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“Donald Trump’s company and its longtime finance chief were charged Thursday in what prosecutors called a ‘sweeping and audacious’ tax fraud scheme in which the executive collected more than $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation, including apartment rent, car payments and school tuition.” AP News
The right is critical of the indictment, arguing that the charges are politically motivated.
“If true and willful, this is rotten behavior. But it isn’t Teapot Dome, and disguising compensation as expenses is far from unusual in corporate America. It’s typically handled as a civil matter and settled with the payment of back taxes, interest and fines. It is rarely the basis for a criminal indictment…
“The political motives at work are transparent. Mr. Vance has pursued Mr. Trump and his tax records for years, even as street and violent crime proliferates in New York City. Ms. James campaigned on a promise to shine ‘a bright light into every dark corner of his real estate dealings, and every dealing, demanding truthfulness at every turn.’ She all but promised a selective prosecution—that is, pick a target, then search for a crime to allege…
“The expectation among Democrats is that the charges will finally diminish Mr. Trump’s political appeal, but will they? Like impeachments one and two, the case gives Mr. Trump another chance to portray himself as the populist knight taking on the corrupt powers that be. If the charges fail in court, and prosecutors have nothing else, Mr. Trump will claim blanket vindication.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
“The 15-count indictment throws a kitchen sink of charges, including grand larceny, conspiracy, scheme to defraud,and tax fraud. But the whole thing comes down to paying perks to Weisselberg — such as his parking garage fees, tuition for family members and reimbursement of holiday gratuities — and not reporting them as taxable income, or reporting that the wrong Trump entity paid them…
“Attorney General Robert Jackson, later a Supreme Court justice and Nuremberg prosecutor, warned against ‘picking the man and then searching the law books, or putting investigators to work, to pin some offense on him,’ in which case ‘the real crime becomes that of being unpopular with the predominant or governing group, being attached to the wrong political views, or being personally obnoxious to or in the way of the prosecutor himself.’ True in 1940, true in 2021.”
Dan McLaughlin, New York Post
“After ignoring the Trump Organization for decades, Manhattan’s Democratic D.A. finally started sniffing around the business after its CEO won the White House with an eye to either implicating him in a crime or flipping someone at the business — namely, Weisselberg — who might roll over on him. Nothing illegal about that. But having the D.A. suddenly perk up about criminality at Trump’s business only after Trump became a major political figure stinks on ice. The goal here, very clearly, isn’t to punish Weisselberg for criminal acts but to ruin Trump politically by bringing down his business or him personally.”
Allahpundit, Hot Air
“Here’s the thing with trying to get someone to flip — they have to have someone to actually flip on. For years we’ve seen person after person supposedly primed to ‘flip’ on Trump. None of it has amounted to anything, and there’s no reason to think these hopes will amount to anything now. At some point, the logical conclusion is that Trump may not be everyone’s cup of tea politically, but that he’s simply not a criminal. When even the political prosecutors in New York are shooting blanks, it’s probably time to pack it in.”
Bonchie, RedState
The left supports the indictment, arguing that there is clear evidence of criminal behavior.
The left supports the indictment, arguing that there is clear evidence of criminal behavior.
“The most astonishing — and damning — part is that the Trump Organization kept careful records of it all. It maintained two sets of books, one that showed Weisselberg’s compensation as reported to tax authorities, the second that recorded in detail how much he was actually receiving — as the indictment explains, ‘ensuring that he was not paid more than his pre-authorized, fixed amount of gross compensation.’… Normal businesses don’t keep two sets of books…
“Trump and his lawyers loudly proclaim that his company is being unfairly singled out… Such concerns have to be taken seriously, especially in the more lawyerly and restrained form of the accusation that a different company would not have been so charged. But given the reporting on Trump’s tax machinations, it would have been prosecutorial malpractice not to examine the operations of the Trump Organization.”
Ruth Marcus, Washington Post
“This is the type of conduct that puts other people behind bars. The investment banker Richard Josephberg was sentenced to four years in prison in 2007 for—among other tax-law violations—having a business pay for his homes in Westchester County, New York, and Greenwich, Connecticut, and then failing to report those payments as income…
“Leona Helmsley, the late real-estate billionaire and Trump friend-turned-enemy, was sentenced to four years in prison for essentially the same thing: having her company pay to renovate her Greenwich mansion and then failing to report those payments as income. (The U.S. attorney who brought the federal case against Helmsley was, incidentally, Trump’s future personal lawyer Rudolph Giuliani.)…
“Yes, this is a politically tinged prosecution. But if the allegations in the indictment are true, it’s also out-and-out tax fraud—conduct that is criminal beyond question. Being connected to a controversial political figure shouldn’t send you to jail. It shouldn’t get you off the hook either.”
Daniel Hemel, The Atlantic
“[This] line of defense may well rally Trump’s supporters. It will not do him much good in court. It’s impossible for tax collectors to scrutinize every return. Selecting high-profile evaders and holding them to account is how tax laws are enforced. And if a former president numbers among those high-profile evaders, that makes the case for targeting him stronger, not weaker. It sends the message that the tax authorities most want to send: Everybody has to pay, especially powerful politicians.”
David Frum, The Atlantic
“As lawyers who have worked on large financial fraud and other white-collar cases, we know that it is not unusual in complex investigations for initial charges to be followed by later ones. Superseding indictments often are filed as new proof is unearthed and as defendants cooperate and provide evidence that incriminates co-conspirators…
“We have seen far more hardened individuals than this 73-year-old accountant decide to cooperate under the financial and existential strain of criminal charges… Looking at the public facts we do have and applying the law to them, we believe Trump remains at risk of indictment.”
Norman Eisen and E. Danya Perry, Washington Post
Sea lion invasion disrupts junior sports games.
New Zealand Herald
