The "Red Line" Investigations that Will Haunt Trump's Presidency

[babylonsister]

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/04/donald-trump-mueller-report-referral-investigations

The “Red Line” Investigations that Will Haunt Trump’s Presidency
With 14 potential cases referred by the special prosecutor, investigators in New York, Washington, and Congress are zeroing in on the president, his family, and his business dealings.
by Abigail Tracy
April 19, 2019 4:06 pm


For Donald Trump, perhaps the most chilling moment in the Mueller report occurs on page 446, where the special counsel reveals that he has referred a total of 14 potential cases to other prosecutors. Because while Robert Mueller was given a limited mandate to investigate the Trump-Russia affair, special counsel investigations have a habit of unearthing other, unrelated criminality in the process. Perhaps that is why, when Trump first learned that Mueller had been appointed, according to the report, he slumped back in his chair and exclaimed, “I’m fucked.”

snip//

New York State and Trump’s Taxes

Since at least July of last year, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance has been investigating the now defunct Trump Foundation, the president’s eponymous charity, reportedly for potential violations of Empire State tax regulations. Following a deep dive by The New York Times into the Trump family’s tax history last fall, the department announced it was also taking a closer look at various claims made in the article. “The Tax Department is reviewing the allegations in the N.Y.T. article and is vigorously pursuing all appropriate avenues of investigation,” a spokesman for the agency said.

New York Attorney General and Trump

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who took office in January, has continued to pursue her office’s lawsuit against the Trump Foundation for allegations of violating state and federal charity laws. But she’s also taken an aggressive stance toward the Trump Organization. In response to allegations Cohen made while testifying in front of the House Oversight committee that Trump inflated and deflated the value of his assets to suit his bottom line, James’s office subpoenaed financial records from Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank relating to a series of Trump Organization real-estate projects and the president’s failed attempt to buy the Buffalo Bills football team.

The Trump Inaugural Committee

President Trump’s inaugural committee has drawn the scrutiny of the S.D.N.Y. and U.S. attorneys offices in Brooklyn, Los Angeles, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. Investigators are probing whether foreign money was routed through the committee, along with allegations of influence peddling. At least one plea deal from Sam Patten, an American lobbyist, has stemmed from the inquiries into the inauguration. Patten pleaded guilty to violating the Foreign Agent Registration Act. And as my colleague Emily Jane Fox has reported, the Trump family was involved in planning the event.

Congressional Inquiries

While the Mueller investigation has reached its conclusion, intelligence committees in the House and the Senate continue to probe Russian interference in the 2016 election and contacts between the Trump campaign and the Russians. And since Democrats won the House, they have opened numerous inquiries into the president’s behavior, his family’s business dealings, his finances, White House procedures, and the administration’s foreign policy. Already, subpoena fights loom over the White House security-clearance process, with a specific focus on the clearances of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his daughter Ivanka; Trump’s tax returns, which he has refused to release; the Trump Organization’s finances; and private conversations between Trump officials and the foreign governments of Russia and Saudi Arabia.

In an interview with The New York Times in 2017, shortly after Mueller was appointed, Trump answered in the affirmative when asked whether Mueller investigating his family finances would cross a “red line.” At the time, Trump wouldn’t say how he might respond in such a case, because “I don't think it’s going to happen.” Now, with multiple prosecutors looking beyond Mueller’s remit, the president may soon be held to account for whatever those investigations find.

[empedocles]

1. Deutsch subpoenas will make things more interesting.

[Beyond 'mere' financial shenanigans. Something like treason?]