New York prosecutors have more than documents linking Donald Trump to criminal behavior. They also have a witness.
A witness in the New York investigation against the Trump Organization has told prosecutors that Donald Trump personally guaranteed he would cover school costs for the family members of two employees in lieu of a raise—directly implicating the former president in an ongoing criminal tax fraud case.
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(Jennifer) Weisselberg then provided key details for investigators. In January 2012, inside Trump’s office at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, Jennifer Weisselberg watched as Trump discussed compensation with her husband and her father-in-law, both company employees. Her husband wouldn’t be getting a raise, but their children would get their tuition paid for at a top-rated private academy instead.
The Evidence That Prosecutors Need To Charge Trump
Prosecutors have tons of documents about Trump’s business, so it is not a surprise that the decision on whether or not to charge him is taking so long. Trump ran a small but complex scheme of loans, shell companies, and a maze of gimmicks that it appears were designed to perpetrate fraud and avoid taxes.
A witness makes a case such as this one much easier for a jury to understand.
It is useful for prosecutors to know that they have the ability to charge Trump with the tax avoidance scam, but the larger-scale investigation into bank and tax fraud is what they are after.
Trump got away with his behavior for decades because he always kept deniability and witnesses stayed quiet. Witnesses are now talking, and the former president’s wall of deniability is crumbling.
More charges are coming, and it looks like the prosecutorial net has ensnared the failed twice impeached one-term president.
Mr. Easley is the managing editor, who is White House Press Pool, and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association