Category Archives: Donald Trump

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Democratic U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur and other Congress members have joined an NAACP lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, lawyer Rudy Giuliani, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers over their roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. The riot temporarily kept Kaptur and other members from doing their duty to record the electoral votes giving Joe Biden his presidential victory.

Were talking about the reasons for the lawsuit and the legal argument behind it on This Week in the CLE.

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Here are the questions were answering today:

What is Congresswoman Marcy Kapturs claim against Donald Trump in a lawsuit over the Jan. 6insurrection in the U.S.Capitol?

How big is the broadband expansion that Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Wednesday for East Cleveland?

Is Gov. MikeDeWine starting to regret setting the standard of 50 coronavirus cases per 100,000 in order to lift his health orders?

The Wolstein Center coronavirus vaccine clinic has been a rare and repeated source of good news during the pandemic. What did we find out that makes it even better news, especially for immigrants who might be here without necessary papers?

How is a Southern Ohio conservative trying to use election laws to pry loose more information about how Larry Householder used dark money to support sycophants who would be loyal to him in the Ohio Statehouse?

What do we know about the big Rocky River teacher purge announced Wednesday, with five resigning and one retiring?

How are some people in the Legislature trying to make things right for children who need expensive hearing aids?

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To hold Donald Trump to account for the Jan. 6 riot, Marcy Kaptur joins a lawsuit against him: This Week in t - cleveland.com

Photo by Jamel Toppin for Forbes

$2.5B

as of 3/31/21

Stats

Age74

Source of Wealthreal estate

ResidencePalm Beach, Florida

CitizenshipUnited States

Marital StatusMarried

Children5

EducationFordham University; Bachelor of Arts/Science, University of Pennsylvania

Trump played basketball, football, soccer and baseball while he attended the New York Military Academy in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York.

Donald Trump appeared alongside his father Fred on the first ever Forbes 400 list in 1982, with a combined net worth estimated at $200 million.

$4.5B

Billionaires March 2016

$3.7B

Forbes 400 October 2016

$3.5B

Billionaires March 2017

$3.1B

Forbes 400 October 2017

$3.1B

Billionaires March 2018

$3.1B

Forbes 400 October 2018

$3.1B

Billionaires March 2019

$3.1B

Forbes 400 October 2019

$2.1B

Billionaires April 2020

$2.5B

Forbes 400 September 2020

I took a lot of finance courses at Wharton. First they taught you all the rules and regulations. Then they taught you that those rules and regulations are really meant to be broken.

8 hours ago

Shortly after the January 6th Capitol Riots, Donald Trump was kicked off Twitter and a number of other social platforms. Now he's trying to find a way to get back on social and talk directly to his fans.

11 hours ago

Last week, a campaign aide said former President Donald Trump is working on his own social media launch after being banned from major platforms.

Mar 29, 2021

Former President Donald Trumps daughter-in-law is weighing a possible run for Senate.

Mar 25, 2021

The rules left by Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos were a sharp break from the rules under the Obama Administration. Will Biden change them back?

Mar 24, 2021

The audit was launched last year after GOP leaders including former President Donald Trump alleged without evidence the pandemic numbers were being overstated.

Mar 22, 2021

"The drug war is coming for nicotine."

Mar 22, 2021

The former president said it was a "big victory" before being told the DHS secretary had not, in fact, resigned.

Mar 19, 2021

Its the latest coronavirus outbreak to hit former President Donald Trumps orbit.

Mar 12, 2021

At a media event earlier this week, reporters noticed that something yuge had been scrubbed from the public relations push.

Mar 10, 2021

From presidential Boeing 747s and 757s flying as Air Force One and his Trump-branded VIP 757, the former POTUS was spotted this week flying a serious downgrade.

Mar 5, 2021

Roves voice on Fox is always negative for those who know how to win. He certainly hasnt helped Fox in the ratings department, has he?

Mar 1, 2021

It seemed that his followers have been energized in ways not even seen during the run up to the election

Feb 28, 2021

Young girls and women are now being forced to compete against biological males... If this is not changed, womens sports as we know it will die."

Feb 27, 2021

Q believers are convinced the former presidents Pennsylvania Avenue hotel is sending a signal about the much-anticipated datewhen he will be inaugurated again.

Feb 24, 2021

Trump Jr.'s testimony raised further questions about the nature of invoices the attorney general had been investigating.

Feb 19, 2021

Stephen Schwarzman, Diane Hendricks, Steve Wynn: About 14% of Americas billionaires donated to Donald Trumps reelection campaign, according to an analysis of records filed with the Federal Election Commission.

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Joseph Lau

Related by origin of wealth: real estate

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Donald Trump - Forbes

Donald Trump's being sued by 2 U.S. Capitol Police Officers who claim the ex-Prez "inflamed" the insurrectionist mob, which they say nearly led to their deaths on January 6.

James Blassingame, a 17-year veteran, and Sidney Hemby, an 11-year veteran, just filed a lawsuit against Trump claiming they suffered horrific injuries and they're laying the blame squarely at his feet.

In the suit, the cops claim Trump incited the January 6 riot by getting his followers riled up about trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Hemby says the riot resulted in him being "crushed against the doors on the east side" while "trying to hold the insurrectionists back." He claims he suffered cuts and abrasions on his face, hands and body while the mob attacked.

Blassingame claims he was slammed against a stone column, injuring his spine and the back of his head. In addition to the physical attack, he says people were yelling and repeatedly calling him a n****r.

In the suit, Blassingame also says he's "haunted by the memory of being attacked, and of the sensory impacts the sights, sounds, smells and even tastes of the attack remain close to the surface." He adds that he has survivor's guilt because he was unable to help some of his fellow officers ... some of whom lost their lives due to the insurrection.

As for Trump's responsibility for the attack ... both officers point to his December 19 tweet where he said, "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there. Will be wild!" They assert that was a battle cry ... "taken by many of [Trump's] supporters as a literal call to arms.

The officers are suing for unspecified damages for their physical injuries and emotional distress.

More here:

Donald Trump Sued by 2 Capitol Police Officers Over Jan. 6 Insurrection - TMZ

Dr. Birx didn't get off lightly, either. The former president called her a "liar with very little credibility," whose recommendations were viewed as "pseudo-science." He also noted that Birx was a "terrible medical advisor, which is why [he] seldom followed her advice." He claimed Birx ruined the lives of children because they couldn't go to school, ruined businesses, and "killed an untold number of Americans" through lockdowns (via Politico).

But far from seeing Trump's statement as a rant against Fauci and Birx, there were those, including CNN correspondent John Harwood, who pointed out, via Twitter, that "by proudly acknowledging he overruled Fauci and Birx, Trump owns US coronavirus response. the record: more cases and deaths than any country in the world by far; more than 2x as many cases/deaths per 100K population than Canada next door; 50x death rate of South Korea." His sentiment was shared by others on social media, who felt that the former president's admission that he rejected Fauci and Birx's suggestions also meant that he was taking responsibility for the circumstances that lead to the more than half a million COVID-related deaths.

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Why Donald Trump Is Fuming Over Dr. Fauci And Dr. Birx - The List

A sheriffs deputy who went to law school but remained a cop for another two decades. A prosecutor best known for tackling juvenile offenders. And the guy who literally wrote the book on racketeering cases against mafia goons.

This is the team Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is assembling to investigate Donald Trumpto go after his advisers and their attempts to manipulate election results in Georgia.

In interviews with Willis, her staff, five former members of the team, and several people who interacted with them, The Daily Beast has learned there are now two grand juries underway in Fulton County, and jurors in these secret proceedings will soon be asked to issue subpoenas demanding documents and recordings related to the Trump investigation.

I suspect that's in the very near future, Willis told The Daily Beast.

There are now two grand juries underway in Fulton County, and jurors will soon be asked to issue subpoenas demanding documents and recordings related to the Trump investigation.

Its practically unheard of for a regional prosecutor to target a former U.S. president. But this is Donald Trump. Manhattans district attorney and New York States attorney general have active investigations. And so does the DA of Fulton County, Georgia. The case in Georgia may be the strongest; theres a trove of evidencedocuments, phone calls, witnessesthat Trump personally interfered with and pressured elections officials in Atlanta as they recounted votes.

Trumps now infamous Jan. 2 call, in which he pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find 11,780 votes, became public on Williss first day in office.

Three cases were referred to her office from the Office of the Secretary of State, she said. The monumental task of conducting this investigation has fallen on the DAs new anti-corruption team, once known as the public integrity unit. Its a small team that traditionally investigates police misconduct and corrupt local government officials. Willis decided to scrap and rebrand the team because of its troubled history, one that has repeatedly drawn rebuke in Atlanta. Over the decades, the team has proved incapable of handling its regular caseload, derailing careers by leaving accused cops stuck at desk assignmentsand forcing impatient families to wait years for basic answers.

With Trump, theyre now faced with the highest of high-profile potential defendantsone with enormous political backing and a legion of followers from whom he can instantly raise millions of dollars for his defense.

That checkered past is why attorneys, like Paul Kish, who have defended public officials targeted by previous iterations of that prosecution unit, had this to say: I think they're so far out of their league it's not even funny.

But its exactly why Willis, driven to run for DA partly by the frustration at the previous ones failure to clamp down on public corruption, quickly made good on her campaign promise to destroy the old version of the team. When first asked about the units past, Willis responded with a sharp one-line email: Public Integrity died on 12/31/2020.

She later told The Daily Beast that she removed all but one member of the previous team: the investigator Raymond Baez, who interviewed to keep his job and said he was deeply incensed at corrupt cops he encountered while growing up in Puerto Rico. It convinced Willis that he deserved to stay on. She even promoted him to assistant chief.

I thought he was a man of integrity, Willis said.

As for the other members of the team? A former cop, Sonya Allen is now the chief senior assistant district attorney. Allen worked at the nearby Cobb County Sheriffs Office for nearly 30 years, rising through the ranks on the narcotics and fugitive units and eventually reaching second highest rank in the department. What sold Willis on her: Allen was the cop who investigated how a man on trial for rape, Brian Nichols, escaped custody and killed the Fulton County Superior Court judge presiding over his case.

Brian Watkins, who was just named deputy of anti-corruption, started out as a prosecutor in the eastern part of the state. He tried fraud and murder cases before switching to private practice for more than a decade, when he defended public officials accused of crimes. He is the only member of the team currently listed on the DAs website. We researched him greatly. He didnt have any blemishes, Willis told us.

Meighan L. Vargas is a former prosecutor who has previously expressed how she loves solving the puzzles that trials present. She spent a few years at a boutique law firm in Atlanta before deciding to return to join this effort.

Another member of the new team is Shannon Trotty, who previously directed the DAs juvenile division. She has a history of showing restraint. When middle schoolers sickened their classmates in 2019 by lacing Valentines Day treats with THCthe main psychoactive ingredient in cannabisTrotty advised against charging them with a crime because no one could prove the students had knowledge and intent.

Willis also pulled a prosecutor from the complex trial division, Sau Chun Chan, who was just admitted to practice law in Georgia two years ago.

Im having to broaden the unit it never looked at election fraud before now, Willis said.

I think they're so far out of their league it's not even funny.

defense attorney Paul Kish

Willis has publicly acknowledged that she also hired John E. Floyd, a nationally-renowned expert on state RICO charges, who is expected to consult this team. Thats relevant, given that her office is looking into the potential use of racketeering charges against Trumps inner circle. Prosecutors would have to prove a pattern of corruptionthe same way they show that mafia bosses direct underlings. Their mission would be to show that Trump and his lieutenants conspired in a criminal enterprise to undermine a legitimate election.

Willis is looking to hire three more lawyers and one more investigator (a position that usually goes to former cops whose job it is to pair up with the prosecutor).

The unique nature of anti-corruption work necessitates hiring prosecutors who do a lot more detective work on their own, said Carranza Pryor, who worked on the previous public integrity team in 2016. Unlike other prosecutors, who typically get handed a police case file detailing homicide or sexual crimes with notes and interviews already conducted, anti-corruption work starts with the attorney.

There's more privacy, secrecy, and isolation because of the sensitivity of the work, Pryor said. There's a lot more time at your desk, a lot more research and review of documents and records. You have more of an opportunity to reflect, take a breath, and be more deliberate than other offices.

In the Trump case, prosecutors will start with damning audio recordings that have already been revealed by The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.

Those who know Willis personally do not doubt her ability to handle this case.

She's a great prosecutor. She's a gifted trial attorney. And shes remained an active trial attorney, said Peter Odom, a former prosecutor who tried his first murder case alongside her in 2007.

Its really a leadership question. The biggest challenge to doing a case involving the president and the [Georgia] secretary of state is the glare of the spotlight. Really, it's just another case like any other. It's a conspiracy case. There's plenty of evidence. There's phone calls. Everything is public record. Proving the case is not hard. The hardest part is that the president has almost unlimited resources. He's going to hire the best attorneys. There's going to be a huge procedural battle. Every dotted i and crossed t in the indictment will be attacked.

And thats where this units past could come back to haunt it.

The birth of the public integrity unit was precipitated by failure. It all started when the District Attorney's Office received a case it wasn't able to handle. Michael Hightower, then a promising young Fulton County commissioner, had accepted nearly $25,000 in bribes for helping a businessman win government contracts. Then-DA Paul Howard had key evidence, but he realized his office just wasn't capable of pursuing this kind of basic public corruption case. So instead, he passed it along to federal prosecutors who got the politician convicted.

Howard started the specialized team the very next month, in July 2000, tasking them with investigating public officials and law enforcement. It was a celebrated move by Georgias first elected Black district attorney, as it promised more accountability for police officers who kill without justificationdecades before it became the national zeitgeist it is now.

To lead the team, he hired Stacey K. Hydrick, a prosecutor at the state Attorney General's office who had just taken down two state senators, Ralph Abernathy III and Diana Harvey Johnson. Hydrick immediately set her sights on corruption at the nearby DeKalb County Jail. Two guards were later nailed for taking bribes to let inmates get short vacations outside the facility.

Im having to broaden the unit it never looked at election fraud before now.

Fulton County DA Fani Willis

The public integrity unit was plagued with resource problems from the start. The DAs office, headquartered at the courthouse, was denied the $41,850 it had initially requested to lease an off-site office space so that the unit could be separated from the rest of the DAs office. The idea was to create space in order to further secure its independence as a government watchdog. And when Howard did finally manage to move the team, he placed them at a building across the streetat a sleek new development owned by a corrupt former Congressman. Inevitably, the public integrity unit found itself in the awkward position of investigating its own landlord.

It was not a good experience, and I ended up asking to be taken off the team, said Odom, who was on the team at the time and is now in private practice in Washington, D.C. I didn't feel the unit had anything to do with integrity. And there were certain aspects of the job that required me to do questionable things I wasn't willing to do.

The DA at the time gained a reputation as an indecisive micromanager who held back the team because he repeatedly demanded further investigation on cases that investigators considered clear-cut, according to several former prosecutors on that team. As time went by, the units case backlog grew. By the time Howard was forced out of office last year, there were nearly 125 public corruption cases sitting incomplete, according to the current DA. The unit had 43 pending cases of excessive force by police officers dating back years, and 41 of those had yet to be charged with any crime.

I think it was a lack of strength, if you really want to know the truth, Willis told the Beast. People would investigate and investigate til their wheels spin. And you have to have a lot of courage to make decisions in those cases.

Most past investigations against politicians ended with little fanfare. Former members of the team cited several instances where a person running for local office lied about their home address or a criminal record that would render them ineligible. Prosecutors would avoid trial and just get them to withdraw the paperwork. And no target was ever as powerful as ex-President Trump.

I don't think there's anyone comparable with what the team is faced with now, said Melissa Redmon, who led the team from 2013 to 2019 and left to direct the University of Georgia law schools prosecutorial justice program.

Odom, Redmon, and several other friends of the current district attorney said that she has her work cut out for her. She is simultaneously remaking an entire DAs office that was widely considered broken and ineffectivewhile pursuing what could be the most historic case ever to come out of that office.

Willis told the Beast that she is now utilizing two ongoing grand juries to clear the case backlog, and she has requested additional funding from Fulton County. The new anti-corruption team will be located at a separate office, across the street in the Fulton County Government Center where it has been for years. Behind a single keypad-locked door is a series of narrow halls lined with boxes, filing cabinets, and a windowless conference room, according to those who worked there.

But given the sensitivity of the high-stakes investigation into the powerful billionaire who until recently held the reigns of the federal government, Willis hinted that some extra security precautions have been taken.

Um some investigations occur in separate places. How about that? Willis said.

The new district attorney is also adamant that she will show more decisiveness than her predecessor, which will mean a more effective anti-corruption unit as it considers election fraud, racketeering, and false statement charges against Rudy Giuliani and other members of Team Trump.

My philosophy is just: Were going to call balls and strikes. And it is what it is, Willis said. Were just going to use the law and the facts. Im not going to worry about the politics of that. And I do understand what Im saying. If that means Im only the DA for one term thatll be what God has me do for these four years.

Continued here:

The Unlikely Team of Prosecutors Hunting Trump in Georgia - The Daily Beast

The US Justice Department is investigating Congressman Matt Gaetz a Florida Republican considered a close political ally of former president Donald Trump over an alleged sexual relationship with an underage girl, according to people familiar with the matter, though the probe has been complicated by Gaetzs assertion that his family is being extorted.

The investigation into Gaetz began some time last year, when Trump was still in office, after a criminal case against a different Florida politician led investigators to allegations that the congressman had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paid for her travel, a person familiar with the matter said on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

As that probe was under way, the person said, Gaetz's family raised allegations that the congressman was being extorted, and the FBI separately is exploring those claims.

READ MORE:* G Gordon Liddy, Watergate mastermind, dead at 90* US Capitol riot suspect wore 'I Was There' T-shirt when arrested by police* Trump falsely claims January 6 rioters were 'hugging and kissing' police

The Justice Department activity, which had been conducted in secret for months, burst into the open on Tuesday (Wednesday NZT) when the New York Times published a report on the investigation into the alleged sexual relationship, and Axios published an interview in which Gaetz confirmed the probe but said the allegations against him were "rooted in an extortion effort against my family."

Separately, Axios reported that Gaetz was telling confidants he was contemplating not seeking re-election and possibly leaving his post early for a job at Newsmax, a conservative media outlet.

Gaetz repeated his extortion claim in a statement and then on Fox News, saying someone had been "seeking US$25 million (NZ$35.5 million) while threatening to smear my name."

He said that his father, Donald Gaetz, a former president of the Florida Senate, had received a text message on March 16 demanding a meeting, and that on Wednesday, his father was supposed to contact a former Justice Department official "so that specific instructions could be given regarding the wiring of US$4.5 million (NZ$6.4 million) as a down payment on this bribe."

Gaetz said his family had contacted the local FBI about the matter.

Gaetz identified the former Justice Department official as attorney David McGee, a former federal prosecutor in Florida now at the firm Beggs & Lane.

Matt Gaetz/Facebook

Matt Gaetz posted a picture on his Facebook page in 2017 with well-known Trump ally Roger Stone and Joel Greenberg, a fellow Florida Republican who was charged last summer with sex trafficking of a child and a medley of other offences.

In an interview, McGee disputed that he was part of any effort to extort Gaetz, or that he was connected to the Justice Department's investigation of possible sex trafficking by the congressman. He said Gaetz's father had "called me and asked to talk to me," though McGee declined to say what the conversation entailed.

"It is completely false. It's a blatant attempt to distract from the fact that he's under investigation for sex trafficking of minors," McGee said, adding, "I have no connection with that case at all, other than, one of a thousand people who have heard the rumours."

Gaetz asserted that his family had been cooperating with the FBI and that his father had even worn a wire to record interactions. He said that at the Justice Department's request, his father had made a recording at the Beggs & Lane firm, and the congressman called on the FBI to release the tapes.

"I know that there was a demand for money in exchange for a commitment that he could make this investigation go away, along with his co-conspirators," Gaetz told Fox News.

McGee said he would welcome the release of a tape of his conversation with Gaetz's father.

"If there is a tape, play the tape," McGee said. "There is nothing on that tape that is untoward. It is a pleasant conversation of a dad concerned about his son and the trouble his son was in."

The Justice Department and the FBI declined to comment. Efforts to reach Donald Gaetz were not successful Tuesday night.

Matt Gaetz also alleged on Fox News that those trying to extort him "claimed to have specific connections inside the Biden White House" and were "promising that Joe Biden would pardon me," though Gaetz insisted the allegations of his relationship with the 17-year-old were false.

"No part of the allegations against me are true, and the people pushing these lies are targets of the ongoing extortion investigation," Gaetz said in a statement.

John Raoux/AP

Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz, a staunch ally of Donald Trump, claims that he is the victim of an extortion plot.

Gaetz has not been charged with any crimes, nor has anyone been accused by the Justice Department of trying to extort him.

The investigation into Gaetz's alleged relationship with the 17-year-old grew from a federal case against a different Florida Republican: Joel Greenberg, a former Seminole County tax collector who was charged last summer with sex trafficking of a child and a medley of other offences.

According to an indictment in the case, Greenberg abused his access to a statewide database, using it to look up the personal information of people with whom he was in "sugar daddy" relationships, including the minor, and to help produce fake identification documents to "facilitate his efforts to engage in commercial sex acts."

He was also accused of seeking to undermine a political opponent by surfacing fabricated evidence of racism and misconduct.

Greenberg, who pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go to trial in June, did not respond to a message seeking comment left at what appeared to be a phone number listed for him in public records. He resigned his political office after he was charged. The Washington Post was unable to learn immediately how Greenberg's case connected to the allegations against Gaetz, or any details about the 17-year-old with whom Gaetz was alleged to have had a relationship.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

Former US President Donald Trump tipped conservative firebrand Matt Gaetz to be a future leader of the Republican Party.

A 2019 photograph that Greenberg posted on Twitter shows him with Gaetz at the White House. He also posted a picture in 2017 of him with Gaetz and Roger Stone, another well-known Trump political ally.

As a frequent guest on cable news, Gaetz was sometimes called the "Trumpiest" member of Congress for his seemingly ceaseless promotion of the former president.

A politician from the Florida Panhandle, Gaetz began serving in the state legislature in 2010, when he was best known for pushing to decriminalise marijuana use. In 2016, he won a seat in Congress and as a lawmaker has been outspoken in defence of Trump on impeachment and other issues.

In so doing, Gaetz has regularly courted controversy and been criticised as violating norms of behaviour and decorum.

A day after the US Capitol riot on January 6, Gaetz argued without evidence that the offenders included members of the leftist movement Antifa masquerading as Trump supporters.

In 2019, Gaetz led about two dozen Republican lawmakers who stormed into a secure room in the US Capitol used for hearing and handling classified information, disrupting witness testimony related to Trump's impeachment.

Link:

Donald Trump ally Matt Gaetz faces sex trafficking probe over alleged relationship with teen girl - Stuff.co.nz

Back in January, Representative Liz Cheney earned the ire of many a fellow Republican when she had the audacity to claim that Donald Trump had lit the flame of the attack on the Capitol, announced her support to impeach him, and then, days later, voted to do exactly that. Of course, nothing that Cheney said or did was wrongTrump quite obviously incited the violent riot and he should have been impeachedbut to his band of loyalists in the party, the Wyoming lawmakers actions were tantamount to treason. (Which is an interesting point of view, given that the guy they were defending had literally tried to overthrow the results of a federal election.) Dozens of Republican representatives tried to strip Cheney of her role as conference chair. Florida representative Matt Gaetz flew to Wyoming and, after declaring like only a mediocre white man can that he knew everything there was to know about the place having been there for one hour, urged voters to oust her from the House. Donald Trump Jr. has spent the last two months and change attacking Cheney for disrespecting his father.

Unfortunately for Junior, his quest to avenge Daddy Trump and maybe get more than one biannual hug, is not going so hot. Per CNN:

A Wyoming Senate bill to create election runoffsfailed on Wednesday, despite Donald Trump Jr.s campaign to pass it in an attempt to defeat Republican Rep. Liz Cheney in 2022. The vote was 1415 with one lawmaker excused. The former presidents son has increasingly attacked the No. 3 House Republican sinceshe voted to impeach his fatherfollowing the deadly attack on the Capitol. In January, Trump Jr. called into an anti-Cheney rallyled by Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, urging Republicans to coalesce around a single candidate to challenge her. And in March, Trump Jr. publicly pressured the state senators on the committee working on the bill, tweeting their email addresses to his 6.8 million followers. Any Republican in Wyoming who does Liz Cheneys bidding and opposes SF145 is turning their back on my father and the entire America First movement, Trump Jr.tweeted.

The bill wouldve forced Cheney and other candidates to receive more than 50% of the vote to win a primary, and potentially pit her against one Trump-backed opponent in a runoff primary election. But despite Trump Jr.s efforts, a Wyoming state Senate committee amended the bill so it wouldnt take effect until 2023, as some legislators pushed to give county clerks enough time to adapt.

Earlier this week, the ex-presidents namesake tweeted a photo of Cheney speaking to Democratic representative Jamie Raskin and suggested the two were conspiring to take down his father:

Last month, Junior said in an interview that he has no intention of running for office right now but wouldnt rule out a future bid. At the moment, though, he believes he can make a bigger impact on the Republican Party by focusing on the weaklings who voted to impeach his dad for a second time. Said weaklings are no doubt quivering in fear.

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Wyoming Tells Donald Trump Jr. to Sit Down and STFU - Vanity Fair

As youve probably heard by now, Donald Trump is in a lot of legal trouble, which is unfortunate for him given the fact that legitimate lawyers want nothing to do with him and if it werent for the fact that the Republican Party had already decided to let him get away with inciting a violent insurrection, he almost certainly would have been found guilty at his second impeachment trial. (In fact, one of the attorneys on his dream team suggested the Department of Justice should arrest him if they thought he committed a crime.) Currently, the ex-president is the defendant in approximately 29 lawsuits, according to The Washington Post, though likely more worrisome to him are the criminal investigations hes at the center of, particularly the one being led by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. In the last several months, the D.A. has brought on the attorney who put John Gotti and other white-collar criminals behind bars, has reportedly been working to flip the Trump Organizations longtime CFO, and, most crucially, obtained Trumps much sought-after tax returns, documents that the Queens-born real estate developer has gone to such extreme lengths to keep secret that some people have gotten the impression they contain extremely incriminating information. Now, Vances office has taken the next step in its criminal investigation: finding people who can explain to a jury why Trump is a possible crook.

Reuters reports that investigators are combing through millions of pages of newly acquired records with an eye toward identifying witnesses who can bring the documents to life for a jury, according to people familiar with the matter. Some of the individuals expected to testify are already well known and likely include the 45th presidents former fixer, Michael Cohen, who has met with prosectors eight times. (In February 2019, Cohen told lawmakers that Trump regularly inflated and deflated his assets when it served his purposes, whether it was to reduce his tax bill or obtain loans. Last year, he said in an interview that Trump should go to prison for 360 years.) In addition, theres Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization employee who has described himself as Trumps eyes and ears at the company and would seemingly know if his boss had committed fraud, whether of the bank, insurance, or tax variety. But according to reporters Jason Szep and Peter Eisler, a growing universe of people, institutions, and agencies are being scrutinized by Vances team. Per Reuters:

Prosecutors are looking to gather information and testimony from bankers, bookkeepers, real estate consultants, and others close to the Trump Organization who could provide insights on its dealings, according to interviews and court filings. The process of identifying all witnesses and targets could take months. The next phase is identifying targets for subpoenas and testimony, said one person familiar with the case. Vances investigators need insiders who can provide the narrative behind any conflicting numbers on Trumps financial records and testify to Trumps knowledge and intent, said former prosecutors of white-collar fraud cases. Even in the most heavily document-dependent case, you need witnesses to tell the story, said Reed Brodsky, a longtime white-collar defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor.

Several potential key figures in Vances investigation are current or former employees of outside companiesfrom financial and real estate consultants to legal adviserswith inside knowledge of Trumps dealings, according to court filings and the two people familiar with the investigation. Some performed crucial roles for many years, such as Mazars accountant Donald Bender. His signature is on the tax returns of the Donald J. Trump Foundation, which was dissolved in 2018 after a probe by the New York attorney general found that the organization misused charitable funds. Trump was ordered to pay more than $2 million in damages.

In addition to real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield, which did years of work for the Trump Organization and appraised a property Trump used to obtain a tax easementa tool ProPublica described as a much-abused deduction exploited by wealthy investors that has cost the U.S. Treasury billions of dollarsVance has spoken to and requested records from Ladder Capital Corp. and Deutsche Bank AG, two of the former presidents biggest creditors. (Trump currently owes Deutsche Bank some $340 million and there is no love lost between him and the German lender, which could foreclose on the properties he used to personally guarantee his loans.) But according to Reuters, Vances investigation will likely rely heavily on Trumps closest associatespeople who can address the key question of what Trump was thinking when he made the financial claims now under scrutiny.

Only a core group of Trumps confidantes can address that state-of-mind question, which is critical to proving criminal intent. They include Weisselberg, 73, who began working for Trumps father, Fred, in 1973. Legal experts and a source familiar with the investigation say prosecutors apparent goal is to convince Weisselberg to cooperate. Also under scrutiny are Weisselbergs adult sons - one who has worked for the Trump Organization. The other son worked for Ladder Capital, though theres no evidence he was involved in Ladders loans to Trump.

Jennifer Weisselbergthe former wife of Allens older son, Barry Weisselbergtold Reuters that she has spoken with Vances office five times since November. The day after the first interview, she said, D.A. investigators visited her to retrieve tax and financial records for her and her former husband. She acknowledged that prosecutors have shown interest in an apartment in a Trump-owned building where she and her former husband lived rent-free for seven yearsan arrangement that could have legal implications if it represented compensation not properly reported in tax filings. Jennifer Weisselberg said she believed her father-in-law would never testify against Trump voluntarily. She envisions Allen Weisselberg flipping only if he or his sons are facing prosecution. But no one, she said, knows more about Trumps finances.

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Prosecutors Are Lining Up Witnesses to Explain Donald Trumps Many Alleged Crimes to a Jury - Vanity Fair

The former wife of a key Trump Organization employee scrutinized by prosecutors said the company held sway over employees through unusual financial arrangements, including paying for her home and tuition for her children.

"They want you to do crimes and not talk about it and don't leave," Jennifer Weisselberg said in an interview with Insider. "It's so controlling."

Weisselberg is a cooperating witness in investigations into former President Donald Trump's finances. Between 2004 and 2018, she was married to Barry Weisselberg, the son of Allen Weisselberg, Trump's longtime chief financial officer. Barry Weisselberg is a significant employee of the company in his own right as the manager of the Trump Organization-operated Wollman Rink in New York's Central Park.

Jennifer Weisselberg said she handed over "seven boxes" of documents that came out of her divorce proceedings to prosecutors. Prosecutors in both the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and the New York attorney general's office are investigating the finances of Trump and the Trump Organization. The Manhattan DA's office is analyzing whether they violated tax laws by distorting financial information to receive favorable loan terms and pay little in taxes.

Read more: The Manhattan DA's office picked up the pace of its investigation into Trump's finances after he left office, a cooperating witness says

The office successfully subpoenaed millions of pages of tax documents from the Trump Organization in February. Prosecutors there are now seeking to "flip" Allen Weisselberg into guiding them through those pages, The Washington Post reported.

Jennifer Weisselberg said the company retained a grip on key employees by withholding raises. In yearly compensation meetings with Barry Weisselberg, she said, Trump or Allen Weisselberg would offer to pay the tuition of their children instead of giving them raises. She said her ex-husband's base salary hadn't change substantially in the roughly 20 years he's worked there.

"It was like Allen designing a plan," she said. "It was like, 'OK, the way we're going to maestro this is instead of a raise, we're going to pay my daughter's tuition. Instead of a raise, we're going to pay for the apartment.'"

Donald and Melania Trump gave Jennifer and Barry Weisselberg an apartment in their Trump Parc East building by Central Park in Manhattan as a wedding gift, Bloomberg News first reported.

The couple paid only $400 a month in utilities and other fees far below the market rate for rent, Jennifer Weisselberg told the outlet. Prosecutors are examining whether the way the arrangement was reported in tax documents violated tax laws, according to Bloomberg News.

These arrangements, while appearing generous on the surface, served as a way to keep Trump Organization employees in line, Jennifer Weisselberg told Insider.

"Obviously, it's not a gift when you get the same salary for 20 years," she said.

"It's so controlling," she added. "Because if you want to leave and make the same money you live there. If you want to leave, where are you going to live?"

Since Allen Weisselberg handled the finances for both the Trump Organization and her family, gifts like that also served as a way to avoid paying taxes, Jennifer Weisselberg said.

"That's the compensation. They just pay for everything, instead of paying on the books," she said. "It was a way Allen decided to maestro things to benefit Donald or to avoid employee taxes, state taxes, gift taxes. I mean, if you want to get compensated and thank Donald great. But you got to pay taxes on it."

In February, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. hired Mark Pomerantz, a well-regarded white-collar attorney with experience investigating mob organizations, to join the team looking into the Trump Organization. Jennifer Weisselberg has spoken with Pomerantz several times since, she said. The office also sent a forensic accountant with experience analyzing mob finances to look at her documents, she added.

Representatives for the Trump Organization and Barry Weisselberg didn't immediately respond to a request for comment for this story. Representatives for Allen Weisselberg, the Manhattan DA's office, and the New York attorney general's office declined to comment.

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Trump Org controlled employees with perks instead of salary: source - Business Insider

In a just world, the day Donald Trump walked out of the White House and boarded a plane headed for Mar-a-Lago would have been the last time we heard from the 45th president or his family ever again. At the very least, it would have been nice for Trump to have been banned from getting within 200 feet of the nuclear codes, on account of both the failed coup and his habit of saying things like this is a tough hurricane, one of the wettest weve ever seen, from the standpoint of water, one of many examples of obvious cognitive impairment. Unfortunately, not only is the guy who (1) sicced a fascist mob on the Capitol and (2) thinks the stock market is a person still eligible to hold office, his entire extended clan is as well. And some are actively threatening to inflict themselves on the U.S. government.

In an interview with Sean Hannity on Tuesday, Lara Trump, Eric Trumps wife and Donald Trumps daughter-in-law, said she is absolutely considering running for Senate in North Carolina. Like her father-in-law when he announced his candidacy for the White House, Lara has no experience whatsoever working in government, though she is skilled in whipping out right-wing talking points the Trump base eats up. In April 2019, she called German chancellor Angela Merkels decision to accept refugees the downfall of Germany and one of the worst things to ever happen to the country that started World War II. In 2020, she hit the campaign trail in support of her husbands father with far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who describes herself as a proud Islamophobe. Naturally, she actively took part in the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. More recently, it was reported that an animal-rescue charity linked to Lara spent nearly $2 million at Donald Trumps properties. (Charitable shadiness is a family affair for the Trumpsin 2019, Donalds charity was forced to shut down and pay $2 million for illegally using the foundations funds, while Eric, Ivanka Trump, and Donald Trump Jr. were required to undergo mandatory training to learn how not to rip off charities moving forward. In a statement at the time, an attorney for the Trump Foundation claimed the group had been trying to to dissolve and distribute its remaining assets since 2016, which is really neither here nor there. A 2017 Forbes report also alleged that Eric Trumps foundation had misappropriated money intended to benefit pediatric cancer. A spokesperson for Eric Trumps foundation insisted the charity had been transparent about where funds were going, and that relevant donors whose money was given to causes...were made aware the funds would be donated elsewhere.)

More recently, Lara was in the news complaining about how social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook suppress the voices of conservatives, hence Donald Trumps need to start his own platform where people can post without fear of the fact-checkers being all over them:

Lara, of course, is not the only Trump mulling a run for office. In addition to her father-in-laws threat to run again in 2024, her sister-in-law, Ivanka, has reportedly had her eyes on the White House since 2016. (In a storyline straight out of a horror film, Trump allies are said to be pushing him to dump Mike Pence if he runs for a second term and pick a woman as his running mate. Like, say, the daughter with whom he has a deeply creepy relationship.)

And speaking of the ex-first daughters political ambitions: over the weekend the Daily Beast suggested that Ivanka has been hard at work attempting to redeem and rebrand herself, given her current reputation as a rioter-praising poster child for nepotism who doesnt let the people guarding her life use the bathroom.

Unfortunately, not everyone thinks a rebrand is possible, for physiological reasons:

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Another Trump Is Threatening to Run for Office - Vanity Fair