— —
Say it with me now — the Biggest Loser and the Biggest Liar ran what amounts to a “Criminal Enterprise.”
A grand jury alleges it, based on a mountain of documentary evidence ...
Congratulations, America. You Elected a Crook in 2016.
by Charles P. Pierce — Jul 1, 2021
[...] It’s official, America. A grand jury in New York has filed charges alleging that the business run by the previous President* of the United States was an ongoing criminal enterprise going back decades. Congratulations, folks. You elected a crook in 2016. From the Washington Post:
In all, 15 criminal charges filed against Weisselberg, according to a copy of the indictment obtained by The Washington Post. They included counts of conspiracy, criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records. In many of the counts, the two Trump entities were charged along with Weisselberg. Carey Dunne, a prosecutor with the District Attorney's Office, said in the hearing that the charges related to an "off-the-books tax fraud scheme" that lasted for 15 years. He said that the scheme allowed Trump Organization executives to get "secret pay raises" while not paying proper taxes.
[...]
And since the former president*’s only consistent competence has been at slapping his name on things, if The Organization becomes known as a criminal enterprise, that’s going to be an even bigger threat to the brand than his abject failure as President* of the United States was. As the New York Times observed:
Mr. Trump won the presidency by portraying himself as a political outsider with the business acumen to shake up Washington. But the company whose name he made famous on his reality television show, “The Apprentice,” might eventually be associated as much with criminal charges as it is with the hotels and golf courses that bear his name. If the company is found guilty, it could face fines or other penalties.
Not that this is exactly “news” — the guy who help get the Tax Cheat elected, said as much years ago:
Bannon described Trump Organization as 'criminal enterprise', Michael Wolff book claims
www.theguardian.com — May 28, 2019
The former White House adviser Steve Bannon has described the Trump Organization as a criminal entity and predicted that investigations into the president’s finances will lead to his political downfall, when he is revealed to be “not the billionaire he said he was, just another scumbag”.
The startling remarks are contained in Siege: Trump Under Fire, the author Michael Wolff’s forthcoming account of the second year of the Trump administration. The book, published on 4 June, is a sequel to Fire and Fury: Trump in the White House, which was a bestseller in 2018. The Guardian obtained a copy.
In a key passage, Bannon is reported as saying he believes investigations of Donald Trump’s financial history will provide proof of the underlying criminality of his eponymous company.
Assessing the president’s exposure to various investigations, many seeded by the special counsel Robert Mueller during his investigation of Russian election interference, Wolff writes: “Trump was vulnerable because for 40 years he had run what increasingly seemed to resemble a semi-criminal enterprise.”
He then quotes Bannon as saying: “I think we can drop the ‘semi’ part.”
[...]
Intentional ongoing Tax Fraud used to be enough to get you sent away for years.
At minimum, it should be major disqualification for office, along with the former guy’s other assorted efforts to trash America, its Constitution and the rule of law:
Here's the full text of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment:
"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."
[…]
Federal prosecutors are investigating Trump's role inciting the Capitol insurrection, which could, in theory, lead to his being convicted in a court of law.
Such a conviction could give Congress the authority to pass a law barring Trump from office on the premise that he had "engaged in insurrection or rebellion," as the 14th Amendment states.
www.businessinsider.com — Feb 14, 2021
— —