Manhattan DA calls for probe into Trump's tax returns and bank fraud, POTUS slams 'continuation of witch hunt'
President Donald Trump on August 3 used his favorite "witch hunt" term after prosecutors in New York seeking his tax returns informed a federal court that his family firm is being investigated for alleged fraud. The president, who was speaking on various issues at a press conference in the White House including the coronavirus pandemic, reacted to the legal issue saying, "This is just a continuation of the witch hunt."
Trump was asked by the media about the court push where the prosecutors hinted that the investigations are looking well beyond a hush-payment scheme to porn actress Stormy Daniels and also into financial matters related to the company that Trump’s late father Fred had started. The firm was overseen by the president himself till he got elected in 2016.
Recalling the impeachment trial against him and the investigation against his alleged collusion with Russia, which he often called a "witch hunt", Trump said: "It’s Democrat stuff they failed with Mueller they failed with everything." None of the moves succeeded in nailing the president and the latter pointed that out. “They failed at every stage of the game. Even before I got in this was starting with the Mueller deal. Mueller started a little bit after," he said. Talking about the investigation against his company, Trump, 74, said he was not too familiar with the issue which was reported in a variety of outlets including the New York Times, as a court filing was made public.
Trump says he knows nothing about it
"There’s nothing that I know even about it. I said what’s this all about? I know nothing about it," Trump said, adding, "It’s a terrible thing that they do. It’s really a terrible thing. The witch hunt has gone on long enough."
Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Cyrus Vance Jr is seeking eight years of Trump’s personal and corporate tax records but has not disclosed much about what made him go for them, apart from the fact that the investigation is related to payoffs made to women to silence them about alleged past affairs with the top businessman-politician, Associated Press reported.
It was told to the judge on August 3 that the demand to get Trump’s tax returns was justified against the backdrop of public reports of "extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization". In a court filing the same day, Vance’s attorneys said the president’s claims that the subpoena was too broad came from the "false premise" that the investigation was restricted to the so-called "hush-money" payments. "This Court is already aware that this assertion is fatally undermined by undisputed information in the public record," they wrote.
In July, the president’s attorneys said the grand jury subpoena for the tax returns was not issued in a right spirit and led to presidential harassment. Vance’s legal representatives, however, felt the opposite. They said public reports showed that at the time the subpoena was issued, "there were public allegations of possible criminal activity at Plaintiff’s New York County-based Trump Organization dating back over a decade".
"These reports describe transactions involving individual and corporate actors based in New York County, but whose conduct at times extended beyond New York's borders. This possible criminal activity occurred within the applicable statutes of limitations, particularly if the transactions involved a continuing pattern of conduct," they added. The lawyers cited several newspaper articles, including one published by the Washington Post, that looked into allegations that the president sent financial statements to potential business partners and banks that inflated his projects’ worth claiming they were bigger and more lucrative than what it is in reality.
Another report described a congressional testimony by Trump’s tainted former lawyer Michael Cohen who said the former would inflate the value of his business interests to impress lenders but would deflate their assets while trying to reduce taxes. The lawyers also showed reports of past non-criminal probe by New York regulators into whether the practice described by Cohen included bank or insurance fraud.
Last month, the Supreme Court rejected claims made by the president’s lawyers that he could not be criminally probed while serving in the office.