting victims as ‘unethical and inappropriate’ The Guardian UK, 6 APR 2021 Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign used pre-checked boxes and obscure design on fundraising emails to wring millions of dollars out of unwitting supporters, detonating a “money bomb” which allowed the Republican to compete against Joe Biden in the last months of the race. The practice, pursued by the campaign and WinRed, a for-profit company, was detailed in an extensive report by the New York Times on Saturday. It is legal, but Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, told the paper it was “unfair, unethical and inappropriate”. Another expert quoted by the Times said such “dark pattern” digital marketing “should be in textbooks of what you shouldn’t do” in politics. The “money bomb” did not bring victory, as Trump lost the electoral college by 306 votes to 232. He also lost the popular vote by more than 7m ballots. But, the Times said, “the recurring donations swelled Trump’s treasury in September and October, just as his finances were deteriorating. He was then able to use tens of millions of dollars he raised after the election, under the guise of fighting his unfounded fraud claims, to help cover the refunds he owed.” Sly Trump still claims his defeat was caused by massive electoral fraud. It was not, as a succession of court cases concluded. After escaping conviction in his second impeachment trial, for inciting the Capitol riot of 6 January, the former president is free to run for office again. He continues to seek donations, leading to friction with the party he dominates. The Republican WinRed operation was conceived as a response to ActBlue, an online fundraising platform set up by Democrats to attract small-dollar donations. As the Times reported, refunds to donors are not unusual and can be made when individuals give more than the legal limit. The paper said that at the end of 2020, after Trump’s defeat, the Biden campaign and Democratic bodies made 37,000 online refunds worth $5.6m. The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee made more than 530,000 refunds, returning $64.3m. “In effect,” the Times wrote, “the money that Mr Trump eventually had to refund amounted to an interest-free loan from unwitting supporters at the most important juncture of the 2020 race.” Jason Miller, a Trump spokesman, told the Times: “Our campaign was built by the hardworking men and women of America and cherishing their investments was paramount to anything else we did.” The Times reported that the practice was used for the Georgia Senate runoffs in January and continues to be used by the Republican party. It also detailed distressing experiences affecting Trump donors hit by surprise deductions and consequent trouble with banks and credit card companies. Victor Amelino, a 78-year-old from California, donated $990 in September. It recurred seven times for a total of almost $8,000, the Times said. Calling the Trump campaign and the RNC “bandits”, Amelino told the paper: “I’m retired. I can’t afford to pay all that damn money.” __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

19-05-21, 06:37	#26
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP: Murdoch-‘Fxxk Him’ & Approved Action That Caused HIs Defeat, New York Prosecutor Says Trump Inquiry Now Criminal The New York attorney general's office says it is investigating the Trump Organization "in a criminal capacity". A spokesman for the state's top prosecutor says the inquiry is "no longer purely civil". BBC News, 19 MAY 2021 A spokesman for the state's top prosecutor, Letitia James, said the inquiry into Mr Trump's property company was "no longer purely civil". Ms James has been scrutinising the ex-Republican president's financial dealings before he took office. The Trumps deny wrongdoing and say the inquiry by a Democratic prosecutor is a political vendetta. Ms James' spokesman, Fabien Levy, told the BBC on Tuesday: "We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the Organization is no longer purely civil in nature. "We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA. We have no additional comment." The statement did not say what turned the inquiry from civil to criminal in nature, or whether the former president himself might be personally implicated in any allegations. Ms James launched a civil inquiry in March 2019 into claims that Mr Trump had inflated the value of his assets to banks when seeking loans, and understated them to lower his taxes. Her office has also been seeking documents on four Trump Organization properties in Manhattan, upstate New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr said in court documents last August that his office was investigating alleged "protracted criminal conduct" at the Trump Organization. Mr Vance's legal filing cited newspaper articles about purported bank and insurance fraud at the company. The Manhattan district attorney has also been investigating whether any of Mr Trump's financial records were doctored to cover up hush-money payments to two women in 2016 who say they had affairs with him. Mr Vance's office said in February it had obtained Mr Trump's tax returns as part of the investigation, after a long legal battle. Throughout his presidency, Mr Trump resolutely refused to reveal his tax returns, despite coming under great pressure to do so. A Significant Development Will Grant, BBC News, Washington DC Throughout his time in office, Donald Trump dismissed any probe into his financial dealings or those of his organisation as a politically-motivated "witch hunt" led by Democrats desperate to see him forced from power. Yet now that he no longer enjoys protection from prosecution, this latest development will trouble him. That a former US president is facing not one but two criminal investigations is a significant development, one which could have repercussions for his political future. The New York State Attorney General, Letitia James, clearly believes that there is enough at play to warrant moving the investigation from a civil to a criminal one. When combined with the ongoing examination of the former president's tax returns by the Manhattan District Attorney, Cy Vance, *Trump is looking at a complex and tangled legal battle ahead — one which he remains adamant he shouldn't have to face but which he now almost certainly cannot avoid.* RELATED; *Six legal battles looming for Trump* __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

26-05-21, 22:26	#27
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP: Murdoch-‘Fxxk Him’ & Approved Action That Caused HIs Defeat, Grand Jury Convened to Hear Evidence in Donald Trump Criminal Probe Prosecutors in New York have convened a grand jury to decide whether to indict former US President Donald Trump on criminal charges, local media report. •26 May 2021 CNBC Television / The Washington Post. The Manhattan District Attorney has convened a grand jury to hear evidence connected to the criminal probe of Donald J. Trump. David Fahrenthold, one of The Washington Post reporters who broke the story, joins 'The News with Shepard Smith' to discuss. For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: https://cnb.cx/2NGeIvi Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. has convened a grand jury in his wide-ranging investigation into former President Donald Trump, The Washington Post reported Tuesday, citing two sources familiar with the probe. Prosecutors have been investigating Trump, the Trump Organization and its officers since at least 2018. The grand jury signals that they are ready to present evidence and potentially seek indictments. The panel was convened recently, according to the Post, but it was unclear precisely when. It will meet three days a week over a span of six months. A spokesperson for Trump did not reply to a request from CNBC for a response to the legal developments. In New York state, this kind of special grand jury typically hears a number of different cases and is especially useful in complex, long-running matters. Although much of Vance’s investigation is still opaque, court filings and witnesses have confirmed that prosecutors are investigating several kinds of financial activities that Trump and the Trump Organization engaged in. One of them is whether the former president and his company falsely inflated the value of their properties for insurance adjusters and then undervalued the properties for tax purposes. Another area under investigation is how the Trump Organization paid its top executives and whether taxes were paid on various forms of compensation. Earlier this year, Vance and his team won a court battle over Trump’s tax returns, which they subpoenaed from the firm that prepared them. The former president has repeatedly and forcefully denied any wrongdoing. He has accused the district attorney’s office of engaging in a politically motivated investigation. New York state’s attorney general, Letitia James, is also investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity. The attorney general’s office had initially opened a civil investigation into the Trump Organization. But earlier this month, James’ spokesman announced that the case had evolved into a criminal probe. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

08-06-21, 14:06	#28
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP: Murdoch-‘Fxxk Him’ & Approved Action That Caused HIs Defeat, TRUMP Teases 2024 Run But Legal Threat Rises as Investigations Ramp Up As the EX president hints at running for president once again, his future could lie in the courtroom, not the Oval Office He’s Teflon Don no more, at least when it comes to court. The Guardian UK 8 JUN 2021 Teflon Don no more Donald Trump, no longer insulated by claims of presidential protections, faces a host of increasingly serious legal problems in some of the US’s most high-profile courts, including both criminal investigation and civil litigation. So even as Trump maintains his grip on the Republican party and teases ambitions to run again for president in 2024 – his legal woes could render all that debate meaningless: Trump’s future could lie in the courtroom, not the Oval Office. Trump “can face criminal charges for activities that took place before he was president, after he was president, and while he was president – as long as they were not part of his duties while he was president of the United States,” said attorney David S Weinstein, partner at Jones Walker LLP’s Miami office. Trump has not been charged with any crimes, and he has repeatedly denied wrongdoing personally and in his business dealings. His attorneys did not respond to requests for comment. A request for comment through his website received an automatic response of: “Thank you for your inquiry. Our staff is currently reviewing your request.” But the exact impact of this on Trump’s political future is unclear. Political science experts say that legal actions against Trump might not pose problems, as even if he were found to have committed wrongdoing, his loyalists might stick with him. The most threatening legal investigation, which involves potential for jail either for Trump or his associates if it proceeded and resulted in conviction, does not relate to his presidential duties. The Washington Post reported on 25 May that Manhattan prosecutors had convened the grand jury that is “expected to decide whether to indict Donald Trump, other executives at his company or the business itself, should prosecutors present the panel with criminal charges”. This development suggests that Manhattan prosecutors’ inquiry into Trump and his business concerns have hit an “advanced stage” after proceeding for more than two years. More, it indicates that Manhattan prosecutors believe they have discovered evidence of a crime. This potential evidence could be against Trump, an executive at his company, or his business. This inquiry is broad-ranging, involving Trump’s business dealings prior to his presidency. The investigation is exploring whether the value of some real estate in his company’s portfolio were manipulated in a manner that defrauded insurance companies and banks. The investigation is also seeking to determine whether questionable assessment of property values might have resulted in unlawful tax breaks, per the Washington Post... The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment. Meanwhile, the New York state attorney general has ramped up its investigation. “We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature. We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA. We have no additional comment at this time,” a spokesman for the office said in an email to the Guardian. Fani Willis, district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, said in February that there were plans to investigate Trump’s call to the Georgia secretary of state, in which he urged him to “find” sufficient votes to allow him to win. Willis also announced plans to probe other “attempts to influence the administration of the 2020 Georgia general election,” the Post said. In New York, Trump faces several major civil suits. Two women who accused Trump of sexual assault, ex-Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos and advice columnist E Jean Carroll, have filed defamation actions against him for statements he made about their allegations. He also faces a lawsuit filed by Efrain Galicia, an activist, over allegedly being attacked by Trump’s security during a 2015 protest outside Trump Tower. Something like criminal proceedings involving taxes could firm up support, as Trump could ramp up his claims of victimhood, playing to aggrieved voters who think the system is rigged against them. Plus, experts said, some of Trump’s base is attracted to his boorish, bullying behavior. “The majority of the evidence that we have on hand says that people who like Trump don’t care what he does – it just doesn’t matter if he breaks the law,” said Francisco I Pedraza, a political scientist at University of California Riverside. For those voters, “he can do no wrong”. “We know from a lot of social science research that people who back Trump also register very high on validated and reliable indexes of racial resentment, for example, he serves that and offers a kind of politics that responds to that flavor of politics,” Pedraza said. “Anything else doesn’t matter as long as he continues to be a champion for racist [sentiments].” Several experts said, however, that Trump could lose some support if allegations offended economically disadvantaged persons in his base – if he cheated the proverbial little guy, for example, those who feel cheated by the system might turn on him. Samuel Popkin, a research professor at the University of California San Diego and author of Crackup: The Republican Implosion and the Future of Presidential Politics, said: “If he gets nailed on stuff that is very complicated and hard to decipher and just looks like taxes are too high and everybody gets screwed, ‘I’m just another businessman trying to [give] the government no more than they deserve.’ It will not hurt him. “If there’s a conviction that has to deal with real theft, and stealing and scamming people, like the business with Trump University but on a massive scale, then it could hurt him.” “It really depends on which charges.” Susan MacManus, professor emerita of political science at the University of South Florida, similarly said: “If it’s taxes, people are less likely to see that as big an issue” compared to something more serious, such as security. However, “any kind of conviction of some kind of criminal offense could definitely sway” a number of Republicans, MacManus said. “The question is when you start looking at the fringes of the base, and you start looking at independent voters, not Republicans,” said Thomas Patterson, a professor at Harvard Kennedy School. With that group, legal action could carry the “possibility of erosion” in supporting Trump. Regardless of whether Trump, his employees, or company are prosecuted, it’s all but guaranteed to result in unprecedented attention and controversy, exacerbated by the ex-president’s notorious recalcitrance. One New York courts insider told the Guardian that the frenzy would make the Harvey Weinstein case “look like somebody with training wheels”. “I can only imagine what a circus it would be,” the insider said. Manhattan Grand Jury On 25 May, the Washington Post reported that Manhattan prosecutors had “convened the grand jury that is expected to decide whether to indict former president Donald Trump, other executives at his company or the business itself, should prosecutors present the panel with criminal charges”. Vance’s office is exploring whether the valuation of any real estate in his company was gamed to cheat insurers or banks, and whether any value manipulation enabled illegal tax breaks. The New York attorney general has also intensified its inquiry from a civil investigation, saying: “We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA.” Read more: *Defamation to Georgia voting: the top Trump legal cases ..* __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

18-06-21, 10:31	#29
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP: Murdoch-‘Fxxk Him’ & Approved Action That Caused HIs Defeat, New York Grand Jury Stores Up Trouble for Trump Organization Executives Glimpses of the deliberations behind closed doors suggest a case is being built against Trumps’ CFO, Allen Weisselberg, which could be bad news for his boss The Guardian UK, 18 JUN 2021 Manhattan’s district attorney is reportedly in ‘the final stages of a criminal tax investigation’ of Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA Following a deluge of bombshell news about Donald Trump-related criminal investigations in New York, including the Manhattan district attorney’s convening of a special grand jury, more details have emerged that might suggest intensifying legal woes for one of the former president’s business lieutenants. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that the Manhattan district attorney’s office has apparently “entered the final stages of a criminal tax investigation” of Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer. The report that prosecutors might be nearing the final stages of their criminal tax inquiry into Weisselberg comes in the wake of reports that Jeff McConney – a senior vice-president and controller for the Trump Organization – has testified before the Manhattan special grand jury. McConney, “one of the most senior officials” in this company, is also the first Trump Organization staffer called to testify – and is one of “a number of witnesses” who have been before the panel, ABC reported. McConney’s role as the Trump Organization’s money man could have dramatic implications for an investigation into possible financial crimes at the sprawling business empire. The special grand jury convened by the Manhattan district attorney’s office is expected to decide whether to indict Trump, other executives at his company or the business itself if presented with criminal charges by prosecutors. The investigation is broad and relates to Trump’s business affairs predating his presidency. The inquiry is examining whether the value of some property in his company’s real estate portfolio was presented in a way that defrauded insurance companies and banks. The investigation is also trying to determine whether sketchy property valuations might have led to unlawful tax breaks, according to the Washington Post. With Weisselberg, the Manhattan district attorney’s office is reportedly probing whether he received any “fringe benefits” from the company on top of his salary, and if said benefits were taxed adequately. Although Trump and Weisselberg were usually the “only two people in the room”, when prepping tax paperwork and other financial documents, McConney brought them the “original documents and tranches of raw data”, the Daily Beast reported. So, McConney might have financial information that could potentially be used against Weisselberg or Trump. Weisselberg’s attorney said “no comment” when asked about the inquiry and Times report. The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment. Longtime defense attorneys told the Guardian that such revelations about grand jury witness testimony might give clues about prosecutors’ strategy and thoughts about potential wrongdoing. When prosecutors start calling witnesses before grand juries, it typically means the investigation has hit the stage where prosecutors feel they have a criminal case against someone. Daniel R Alonso, a partner at Buckley LLP’s New York office whose past work includes serving as chief assistant district attorney with the Manhattan district attorney, said: “You’ve got to start with the proposition that it’s pretty clear they’re targeting Allen Weisselberg, the CFO. If that’s correct, which it seems to be, it’s an obvious move to get the testimony of the controller on record. “It appears from the reporting that he’s getting immunity,” Alonso said of McConney. “They either don’t think that he has criminal exposure or if he does, they’re more interested in getting people higher up on the food chain if they can.” Allen Weisselberg stands behind Donald Trump and his son Don Jr. Photograph: Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images And because a controller has daily interaction with a CFO, “there are undoubtedly lots and lots of questions that the [district attorney] has asked him, or will ask him, or lots and lots of documents that they can show him that will make it difficult for him to feign a lack of memory,” Alonso also said. McConney did not respond to an email request for comment. Rebecca Roiphe, a former prosecutor with the Manhattan district attorney’s office who now works as a professor at New York Law School, explained that in New York state courts, a witness called before the grand jury can’t be prosecuted for what they testify about. “You really don’t want to use the grand jury, at least in terms of calling witnesses, at an early stage of your investigation because you don’t want to have to accidentally give somebody immunity,” Roiphe said. So, if prosecutors are calling witnesses before a grand jury, they have a strong sense of who they want to prosecute – they are not just calling people in a way that could jeopardize a case. “They must have a sense that they have a criminal case against somebody, because of the grand jury practice of New York,” Roiphe said. “It seems that it’s a more advanced investigation. It’s not just the detectives and prosecutors thinking in theory about an investigation – they’re actively interviewing witnesses and putting a possible indictment together,” said Jeffrey Lichtman, a longtime criminal defense attorney. “They don’t just call these people out of the blue.” There appears to be no shortage of high-profile figures willing to discuss Trump, his businesses, or his cronies. Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer, has met with prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office. They have reportedly asked Cohen questions about Trump’s business activities. Cohen pleaded guilty to tax evasion, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress. Jennifer Weisselberg, Allen Weisselberg’s former daughter-in-law, has provided investigators with extensive tax records and other financial documents. A representative for Jennifer Weisselberg said: “She is still being considered as a potential witness and she’s been in conversation with the district attorney about her information and her potential [grand jury] testimony if necessary.” The adult film star Stormy Daniels – who claimed to have had sex with Trump about 12 or so years ago, and received $130,000 in hush money during the 2016 presidential race not to discuss the alleged affair – said she would readily testify before a grand jury. “I would love nothing more than my day in court and to give a deposition and to provide whatever evidence that they need from me,” Daniels reportedly said. Trump has claimed he did not have a sexual liaison with Daniels. Trump’s attorneys did not respond to requests for comment. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

28-06-21, 09:30	#30
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP: Murdoch-‘Fxxk Him’ & Approved Action That Caused HIs Defeat, New York Prosecutors Set Deadline For TRUMP on Legal Action Ex-president’s lawyers have 24 hours Monday to say why the Trump Organization should not face charges, reports claim The Guardian UK, 28 JUN 2021. New York prosecutors have given lawyers for Donald Trump 24 hours to respond with any last arguments as to why criminal charges should not be filed against his family business, according to a report on Sunday. The deadline set for Monday was another strong signal that the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance, and the New York attorney general, Letitia James, are considering criminal charges against the former president’s company as an entity, according to sources quoted by the Washington Post. On Friday, it was reported that Vance could announce charges against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, within seven days. Any criminal charges would be the first in Vance’s probe into Trump and his business dealings. Legal experts have said an indictment against the Trump Organization could bankrupt the company by undermining its relationships with banks and other business partners. Vance’s office has said it was investigating “possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct” at the Trump Organization, including tax and insurance fraud and falsification of business records. Even if no charges were brought, Vance’s investigation could complicate any return to politics by Trump, who has lost some of his ability to communicate publicly after being permanently banned from Twitter and suspended for two years by Facebook. James’ office has been investigating whether the Trump Organization inflated the values of some properties to obtain better terms on loans, and lowered their values to obtain property tax breaks. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

01-07-21, 15:04	#31
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP: Murdoch-‘Fxxk Him’ & Approved Action That Caused HIs Defeat, TRUMP Organization Indicted in Tax Investigation, Former US President Donald Trump's company and its finance chief have been indicted in an investigation into alleged tax crimes, US media report. BBC News, 1 JUL 2021 TRUMP ordered to hand tax returns to prosecutors The specific charges against the company and Allen Weisselberg, 73, are still unclear. They are expected to be made public on Thursday. Trump is not expected to be implicated personally in the case. New York City has already cut business ties with the twice-impeached former president. The Trump Organization is a family holding company that owns hotels, golf clubs and other properties. Any criminal charges brought against it would mark the first in long-running investigations on alleged fraud by both the Manhattan district attorney and the state attorney general. Charges by District Attorney Cyrus Vance are expected to focus on whether Mr Weisselberg and other company executives received benefits such as apartment rentals or leased cars without reporting them properly on their tax returns. Mr Weisselberg and lawyers for the Trump Organization are expected to make their first court appearance on Thursday, according to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Associated Press, which quote unnamed sources. Mr Trump and his allies have said the investigations are politically motivated. In a statement earlier this week, Mr Weisselberg said the case was looking at "things that are standard practice throughout the US business community, and in no way a crime". If the company is found guilty, however, certain business partners might draw a line under their relationship with the Trump Organization and the company could face fines. New York City, for example, has already announced it will terminate contracts with the firm to run skating rinks, a carousel and a golf course, in the aftermath of the US Capitol riots. Daniel Goldman, who was lead lawyer in the US House of Representatives for the first impeachment of Mr Trump in 2019, tweeted that the indictment could spur lenders to call in their loans, driving the Trump Organization to bankruptcy. The investigations will also take into account eight years of Mr Trump's personal and corporate tax returns, obtained by prosecutors after a long legal battle, which ended in the Supreme Court in February. Mr Trump, who inherited money from his father and went on to become a property developer, is the first president since Gerald Ford in the 1970s not to have made his tax returns public. Despite facing a number of investigations, the former president has denied any wrongdoing personally or in his business. Representatives for the Trump Organization, Donald Trump and Allen Weisselberg did not immediately respond to the BBC's request for comment. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

02-07-21, 08:07	#32
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP: Murdoch-‘Fxxk Him’ & Approved Action That Caused HIs Defeat, Allen Weisselberg Arrives in Cuffs as He and Trump Organization Face Charges 2 Jul 2021 The Sun The Trump Organization and Allen Weisselberg pleaded not guilty over an alleged 15-year tax fraud scheme after the CFO arrived at court in handcuffs. The charges against Weisselberg - who worked for the company for 48 years - were revealed on Thursday after a grand jury heard evidence and moved to indict him. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

02-07-21, 09:59	#33
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP: Murdoch-‘Fxxk Him’ & Approved Action That Caused HIs Defeat, Is Trump Next on The Legal Chopping Block? ABC News 2 Jul 2021 __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

02-07-21, 14:36	#34
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP: Murdoch-‘Fxxk Him’ & Approved Action That Caused HIs Defeat, TRUMP Exposed as Prosecutors Make First Move in High Stakes Chess Game The charges against Allen Weisselberg might seem small fry, but the threat to those higher up the food chain is mounting The Guardian UK, 2 JUL 2021. Trump on Wednesday, when Weisselberg reportedly surrendered to authorities. The charges represent the start of a process that could crack the secretive Trump empire wide open. Photograph: Reuters Michael Cohen sounded giddy on the latest episode of his podcast, Mea Culpa. Allen Weisselberg, a key lieutenant to Donald Trump, Cohen’s former boss, was about to be charged alongside Trump’s company with tax fraud. “This case is being prosecuted like a mob case. And that means they are starting at the bottom of the tree, and working their way up, by getting the smaller fish to flip with pressure on people like Weisselberg to rat on their former boss of bosses!” Cohen said, gleefully mixing his metaphors. Cohen knows this score. Trump has been under investigation by New York’s top prosecutors for three years – in large part thanks to Cohen, once his trusted lawyer. Cohen – who once said he would “take a bullet” for Trump – turned on the former president as he was sentenced to 36 months in prison for crimes including facilitating illegal payments to silence two women who allegedly had sex with Trump. On the surface, the Weisselberg charges did seem like “smaller fish”. In an interview with Politico, Trump’s lawyer Ronald Fischetti said: “It’s like the Shakespeare play Much Ado About Nothing. This is so small that I can’t believe I’m going to have to try a case like this.” But surfaces can be deceptive. After three years of subpoenas, supreme court hearings and existential legal rows about the legality of charging a president of the United States with wrongdoing, New York’s fearsome prosecutorial team have charged a little-known 73-year-old accountant with defrauding taxpayers of $1.7m over 15 years. That is big money for most people, but not an amount that would worry Trump, who Forbes calculates is worth $2.4bn. Downplaying the significance of this week’s indictment would, however, be a mistake. Alongside Weisselberg, Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance, and the New York state attorney general Letitia James also charged the Trump Organization with tax fraud, the start of a process that could crack the secretive Trump empire wide open. The salvo in the long-brewing legal battle will, at the very least, wrap up Trump for years in legal woes, and at worst could destroy his family business and put not just Weisselberg but the Trump family members who run his business and Trump himself in the dock. The indictment would “raise the unprecedented prospect of a former president having to defend the company he founded and has run for decades against accusations of criminal behavior,” Cohen cooed. No longer insulated by claims of presidential protections, Trump faces a flotilla of legal actions. Alongside the charges brought this week against Weisselberg and the Trump Organization, Vance and James are investigating questionable payments to former Trump sex partners and whether the value of real estate in his company’s portfolio was manipulated to defraud insurance companies and banks and to generate unlawful tax breaks. In some ways, the charges against Weisselberg give us a glimpse of the bumpy road ahead for the former president. “This has been framed as a ‘fringe benefits’ issue,’” said University of Chicago Law School professor Daniel Hemel, an expert on taxation and federal courts. “Another way of looking at it is that the Trump Organization was paying its CFO [chief financial officer] under the table.” Such a move – if proven – would be an extraordinary thing for a company the size of Trump’s to have done, and will likely lay the groundwork for what’s ahead. Ironically, one parallel case Hemel pointed to was the prosecution of Leona Helmsley, the late Manhattan hotel empress and long-time sparring partner of Donald Trump. Helmsley v Trump was a Manhattan feud for the ages. Trump was an admirer of Harry Helmsley, the billionaire property tycoon who once owned the Empire State Building. Leona Helmsley not so much. He once called her a “disgrace to humanity”. Helmsley simply said: “I hate Donald Trump.” Leona Helsmley, who was sentenced to four years in jail for tax evasion. Photograph: Rex Features In 1988 the Helmsleys were charged with evading more than $4m in income taxes. In another historical twist, the charges were brought by Rudy Giuliani, then federal prosecutor and more recently one of Trump’s staunchest allies. The following year, Helmsley – her husband was too sick to stand trial – was sentenced to four years in jail after being found guilty on 33 counts of tax evasion including fraudulently charging a $1m marble dance floor for their private mansion to their hotel and real-estate empire. “These are things that are unequivocally not business expenses,” said Hemel. Even Trump agreed, saying shortly after Leona Helmsley’s death that it was “foolish” for her husband to have committed tax evasion “because he was such a rich man”. Given that sentiment, why would the Trump Organization – allegedly – cook the books for such relatively small sums? The coming cases may provide an answer. Both Weisselberg and the company deny any wrongdoing, and have said they will fight the case in court, but the cases will blow open Trump’s finances, something he has fought hard to prevent, even going as far as to go against recent presidential precedent and refusing to release his tax returns. But while there are many similarities between the polarizing property plutocrats Trump and Helmsley, Trump’s case is in many ways unusual. First, said Hemel, it’s highly unusual a business as large as Trump’s would engage in these kinds of alleged tax frauds. With its army of lawyers and accountants, it should have been easy enough for his advisers to find perfectly legal ways to avoid paying taxes – just as ProPublica’s revelations have shown his billionaire peers have done. Second, when a tax-avoidance scheme is exposed as potentially open to prosecution, it is highly unusual for businesses to fight those charges. The normal course of action is to apologize and pay up. Add on that in this case the man at the top is a former president of the United States and: “Everything about this case is unusual and everything about it is political,” said Hemel. “That doesn’t mean the district attorney is wrong to go after it.” Allen Weisselberg is escorted to his arraignment hearing in New York City on 1 July. In the high-stakes chess game Vance and James are now playing against Trump, this is an opening move that immediately threatens one of their opponent’s key pieces. Weisselberg has worked for the Trump family for close to 50 years. Outside the family, and arguably inside, no one knows how the Trump business really operates better than him. His two sons have worked with Trump. Jennifer Weisselberg, one of his son’s ex-wives, is a key witness for the prosecution and has handed over what her lawyer, Duncan Levin, describes as 10 banker’s boxes of evidence to the authorities. The pressure is on for Weisselberg to flip but his indictment also puts pressure on Trump insiders lower down the tree. Robert Mintz, a former federal organized crime prosecutor and now partner at law firm McCarter & English, said: “Complex white-collar fraud cases are very difficult to prove, and generally require more than financial records to demonstrate clear evidence of criminality. Prosecutors typically build these cases with the benefit of a cooperating witness who can walk them through the documents and add an insider’s perspective to the conspiracy.” As Cohen pointed out this week Trump can no longer hold out the promise of a presidential pardon to his allies. Facing potential ruin and jail time, will Weisselberg stay true? And as the charges keep coming, where will others decide their loyalty lies? “Loyalty is hard to maintain when it can put you in jail,” said Hemel. Read More *Trump Organization tax-crime charges: what it all means \| New ...* __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES

09-07-21, 20:28	#35
Ladybbird Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 47,544 Thanks: 27,621 Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 8	re: TRUMP: Murdoch-‘Fxxk Him’ & Approved Action That Caused HIs Defeat, Toyota Halts Donations to Republican Election Objectors Toyota has said it will halt donations to members of the US Congress who voted against certification of President Biden's election victory. BBC News, 9 JUL 2021 The Japanese company faced criticism over the contributions after the 6 January attack on the US Capitol. Toyota donated more than $50,000 to Republicans who tried to block approval of the US President's win in some states, it emerged last month. The company had previously defended the payments. "Toyota is committed to supporting and promoting actions that further our democracy," Toyota said. The statement went on to say: "We are actively listening to our stakeholders and, at this time, we have decided to stop contributing to those Members of Congress who contested the certification of certain states in the 2020 election." The company also noted that its political action committee equally supported Democrats and Republicans, adding, "in 2021, the vast majority of the contributions went to Democrats and Republicans who supported the certification of the 2020 election." The decision came after Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) in June reported that Toyota directly contributed a total of $56,000 to 38 of the 147 Republican lawmakers who voted against President Biden's electoral certification. CREW also said it was the most money any one company contributed to lawmakers who opposed certification. Japan's biggest car manufacturer faced criticism in the wake of the disclosure and subsequent coverage in the media. The Lincoln Project, a group largely made up of Republicans critical of former US President Donald Trump, posted an advert calling on Toyota to stop making donations to lawmakers who voted against President Biden's election certification. A CREW spokesperson welcomed Toyota's decision but said, "it shouldn't take a public pressure campaign to get them to do the right thing, but we're glad it worked." Since the attack on the Capitol, dozens of companies have changed their policies on contributions to politicians. In February, Microsoft said its political action committee would suspend all donations until the end of 2022 to the 147 lawmakers who voted against President Biden's certification. For the same period it also halted contributions to state officials and organisations who called for the election result to be overturned. Google and General Electric's political action committees also suspended donations until the end of 2022. More than 535 people have been arrested and charged for joining the 6 January attack on the US Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to stop Congress from certifying President Biden's election victory over Trump. __________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................*SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP*.......................... *TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath* If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING** PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1.. THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES