Donald Trump's Chances of Staying Out of Prison Are Not Improving

[babylonsister]

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/donald-trump-jeff-mcconney-grand-jury#intcid=recommendations_vf-hive-trending-legacy_cf9ce4cf-9f2b-44fa-bc23-363b3888c378_popular4-1

Levin Report
Donald Trump’s Chances of Staying Out of Prison Are Not Improving
A major Trump Organization executive has testified before a grand jury.
By Bess Levin
June 7, 2021



If you asked Donald Trump what he thinks the next several months will hold for him, he’d likely tell you that he’ll be holding some rallies, playing some golf, and getting ready to head back to the White House. He’d tell you that because he’s a disturbed man who apparently thinks that a president who loses an election can simply be “reinstated” to the presidency, like one can have their cable reinstated after canceling it and then panicking about how they’re going to be able to watch Vanderpump Rules. In reality, what the next several months, and potentially years, hold for the ex-president are a lot of meetings with attorneys about how he’s legally in the bad place—that is, assuming they’re still keeping him apprised of the situation and aren’t yet at a point where they just park him in front of the TV “while the grown-ups talk.”

Most recently, the no good, very bad news for Agent Orange has involved the impaneling of a grand jury by the Manhattan district attorney as part of Cyrus Vance Jr.’s criminal probe. Last month, The Washington Post reported that such a group will be hearing evidence concerning the ex-president, his business, and its executives, and on Friday, it emerged that one of the most senior officials at the Trump Organization has reportedly already testified. Which seems less than ideal for the owner of said Trump Organization.

Per ABC News:

Jeff McConney is among a number of witnesses that have already appeared before the special grand jury that will decide whether criminal charges are warranted against the former president, his company, or any of its employees, [sources with direct knowledge of the matter] said. McConney, who serves as a senior vice president and controller for the Trump Organization, is the first employee of the former president’s company called to testify, the sources said, and his testimony is a sign that prosecutors have burrowed deep into the company’s finances. “Complex accounting issues are crucial to this investigation, as is the knowledge and intent of the people at the Trump Organization involved in these transactions,” said Daniel R. Alonso, the former chief assistant district attorney in Manhattan and now a partner in private practice at Buckley LLP. “In any case like that, the two most important people—whether as targets or witnesses—are the company’s CFO and the company's controller,” Alonso told ABC News.

McConney was mentioned by Trump in his 2004 book, Trump: Think Like a Billionaire: Everything You Need to Know About Success, Real Estate, and Life. In a chapter titled “How to Stay on Top of Your Finances,” Trump describes an interaction he says he had with McConney in the late 1980s in which Trump implored McConney to always question invoices and never accept a contractor’s first bid. “Jeff got the message,” Trump wrote, “and is doing a terrific job. He looks out for my bottom line as if the money were his own.”

snip//

Last month, after news of the convening of the grand jury broke, a source from Trumpworld told Politico that there was “definitely a cloud of nerves in the air,” with the adviser saying that while Trump is no stranger to legal issues, this situation feels different, in part because prosecutors are trying to gain the cooperation of Weisselberg, who’s described himself as Trump’s “eyes and ears” at the company. “I think the Weisselberg involvement and the wild card of that makes the particular situation more real, because there’s no sort of fluff and made-up fictional circumstances around the guy,” this person told Politico. “The fact that they’re dealing with a numbers guy who just has plain details makes people more nervous. This is not a Michael Cohen situation.” In related Trump legal news, Politico also reported last month that former prosecutors and defense attorneys believe Vance could be exploring the possibility of arguing that Trump‘s entire business empire is a corrupt enterprise, under a New York law known as “little RICO,” which was modeled after the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, originally used to crack down on the mafia. The state law can be used with proof of as few as three crimes involving a business or other enterprise and carries a minimum mandatory sentence of one to three years—and a maximum term of up to 25. “It’s a very serious crime,” said Michael Shapiro, a defense attorney who used to prosecute corruption cases in New York. “Certainly, there are plenty of things an organization or business could do to run afoul of enterprise corruption, if they’re all done with the purpose of enhancing the revenue of the enterprise illegally…it’s an umbrella everything else fits under.”

[The Magistrate]

1. Some Good Cheer, Ma'am

Goes well with the first cup of coffee.

[babylonsister]

2. Agreed, Sir! And this Jeff McConney

character hopefully adds another source of info; I hope he's singing like a bird!

[LymphocyteLover]

3. Nothing would make me happier than Trump being fully exposed and indicted for being the

corrupt mobster he really is.

[dem4decades]

4. I'll believe it when I see it, will the DOJ defend him here too?

[TurboDem]

9. My thoughts exactly!

I'm beginning to think Pres. Biden made a HUGE mistake with Garland as the AG. Right now I'm thinking he's worthless, but I hope to be proven wrong.

[634-5789]

5. I await the day when thry throw that orange POS in a deep hole.

[Botany]

6. "his testimony is a sign that prosecutors have burrowed deep into the company's finances"

n/t

[Stuart G]

7. Thank You for posting this...K and R

[RVN VET71]

8. I think some of Trump's closest folks are going to jail

I hope that includes Donnie Cokenose, Eric the Fopdoodle, and Ivanka Fustylugs.

(I got the last two from mentalfloss.com.)

But it will not include Loser-45.

Although a very, very stupid man, Flubbo has been protected from provably direct connection to any of his crimes and will, thus, walk away, a broke but not broken man like creature, raising millions from his drooling followers by promising them, come August, that the “reinstatement” may take another 6 months or so. And then another 6 months. And then another. . . .

I hope I am wrong and will celebrate if events prove me so. But I just cannot see Lardboy going to lock-up. He’s getting old and will die the way unhealthy old people do, comatose and, alas, without pain.

[Botany]

11. Death or insainty might very well beat Donny to his appointment @ differnet courthouses and prison.

He is pissing and shitting himself and his latest public speech showed signs of a stroke (my guess)
and severe mental decline.

[Eyeball_Kid]

14. Any first hand accounts?

If he’s pissing and shitting himself, do we have eyewitness accounts? Otherwise, it’s a nice bedtime story.

[RVN VET71]

18. One can only dream!

Loser-45 would have died or stroked out years ago from life-style deficiencies -- if he had a normal system. I think of Rasputin and the strenuous efforts made by Russian princes to kill him with poison, with bullets, and finally by dragging his wounded body in chains and throwing him in the Neva. Some evil people are just not built for dying.

(Rasputin, shot, poisoned, beaten and in chains apparently did not die immediately. Son of a bitch was trying to claw his way through the ice on the semi-frozen river and, it is said, finally froze to death. I’m not saying the same brutal end should be met by Flubbo-45. I’m really not saying that. Not at all. I’d never say that. Not at all. Not me!)

[Dan]

10. Well, my thoughts are this: I hope Trump ends up in the bestest prison.

With only the most criminal of criminals, the bestest criminals in the world.

[Jon King]

12. Still have to get every single juror.

All it takes is 1 juror to mess up a verdict, so I remain hopeful but would not be surprised if he skates away.

[dalton99a]

13. "In reality, what the next several months, and potentially years"

Sad truth: Donald Trump will not spend one day in prison, because no jury will convict him

However, he must be indicted. His crimes must be exposed and documented.

[samnsara]

15. trump** will probably never see jail..BUT there are worse fates for him..

...I hope all his kids are jailed and he cant do a damned thing about it. I hope he loses all his $$ and all his 'followers' and creditors will turn on him and he will live in fear for his life forever. This stress will plague him with life long health problems...crippling arthritis and incontinence and a lifetime of cheap suits and wrinkled pants.

A pox upon his household!

[IronLionZion]

16. He should share a cell with Bibi

then we can throw in Bolsonaro and Modi too and eventually the OG Putin.

[DallasNE]

17. This Looks Like A Long Shot To Me

If that is what the prosecutors are going after. The numbers guys ask the lawyers if a certain transaction is allowed under tax law and the lawyers tell the numbers guy what he wants to hear following a process of negotiations. That creztes a circular formation where everybody points a ainger at the person to their left. How do you prove the intent to corrupt? I like things that are easier to follow, like the hush money payments right before the 2016 election. Or even the obstruction of justice that Mueller was not allowed to prosecute.

[Blue Owl]

19. Justice for tRump