Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. is handling the criminal case. New York Attorney General Letitia James is pursuing a parallel civil investigation. They are both issuing subpoenas to the Trump Organization for records related to these investigations. After a number of delays, the president’s middle son Eric Trump gave a deposition, but called the investigation “a continued political vendetta.”
The New York Times investigative reporters made a surprising discovery after acquiring over 20 years of the president’s tax records. He has been able to avoid paying federal income taxes nearly every year due to “chronic business losses” and the nature of his business, real estate.
Imagine being able to cut a person’s taxable income by “deducting about $26 million in fees to unidentified consultants as a business expense on numerous projects between 2010 and 2018.”
General Counsel for the Trump Organization Alan Garten released a statement that read:
‘[T]his is just the latest fishing expedition in an ongoing attempt to harass the company. Everything was done in strict compliance with applicable law and under the advice of counsel and tax experts. All applicable taxes were paid and no party received any undue benefit.’
In a television interview, Attorney General James said:
‘The outcome of the election will have no impact on our investigations. No one is above the law. We will just follow the facts and the evidence, wherever they lead us.’
POTUS has often attacked the New York state attorney general. She was responsible for the last leg of the investigation that led to the family foundation being shut down.
Last year, Trump tweeted:
‘They sue on everything, always in search of a crime.’
This in spite of the president’s own suing nature as he papers the country with election lawsuits. His attorneys have filed over 30 just since he lost his reelection bid in the hopes of overturning the election in a quiet coup. Thus far, 19 have been withdrawn or laughed out of court for lack of any evidence.
The three eldest children were supposed to receive training as part of the settlement of the family’s charitable foundation. None of the three eldest children and Trump can ever run a foundation in New York again:
‘Training on the duties of officers and directors of charities so that they cannot allow the illegal activity they oversaw at the Trump Foundation to take place again.’
The Times discovered that $747,622 went to Ivanka Trump from Trump’s parent organization in consulting fees. Coincidentally, or not, when she entered the White House to advise her father in 2017, she filed a disclosure listing payments from a consulting company which she co-owned totaling $747,622.
She was working at the Trump umbrella organization as an executive officer and consulting for the company at the same time. Her fees went well beyond what the Internal Revenue Service considers “ordinary and necessary.”
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
