The hits just keep on coming. It’s not as if former President Donald Trump were sailing along before his Nov. 15th announcement that he would seek the presidency for a third time, but since that declaration of intent, legal troubles have been landing on Mr. Trump’s doorstep rapid fire.
Trump Troubles – Last But Not Least
The most recent shoe to drop is perhaps the greatest concern for Mr. Trump and those who support his effort to occupy the Oval Office again. On Dec. 7, a report published in a prominent Washington newspaper detailed the initial steps taken by Special counsel Jack Smith regarding Election 2020. Smith was recently tapped to conduct two investigations into Trump by Attorney General Merrick Garland. The first relates to Trump’s actions leading up to the events on Jan. 6, 2021, and the second correlates to the raid conducted at Trump’s Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago, where federal authorities seized approximately 11K documents.
The report disclosed that subpoenas regarding the 2020 presidential election hit landfall in Wisconsin, Arizona, and Michigan. At issue is who said what to whom following the controversial 2020 presidential election between the sitting president and his opponent, Joe Biden. Local officials in each state say they will comply with the order and provide federal investigators with “fundraising, organizing and rhetoric that proceeded the riot,” according to the newspaper report.
In the spring and summer of this year, subpoenas were issued to Mr. Trump’s so-called “inner circle” regarding their involvement in the events leading up to and during Jan. 6. It's unclear if additional subpoenas were sent to local officials in Georgia or Pennsylvania – two other hotly contested states – but it’s likely they will be, as a plethora of warrants are rapidly being fanned out.
Big Apple Jury Says Guilty
On Tuesday, Dec. 6, a New York jury found Trump’s real estate company guilty of “defrauding tax authorities, conspiracy and falsifying business records,” according to Reuters. Trump Organization, Inc. and not the former president were on trial.
Trump CEO Allen Weisselberg, 75, cut a deal with the Manhattan district attorney and became the DA’s star witness in exchange for a maximum sentence of 5 months behind bars. A fine of $1.6 million has been levied, however, Trump attorney Alan Futerfas said the company will appeal the ruling.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump is still dealing with a separate personal fraud lawsuit brought forward by Letitia James, the New York state attorney who has exposed herself as a rabid democratic partisan. James’ comments reveal an aggressive animosity toward the 45th president. The New York Post’s Charles Gasparino summed up Ms. James’ “sweeping case” against Trump, in which he mocked the AG:
James may be the most partisan Democratic prosecutor in the country, but New York state courts are packed with like-minded judicial types who also think Trump needs to rot in jail. Even worse, objective evidence abounds of James pushing the boundaries in using her office to advance her political goals.
But Wait, There’s More
(Phelan M. Ebenhack for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
As if all this weren’t enough, on Nov. 22, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a special master appointed to review material seized by the justice department from Trump’s Palm Beach estate. The special master was requested by Trump attorneys and considered a win for the former president. US District Judge Aileen Cannon ordered the appointment, but the appeals court overturned her decision saying the DOJ should be permitted to continue its review of the confiscated documents unhindered. A previous appeal to the US Supreme Court by attorneys for Mr. Trump proved futile when the high court refused to intervene.
The Motives Behind the Madness
Federal investigators, a special counsel, a district attorney, and a US state attorney all claim to be going about their business to reveal wrongdoing by the 45th president of the United States in a variety of capacities. However, it must be pointed out that there may be other, more sinister, plots at work against Mr. Trump.
If the goal of these various legal actions is to distract Trump from the business of his third and likely final quest for the highest office in the land, they appear to be doing a more than adequate job. Or it could reveal partisanship of the highest order to destroy a political figure that the left loathes.
Still, Donald Trump has endured other traps laid for him – most notably the Russia Collusion scandal and now the Twitter Files, which demonstrate a social media conspiracy to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop smoking gun, which has been confirmed as authentic. Such as it is, Donald Trump is a self-styled fighter and has no desire to let any of these legal actions get in his way, but how long he can keep up the fight against so many forces is the real question.
