The "Great Unraveling" continues.

Trump hinted in his rant that he may invoke the Fifth Amendment in a litany of other investigations he is currently facing (including federal probes), stating that he plans to “utilize” the Constitution “to the fullest extent to defend myself against this malicious attack by this administration, this Attorney General’s Office, and all other attacks on my family, my business, and our Country.”

Never more than now Trump is relying on the gullibility of his cult.

 

Seeing as it's hard to keep track........

Trump faces a slew of investigations and lawsuits — and they’re heating up as he weighs White House run

As Donald Trump considers whether to make a third run for the White House — and when to announce that decision — the former president faces a raft of official investigations and civil lawsuits.

Several of those probes put Trump at risk of criminal sanctions. Others threaten his pocketbook.

What also remains to be seen is whether they will hurt or help Trump, in what many supporters expect and hope will be his candidacy in 2024.

The Republican Trump has repeatedly called the legal probes “witch hunts” by Democratic officials and allies that are designed to hobble him politically. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Here are the top legal challenges for Trump at the moment.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/12/tru...ns-lawsuits-as-he-weighs-white-house-run.html

 

Trump search warrant cites statutes that carry possible multiyear prison sentences

The FBI’s search warrant targeting former President Donald Trump’s private club listed three statutes that were used to justify the seizure of boxes and documents from the property, some of them marked as top secret.

Under a heading that reads “Property to be seized,” the warrant refers to: “All physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 793, 2071 , or 1519.”

• 18 U.S.C. §§ 793: Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
• 18 U.S.C. §§ 2071: Concealment, removal, or mutilation generally, which carries a penalty of up to three years in prison and disqualification from holding office (more on this below).
• 18 U.S.C. §§ 1519: Destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in Federal investigations and bankruptcy, which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/12/tru...-statutes-that-call-for-prison-sentences.html

Will justice finally be served?

 

Trump Executive Nears Plea Deal With Manhattan Prosecutors

Allen H. Weisselberg, a longtime top executive at Donald J. Trump’s family business who was indicted on tax charges last summer, is nearing a plea deal with prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office but would not cooperate with a broader investigation into Mr. Trump, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

His plea deal, if finalized, would bring prosecutors no closer to indicting the former president but would nonetheless brand one of his most trusted lieutenants a felon.

On Monday, Mr. Weisselberg’s lawyers and prosecutors met with the judge overseeing the case, according to a court database. The judge scheduled a hearing for Thursday in Mr. Weisselberg’s case, a possible indication that a deal has been reached and a plea could be entered then.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/15/nyregion/trump-weisselberg-plea-deal.html

Big Al is still refusing to cooperate, just like you'd expect from a mob accountant.

 

Trump's CFO Allen Weisselberg Will Implicate Trump Companies in Guilty Plea
Source: Rolling Stone

The Trump Organization’s money man has agreed that, if called, he’ll testify against Trump’s companies

Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s finance chief, will say in Manhattan court Thursday that he conspired with several of the ex-president’s companies when he pleads guilty to state tax crimes, two sources familiar with the case tell Rolling Stone.

As part of Weisselberg’s plea deal, he has agreed to testify against The Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation at trial, which is scheduled for October.

If called to the witness stand during trial, Weisselberg will provide testimony that is the same as what he admits to in court this week, the source said. One of the sources said that while Weisselberg is agreeing to testify, that does not mean he necessarily will; it depends on whether prosecutors decide to call him. The New York Times first reported that Weisselberg was expected to plead guilty.

Weisselberg will not go beyond his testimony to help the criminal probe, one of the sources said. Still, his potential testimony could pose a severe threat to Trump’s companies. This possible testimony, which allegedly implicates Trump’s businesses, could be key to prosecutors’ securing a guilty verdict against these companies. When a company is found to have engaged in criminal conduct, significant fines can pile up quickly — potentially leading to its demise".

Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/politi...a-trump-organizations-criminal-trial-1398303/

 

Thanks for the post. The NYT is reporting essentially the same thing.

Allen H. Weisselberg, who for decades was one of Donald J. Trump’s most trusted executives, is expected to plead guilty on Thursday to a long-running tax scheme at the former president’s family business — a serious blow to the company that could imperil its chances in an upcoming trial.

The plea deal will allow Mr. Weisselberg, who was facing up to 15 years in prison, to spend as little as 100 days behind bars, according to people with knowledge of the matter. And it does not require Mr. Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer, to cooperate with the Manhattan district attorney’s office in its broader investigation into Mr. Trump, who has not been accused of wrongdoing.

But Mr. Weisselberg is expected to admit to all 15 felonies he was charged with and will have to testify about his role in a scheme to avoid paying taxes on lavish corporate perks, the people said. That requirement will put the company at a disadvantage and make Mr. Weisselberg a central witness at its trial in October, where it will face many of the same charges.

Plea Deal Requires Weisselberg to Testify at Trump Organization Trial
The chief financial officer of the former president’s business is expected to admit to 15 felonies on Thursday and to take the stand at the company’s trial.
www.nytimes.com

 

After Weisselberg was indicted, I never heard or read if he still worked for Trump as his CFO?
Have you?

100 days is nothing for 15 felonies, that's misdemeanor territory.
And Michael Cohen got a few years.

 

I suspect they reduced the sentencing recommendation in return for his pleas of guilty. Also, even though the public statement says he will not cooperate with the broader investigation I wonder if that's really the case.

"After Weisselberg was indicted, I never heard or read if he still worked for Trump as his CFO?
Have you?"

No.

 

???

'Once Weisselberg pleads guilty it’s over for the Trump Org': Ex-prosecutor Andrew Weissmann

"Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg cut a deal to do five months in jail while not cooperating with investigators. While the deal might be great for Weisselberg, former Justice Department prosecutor for Robert Mueller's investigation, Andrew Weissmann, said it isn't for the Trump Org.

Speaking to MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell on Monday evening, Weissmann said that in the next few days it could be that Weisselberg is actually pleading guilty as part of the deal.

"The reason that is important for Donald Trump is the Trump Organization is scheduled for trial in October," he explained. Once Allen Weisselberg pleads guilty, it is over for the Trump Organization. The crimes he committed, get imputed to the Trump Organization. So, the leverage in terms of the financial consequences to Donald Trump doesn't mean he's gonna go to jail, but the consequences for the Trump Organization are huge."

Weissmann described it as a "big deal" for the former president in part because what he did was all about making more money, but it was also about bribery.

"This is a big deal," he went on. "So, I think that would be number one, focus on the financial consequences of the Allen Weisselberg deal. And then, down the road, I mean, Lawrence, you laid out a litany of criminal and national security trouble, in Florida, in D.C., in Georgia. And this is a day where you saw a movement on all fronts. And to me, the thing that I thought was probably the most telling was the grand jury subpoena to Eric Herschmann. There is a guy who can completely corroborate what we heard from Cassidy Hutchinson. I am sure he has information."

He also noted that Herschmann isn't likely to corroborate the idea that Trump had some kind of magical order to declassify everything.

"So, that was a very bad fact, in terms of signaling that Merrick Garland is really I think, putting his foot on the gas," he closed.

See the full conversation, which includes legal expert Brad Moss below."



https://www.rawstory.com/trump-organizat...berg-deal/

 

I wish Weissmann had been more specific about the consequences for the Trump Org. He made it sound ominous, but it what way I wonder?

 

I don't get it.
So whatever investigations/trials take place, and he testifies or whatever about Trump Org who's held responsible in the end?
Weisselberg was/is the CFO yet from what we've been led to believe is that nothing happens without Trump's approval.
So the g'kids private schools got paid for, expensive cars given him, his son got an apt in Trump Tower and other employees big perks?
Are we supposed to believe that he did all this without the go ahead from trump?
It's said he didn't flip on Trump.
I just don't get it...lol

 

Try this.

What's next for Trump Organization after Weisselberg plea? (msn.com)

 

I've been reading other legal experts speculate as to the fate of the Trump Org. One ramification of a guilty verdict from the org's trial would be banks being prohibited, by their own charter, from doing business with a criminal enterprise. Possibly even calling in loans. It's hard to imagine a greater financial hit to Trump than that.

 

The DOJ under Barr wrongly withheld parts of a Russia probe memo, a court rules

Friday's appeals court decision said the internal Justice Department memo noted that "Mueller had declined to accuse President Trump of obstructing justice but also had declined to exonerate him." The internal memo said "the Report's failure to take a definitive position could be read to imply an accusation against President Trump" if released to the public, the court wrote.

The Justice Department turned over other documents to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington as part of the group's lawsuit, but declined to give it the memo. Government lawyers said they were entitled under public records law to withhold the memo because it reflected internal deliberations before any formal decision had been reached on what Mueller's evidence showed.

Sitting presidents are generally protected from criminal charges on grounds it would undermine their ability to perform the office's constitutional duties. The Justice Department, like Mueller, "took as a given that the Constitution would bar the prosecution of a sitting President," the appeals court wrote, which meant the decision that Trump wouldn't be charged had already been made and couldn't be shielded from public release.
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/20/1118625157/doj-barr-trump-russia-investigation-memo

My thanks to Patricio for finding this story. As anyone who has followed this thread and my posts knows I have consistently made the case that while matters relating to the ambiguous assertion of collusion remain effected by Trump's obfuscation, the issue of obstruction has no such ambiguity. The evidence is clear.........https://www.lawfareblog.com/obstruction-justice-mueller-report-heat-map
.........Trump illegally obstructed the investigation.

 

The Koch network and other Trump allies are quietly backing his biggest GOP critic: Rep. Liz Cheney

Republican Rep. Liz Cheney has amassed a group of political consultants with ties to former President Donald Trump and the expansive Koch network as she mulls a run for the White House after losing in the GOP primary for her Wyoming House seat.

Cheney’s role as vice chair of the committee investigating Trump’s actions in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has cost the third-highest ranking Republican in the U.S. House her standing in the GOP and her seat in Congress. She lost the Republican nomination in a landslide race last week to one of Trump’s picks, Wyoming lawyer Harriet Hageman.

Cheney’s now considering running against Trump for president in 2024, she told NBC News, and has quietly put together a team of top GOP advisors to help her ensure he doesn’t ever get back in the White House.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/23/the...ng-his-biggest-gop-critic-rep-liz-cheney.html

Given her policy positions an ascendant Cheney provides its own set of problems for the country.

 

Trump Kept More Than 700 Pages of Classified Documents, Letter From National Archives Says

President Donald J. Trump took more than 700 pages of classified documents, including some related to the nation’s most covert intelligence operations, to his private club and residence in Florida when he left the White House in January 2021, according to a letter that the National Archives sent to his lawyers this year.

The letter, dated May 10 and written by the acting U.S. archivist, Debra Steidel Wall, to one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, M. Evan Corcoran, described the state of alarm in the Justice Department as officials there began to realize how serious the documents were.

It also suggested that top department prosecutors and members of the intelligence community were delayed in conducting a damage assessment about the documents’ removal from the White House as Mr. Trump’s lawyers tried to argue that some of them might have been protected by executive privilege.

Trump Kept More Than 700 Pages of Classified Documents, Letter From National Archives Says
The letter, which was sent to the former president’s lawyers, described the state of alarm in the Justice Department as officials began to realize the nature of the documents kept at Mar-a-Lago.
www.nytimes.com

Of course, this is inconsequential to adoring Trump fans who forgive him everything.

 

A federal judge appointed by former President Donald Trump ordered him Tuesday to answer several key questions about his new lawsuit related to the FBI raid on his Florida home, including why her court should be the one hearing the case and to more precisely explain what he wants her to do.

Judge Aileen Cannon also ordered Trump to tell her how his suit affects another pending case involving the same search warrant before a federal magistrate judge in the same court, and whether the Department of Justice has been served with his lawsuit yet. Cannon also wants to know if Trump is seeking any injunctions related to material seized in the raid until the lawsuit is resolved.

Cannon’s order came a day after Trump filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, asking her to appoint a so-called special master to review documents seized Aug. 8 in the FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago resort residence in Palm Beach.

The judge, whom Trump appointed to that court in 2020, gave him and his lawyers until Friday to answer her questions.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/23/jud...details-about-mar-a-lago-warrant-lawsuit.html

Don is trying to set the Guinness record for most cases lost...........if he doesn't already hold it.

 

A couple of things. Trump should have made this filing in Reinhart's court. Why he didn't is obvious for two reasons. 1. Reinhart hasn't been deferential to Trump. 2. He was hoping the judge he appointed would be.
In her statement she is essentially asking what statutory relief Trump is seeking, and why he thinks she has the authority to rule on the matter. Because the filing from Trump, legally, is a piece of shyte.
Finally, the real reason for the filing is to string this along, trying to appear aggrieved, since he is duping The Following in to sending him money over this matter hand over fist.

 

DOJ reveals redacted affidavit justifying Trump Mar-a-Lago raid

The FBI had probable cause to believe that records containing classified national defense information would be found at the Palm Beach, Florida, residence, according to an agent who wrote the 32-page affidavit.

“There is also probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found” at Trump’s home, read an unredacted portion of the affidavit.

“The government is conducting a criminal investigation concerning the improper removal and storage of classified information in unauthorized spaces, as well as the unlawful concealment and removal of government records,” the FBI agent, whose name was blacked out, wrote in the affidavit’s first line.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/26/doj-reveals-redacted-affidavit-justifying-trump-mar-a-lago-raid.html

It should be shocking, but it's typical.

 

Justice Dept. Has Reviewed Documents Seized in Mar-a-Lago Search

The Justice Department has set aside documents seized from former President Donald J. Trump’s Florida estate potentially covered by attorney-client privilege, a maneuver that might make his efforts to have an independent arbiter review the materials unnecessary.

The disclosure, which came in a court filing on Monday, is based on the government’s initial analysis of the materials. It came as Mr. Trump’s lawyers pressed a federal judge in Florida to order the appointment of an outside expert, known as a special master, to review the trove of highly sensitive documents seized in a search of Mar-a-Lago, the former president’s private club and residence.

On Saturday, Judge Aileen M. Cannon of Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida suggested she was leaning toward the appointment of a special master to look at the materials taken by federal agents from Mar-a-Lago. She ordered the Justice Department to respond by Tuesday and share a complete list of documents, some of them highly classified, taken in the search on Aug. 8.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/29/us/politics/trump-documents-doj.html

The question is, how Don going to spin this so he makes it look like he is being persecuted?

 

He already has and it has been successful,

Still way more likely to be president in 2025 then to go to jail
-

 

It's possible that he's the POT's nominee because he still has sway over the Crazies. I highly doubt he would win the general election having lost the popular vote twice before.
As for going to jail, the chamber is filling up with bullets.

 

That is what people have been saying for 2 years and nada

Popular vote does not matter - flipping less than 40K in 3 states would swing it

Biden is not popular either. Many people are going for whom they see as the lesser of two evils. I expect there to continue to be economic issues that are going to hurt the Dems. Gas prices are going to start going back up soon, and the interest rate hikes are going to make things ugly

 

Assuming independent voters are willing to overlook 1/6 and the theft of classified docs.

 

House panel announces agreement to get Trump financial records -statement

WASHINGTON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - A U.S. House of Representatives committee said Thursday it had reached an agreement with Donald Trump and accounting firm Mazars USA on handing over some of the former president's financial records.

"After numerous court victories, I am pleased that my committee has now reached an agreement to obtain key financial documents that former President Trump fought for years to hide from Congress," said Representative Carolyn Maloney, chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ho...trump-financial-records-statement-2022-09-01/

At long last Trump's illegal efforts at concealment are over.