THURSDAY was what one biographer of former president Donald Trump called “a very bad day for the Trump family”, but yesterday saw Americans digest the full implications of the charges against the Trump Organization.
They are potentially devastating and even though he has not himself been charged with a crime, the Manhattan district attorney and New York attorney general have ramped up their investigation into Trump.
The indictment against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Trump’s long-time friend Allen Weisselberg, 73, contained stunning revelations of alleged tax evasion schemes going back 15 years for most of which Trump was head of the company.
Weisselberg has personally been charged with grand larceny in the second degree which carries a possible 15-year jail sentence.
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Cyrus Vance Jr, the Manhattan district attorney, has been investigating Trump, his family and their companies for almost two years. Carey Dunn, general counsel for the Manhattan DA’s office said: “This was a 15-year-long tax fraud scheme. It was orchestrated by the most senior executives.”
New York attorney general Letitia James said: “Today is an important marker in the ongoing criminal investigation of the Trump Organization and its CFO, Allen Weisselberg. This investigation will continue, and we will follow the facts and the law wherever they may lead.”
Lawyers for the accused dismissed the charges as “inappropriate and unjustified” and true to form, the former president weighed in, describing Weisselberg as “a tremendous person” and calling the prosecution a “disgrace”.
He repeated on ABC News: “Disgrace, disgrace, disgrace.”
Numerous pundits observed that his strongest reactions always come when he is facing real problems, and criminal charges carrying jail sentences are possible.
Professor Barbara McQuade of the University of Michigan Law School, is a former US attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan and an NBC News and MSNBC legal analyst.
She told Time magazine online: “The crimes are serious. As I learned during my career as a federal prosecutor, this is the way rich people steal money. The means are more sophisticated than sticking up someone with a gun on a street corner, but purpose is the same, which is why one of the charges is grand larceny – stealing property that doesn’t belong to you.
“While Trump himself is not named as a defendant, he owns the corporate entity, which faces substantial criminal exposure. Corporate defendants cannot go to prison, but can be assessed fines, penalties and restitution in the form of back taxes.”
At some stage Trump’s involvement in the criminal case will become necessary, whether he is personally charged or has to account for what happened while he was in command – the biggest questions will probably be over the fact that his organization kept two sets of financial records, the internal leger showing payments to Weisselberg and other employees which were not disclosed to the tax authorities.
There is also the continuing investigation of payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels by Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen to stop her revealing details of an affair. Cohen is now co-operating with authorities.
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