The Federal Election Commission (FEC), which as its name suggests is a federal agency that deals with matters of campaign finance in races for federal office, has declined a request from a Trump lawyer for an additional extension of 30 days for filing some of the initial financial disclosures required under federal rules following Donald’s announcement he’s running for president.
According to Bloomberg, the delayed filing, once actually made, will include details from 2021 and most of 2022, presumably up to the point he formally confirmed he was running for president — again — late in the year. The filings will be public, and Trump will shortly thereafter be required to file a report on his finances evidently providing info about time including the first quarter of this calendar year. Prior to the rejected request from Trump lawyer Derek Ross for more time, Trump already received two extensions of 45 days for making the earlier filing, although there apparently aren’t a lot of penalties available for late disclosures of this sort. Bloomberg cites a fee of merely hundreds of dollars, obviously constituting close to nothing for Trump. Through his lawyer, he’d wanted another month, meaning 30 days.
For now, Trump remains the only serious contender for the Republican nomination for president ahead of 2024. Not that long ago, House investigators actually managed to obtain years worth of his personal and business tax files, revealing details like how he claimed massive losses and sometimes paid nothing for a whole year in personal income taxes — obviously distinguishing him from the many millions of Americans who, well, did pay such taxes. He is also facing scrutiny of his business from New York state Attorney General Letitia James in a lawsuit over accusations of fraud that is still heading to trial and in Manhattan from District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose probe into the possibilities of fraud at the Trump Organization is continuing as his look at the hush money illegally provided to Stormy Daniels in 2016 also proceeds.
Trump could soon be charged in that case or another probe. In Georgia, it was recently revealed members of a special grand jury that worked on the investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis into attempted meddling in the 2020 election on Trump’s behalf had heard another recording of a Trump conversation, this time with David Ralston, who at the time was serving as state House Speaker in Georgia. Trump was pressuring Ralston for a special legislative session where lawmakers could’ve taken action to derail Biden’s 2020 win in the state.
