While his father mulls the next nominee for the United States Supreme Court, Eric Trump must testify in the New York Attorney General’s investigation into one of the Trump Organization’s real estate holdings. Always willing to appear after the November 3 general election, Eric Trump was instead ordered to testify no later than October 7 in a Manhattan court.
Judge Arthur Engoron offered his reasons: “Mr. Trump cites no authority in support of his request, and at any event, neither petitioner nor this court is bound by timelines of the national election.”
Attorney General Letitia James’ office investigated allegations that the Trump Organization improperly inflated the values of several real estate assets on financial statements. In turn, those documents were used to obtain loans and perhaps even tax relief on said properties.
A stern and subdued statement issued by James read, “The court’s order today makes clear that no one is above the law, not even an organization or an individual with the name Trump.”
James is a card-carrying and proud member of the Democratic Party, and when she says, “justice and the rule of law prevailed today,” one must wonder if that is true in all criminal probes. All this posturing comes not long after Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s son Hunter was exposed for allegedly paying women linked to “Eastern European prostitution or [a] human trafficking ring.”
Good Lord, what a country!
What Set Off Alarm Bells?
(Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
The suit was filed by the NY AG last year, questioning the value of several Trump Organization properties: Seven Springs Estate, a 212-acre property in Westchester County, New York, the Trump National Golf Club – Los Angeles, and a Trump building at 40 Wall St. in Manhattan, among others. Notably, the Seven Springs property was top of the list.
According to a report by CNBC, “the Financial Times last year noted that Trump purchased Seven Springs for $7.5 million in 1996 but valued it at more than $290 million in 2012. Forbes magazine in 2014 said that the entire property was worth less than $19.5 million, citing recent property sales and local realtors and assessors.”
If one looked around a bit, a more favorable assessment might be found detailing the value of holdings, but one might suspect that that did not happen with James’ office. But lacking any other crimes, the Seven Springs property garnered an apparent tax deduction of more than $21 million – after a donation of 158 acres on the property to a conservation land trust. And that, evidently, is unacceptable.
Mr. Eric Trump is the Trump Organization’s executive vice president of development and acquisitions and perhaps the closest thing to the president James can get. Regardless, it seems egregiously biased in the Big Apple.
It’s Political – Nothing More
Eric Trump is a vital component of a national campaign in the final sprint to the finish line. The AG cannot wait several weeks? Thousands of documents will essentially occupy Mr. Trump for days – if not weeks – in a deposition. Pulling these kinds of shenanigans have the unintended consequences of making the Democrats barreling toward Election Day look not only pathetic but desperate as well.
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