New York state Attorney General Letitia James is not stopping her pursuit of the truth regarding certain matters of the Trump family business that she’s had under investigation. Back in February, a New York judge ordered Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump to provide testimony as part of James’s ongoing civil investigation into the Trump Organization’s operations; the investigation has concerned questions such as whether the Trump business artificially adjusted valuations of its assets in order to try and obtain financial benefits such as favorable loan terms. Now, James insisted in a new public statement this week that she’d be sticking by her push for testimony from the Trumps even through an appeal. As she explained the matter:
‘Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., and Ivanka Trump were ordered by a judge to comply with our investigation into Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization’s financial dealings. Despite their appeal of this order, no one can stop our pursuit of justice, no matter how powerful they are.’
Around the time of last month’s ruling in her favor regarding the matter of the Trumps’ sought after testimony, James remarked that “[today], justice prevailed. Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., and Ivanka Trump have been ordered by the court to comply with our lawful investigation into Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization’s financial dealings. No one will be permitted to stand in the way of the pursuit of justice, no matter how powerful they are. No one is above the law.” The New York judge who delivered the previous ruling in James’s favor, Arthur Engoron, concluded that the state attorney general had turned up “copious evidence of possible financial fraud” amid her investigation, and relatedly, James has explicitly accused the Trump Organization of engaging in “fraudulent or misleading” business practices. She’s stated, however, that she “needs to question Mr. Trump and his children before determining her next move,” The New York Times summarizes. Since the investigation at issue here is a civil probe, potential criminal charges aren’t on the rhetorical horizon, but James could file a lawsuit.
Biden: 81,282,916 votes.
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Always a good reminder!
— Jack Cocchiarella (@JDCocchiarella) March 22, 2022
Predictably, Trump has ranted against investigative efforts that he and his business have faced at essentially every step of the way — but he’s repeatedly lost in his efforts to block these investigations. The Supreme Court denied his attempts to keep Manhattan investigators from obtaining certain financial records of his, and that court also rejected an attempt that he launched to stop the House committee investigating the Capitol riot from obtaining specific records from his administration. And in yet another loss, the Trump campaign was recently ordered to pay over $350,000 in various fees after losing in arbitration in a matter that it itself pursued. The issue concerned a former staffer, who the Trump campaign alleged to have violated a nondisclosure agreement. The arbitrator, a retired federal judge, rejected the Trump campaign’s foundational arguments and ordered it to cover legal fees for the ex-staffer and costs associated with the arbitration process itself.
Donald Trump has been credibly accused of at least 38 crimes, all committed while in office or when campaigning for the presidency. He has yet to be charged with a single crime. It's time for the DOJ to act, and if the facts support it, he must be charged.
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) March 22, 2022
