Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Apparent Collapse of the Manhattan DA’s Case Against Trump
The criminal prosecution of Donald Trump in his home town appears to be all but officially over, at least for now. In an unexpected reversal of roles, Alvin Bragg, who took over as Manhattan’s District Attorney, in January, after campaigning on a promise to hold the former President accountable, instead seems to have all but abandoned the case that was brought by his predecessor Cyrus Vance, Jr., a prosecutor often criticized for being too timid.
And this …
The New York Times reports that two of the prosecutors heading up the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office investigation of former president Trump have resigned.
Mark Pomerantz and Carey R. Dunne, two highly regarded prosecutors, quit the probe after the office’s new DA, Alvin Bragg, “indicated to them that he had doubts about moving forward with a case against Mr. Trump,” according to the Times.
This is not a surprising development.
Of course, the New Yorker article is a lot more unhappy than the middle-of-the-road Andrew McCarthy.
I have seen these attacks brought as proof that Trump is up to no good. If they are dropped, I wonder will people say “I guess I was wrong.”
No, I don’t. Of course, they won’t.
Published in General
I blame Putin.
Yes~!
These investigations are started to cause a (D)/MSM news narrative. Yes they want to find something damaging on Trump, but if they don’t, just putting out the narrative that they are about to indict and charge Trump is nearly as effective in the propaganda game being played out in the (D)/MSM.
If every real estate developer in the world were put under the microscope and given a financial colonoscopy there is a chance they all could be under scrutiny for over valuing their properties for the purpose of securing credit from lenders.
Much like when the
MuellerWeissmann Special Counsel found FARA violations were a new found avenue to screw Trump/Russia subjects to the wall, all the sudden the collective DC lobbyists of all stripes puckered up and squirmed in their seats knowing they too had probably “lobbied” for a foreign government in some way in their dealings, yet never bothered to register as an agent of that foreign government.Yes
This stuff absolutely disgusts me. So many Republicans are so stupid about this. If we don’t put a lid on it, this country is going to be in serious trouble.
This is one of the two stories this week that I was afraid would “get lost in the fog of early war history in the making.” Those who were so cocksure in cutting-n-pasting so many talking points into our community discussions on this should be reminded and openly mocked for their complicity in spreading such garbage.
I openly mock
Garythem at every opportunity.It’s much easier to continue trying Trump in the media; that doesn’t require any production of facts.
Proving something beyond a reasonable doubt in a criminal case is far harder than providing it by a preponderance of the evidence in a civil case.
Of note, in Arizona Republican Governor Fife Symington was convicted due to lying about business valuations, so it is possible to be criminally convicted. Clinton later pardoned him.
@garyrobbins
I think the Democrats and Never Trump are abusing the justice system against Trump. The track record is horrible so far.
Andrew Weissmann spent $32 million going after Trump. Don Junior testified for 30 hours. What [redacted}.
Stop voting Democrat if you want the justice system to improve.
I think that there was a prima facie showing that Trump lied. However, unless Allen Weisselberg flips, it will be hard to convict Trump in criminal court beyond a reasonable doubt. The same is not true about the civil case by the New York AG.
What we have seen occurring since Trump left office is nothing less than a blatant attempt to criminalize the activities of a past president by his political opposition. Sadly, it’s something we have witnessed over the years in third world countries while we never in a million years thought it could happen here. Is there another president in our history whose political opponents tried to destroy him after he left office?
Lied about what? His net worth?
The valuation of assets differ from his tax filings to his P&L statements to get loans.
It’s worse than it looks. They don’t ever actually have to succeed in any single endeavor. The ceaseless presence of investigatons, prosecutions, and suppressions is successfully outlawing a political party.
As with so much these days — it’s not about Trump. It’s about us.
Yeah, small potatoes. I invite your comment on my #16 above.
In real estate deals? Fetch the smelling salts – I’m swooning.
Much of what a successful businessman does involves instructing his accountants to make his statement look as good as possible in order to justify his bank loans. Furthermore, the properties represented in that statement are all accompanied by appraisals from legitimate sources. Without them, a reputable bank will not lend money based on guesswork. Some appraisal firms are better than others and some are known as MAI (made as instructed), but all are subject to losing their license if they knowingly lie about value. Trump’s valuations were not pie in the sky numbers concocted by him but by legitimate accountants and appraisers, the results of which were carefully reviewed by shrewd bankers who wanted to make good loans for their institutions.
Well said. Also, just in general I don’t see a problem with promoting a best-case-scenario for investors and a worst-case-scenario for the tax man.
My point exactly. Still, they can usually justify their valuations with a favorable appraisal which is a very common and legal practice. Bankers, by the way, are trained to sniff out overvalues and are under no obligation to make the loan.
Yup. That’s the way the business world works.
If we were prosecute all real estate people whose numbers didn’t line up, we would need more prisons. Which would mean buying more land. Which would mean more real estate deals …
Nicely done, Lord Percy.
I don’t want to pretend I know what is happening in this case, in a criminal investigation the public is not supposed to be privy to the States ongoing investigation(unless of course the (D)’s are leaking for maximum political effect). But the only place the value of an entity’s real estate would show up on a tax return(Federal, State, or Local) is on the Balance Sheet, and on a Balance Sheet one would report the value you paid for the real estate. The exception to when an entity would report the current market value of real estate on the tax return, is if the tax reporting entity sold the real estate and is recording the capital gain/loss.
Since the real estate in question appears to be being used as collateral to secure borrowing from a lender, then it appears the real estate in question was not sold, but rather owned by the Trump organization at the time of the borrowing/lending arrangement.
If you were trying to borrow money against the value of real estate you would represent to the lender the current market value of the real estate.
Gary, the IRS audited this guy for years. And they couldn’t come up with anything until 2021? Hillary pals at work.
I figured out a long time ago that they didn’t have anything on Trump in regard to his business deals. If they did, it would have been leaked years ago. This has been almost like an immutable law of physics regarding Trump. Anything negative about him always gets leaked to the press within days to weeks, and anything positive about him usually gets hidden away for a time until the truth eventually reveals itself.
I’m frankly surprised that they have not been able to come up with anything so far. When the government, especially the Federal Gubmint, wants to prosecute you, they can usually find some excuse to do so. I just read a book about the prosecution of Michael Milken and dozens of other high-profile businessmen during the late 1980’s and early 90’s. I came away thinking that nearly the whole slate of criminal prosecutions over financial crimes in that era were spurious and unethical. But the gubmint managed to either scrape together questionable evidence or just make up crimes that did not exist in order to send many of these people to jail.
That’s what I think.
They have all of these versions of him being a criminal, including an international criminal and we are supposed to think he’s going to get away with it under all of these circumstances where he is under the microscope.
Because Trump is a genius, except when he’s the stupidest man ever to be president. Don’cha’know.
Possible. Anything is possible. But is it probable?
Apparently not if they drop the charges.