Donald Trump Is Accused Of Raping A 13
Former Washington Bureau Chief, HuffPost
If youve been anywhere near Facebook or Twitter in the past several months, youre probably aware that there is a case working its way through the courts that accuses Donald Trump of raping a 13-year-old girl in 1994.
On Wednesday, the woman, who remains anonymous, was slated to appear at a press conference with her new attorney, Lisa Bloom, the daughter of Gloria Allred. Bloom wrote a column about the case in The Huffington Post last summer.
Lisa Bloom
For months, people have wondered why this case isnt getting more or, really, any attention in the press, even now that Trump faces an actual court date: a with the judge.
The allegations arent entirely implausible on their face. The accuser says Trump raped her repeatedly at parties thrown by since-convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who was widely known to throw wild parties with young women and girls. Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution and served a small portion of an 18-year sentence.
In a New York magazine profile of Epstein before he went to prison, and long before Trump ran for president, Trump acknowledged that he knows Epstein. Ive known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy, Trump says in the story. Hes a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it Jeffrey enjoys his social life.
Profiting From His Own Inauguration
The Attorney General of D.C. has sued Trump over diverting 2017 inauguration funds to Trump properties, alleging that the nonprofit inaugural committee wasted approximately $1 million of charitable funds in overpayment to Trump businesses that charged exorbitant rates, including $175,000 for a ballroom that usually rented for $5,000. The AG alleges the Trump Entities unconscionably benefited from nonprofit funds required to be used for the public good. The suit seeks to have the ill-gotten gains from the Trump properties donated to public-serving nonprofits.
Read the complaint.
Onetime White House Lawyer Richard Painter: Federal Prosecutors Love Presidential Power More Than Actual Justice
Donald Trump, Merrick Garland and Joe Biden
These are questions I have asked myself many times during the Age of Trump and these months after his coup attempt and the Capitol attack, especially as more “revelations” have emerged about the vast scale of Trump’s crimes against democracy, the rule of law and the American people.
Many other Americans have the same questions about justice and consequences for Donald Trump and members of his regime, which at this point includes nearly the entire Republican Party.
There are various plausible answers to these questions. Of course there are actions that may be immoral, wrong or evil but not technically illegal. Perfidy, lies, cruelty and bigotry are in most cases not offenses that can successfully be prosecuted in court.
Joe Biden’s administration and the senior leadership of the Democratic Party appear to feel that a proper investigation into the Trump regime, for example through convening a truth commission or some similar independent body, would be a “distraction” from their policy agenda.
Perhaps Biden and other Democratic leaders feel that the scale of the Trump regime’s obvious criminality is so great that to reveal the truth in full would cause an even greater crisis of legitimacy in the country’s governing institutions. In essence, the Democrats may be trying to “protect” the American people from the truth.
This conversation has been edited, as usual, for clarity and length.
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Donald Trump Can Be Arrested Over Jan 6 Subpoenashere’s Why He Won’t Be
Donald Trump has no extra protection as the former president if he refuses to comply with any subpoena in the House probe of January 6, legal experts have told Newsweek however, Congress is unlikely to use its historic powers to arrest him over obstruction.
Trump has told allies not to comply with subpoenas over the probe, according to The New York Times, and on Monday he sued the chairman of the House’s January 6 committee, Bennie Thompson, and the head of the National Archives, in a bid to block access to White House documents from around the time of the riot.
Such action could potentially leave committee members considering whether or not Trump is obstructing the probe. Using “inherent contempt power,” the House could arrest an individual found to be “obstruct the performance of the duties of the legislature.”
Committee members may have already discussed that power, Norman Eisen, co-counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment, told Newsweek.
But he said it was unlikely it would be used “for what has done so far.”
“The house has not used it’s inherent contempt powers for many years, and I do not believe that they will do so for these particular purposes,” Eisen said.
Any move to use that power would likely result in litigation and delay, he added.
Criminal In White House Made America A Shattered Family
On the topic of inciting insurrection, as referenced by MSNBCs Ari Melber, according to sources close to the New York investigation , Trumps role in this is clear to everyone, he was intensely devoted, by any means, to stop the count of the Electoral College. Trump saw Pence as expendable in the process, says one, but did he knowingly commit the crime of inciting a riot or insurrection and how does one prove that in the context of the right to free speech of a sitting president? says another. The first speaker, responded saying Let a jury decide if Trump was at the time a president or a criminal politician trying to subvert a democracy.
About obstruction of justice indictments against Trump, the whole world heard indefatigable Robert Bueller when he was asked if Donald Trump could be prosecuted following his time serving as US President, Robert Mueller has said Yes, when asked if Trump could and should be charged with the crimes many have inferred from the Mueller reports once Trump is no longer serving, Read if you wish: Conclude from Mueller: Trump safe as POTUS. Then Jail.
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The Beauty Pageant Scandals
Where and when: Various, 1992present
The dirt:TheBoston Globes Matt Viser reports on the mess of the American Dream pageant in 1992. After years of attending beauty pageantsTrump seems to have always enjoyed the company of beautiful, scantily clad womenhe decided he wanted to get in on the business himself, meeting with George Houraney and Jill Harth, a couple that ran the American Dream pageant. It was an ill-fated effort. Harth and Houraney alleged that Trump started making passes at her almost immediately. On one occasion, Trump allegedly asked them to bring some models to a party. Harth alleges Trump groped her at the party. In a limo afterward, another model said she heard him say that all women are bimbos and most gold diggers. Trump reportedly joined another model in bed, uninvited, late at night. On other occasions, he forced Harth into bedrooms and made passes at her, she said. But after the contest, Trump broke off dealings. Harth sued Trump, alleging sexual misbehavior, while the couple together sued him for breach of contract. In the suit, they also alleged that Trump had kept black women out of the pageant.
Will Allen Weisselberg Spill
Interestingly, Allen Weisselberg claimed he did not know that he was on the board of the Trump charity. Somehow Weisselberg, one of the rats who turned on Michael Cohen, in exchange for personal immunity.
Allen Weisselberg received a promise of limited immunity for Grand Jury evidence he gave against Michael Cohen regarding Stormy Daniels and a $35,000 monthly fee that was being paid to Mr. Cohen.
Chief financial officer of The Trump Organization and Trustee of Trumps businesses while he was President. Allen Weisselberg claimed he did not know that he was on the board of the Trump charity. Somehow Weisselberg, one of the rats who turned on Michael Cohen, in exchange for personal immunity.Following his graduation from Pace University in 1970, Allen Weisselberg began working as an accountant for Gravesend-based real estate magnate Fred Trump in 1973. He continued from there and became a total sycophant to Donald Trump. Said Trump about Allen Weisselberg: He did whatever was necessary to protect the bottom linePhoto Credit: Trump Org. Handout. Art/Cropping/Enhancement: Rosa YamamotoFPMag
There was more to it all than that but the takeaway is that in 2019, the Court shut down the Trump foundation and ordered Trump to pay $2 million to swizzled charities.
The children of Trump involved in the charity scam were ordered to take instruction on management.
Trump was compelled to abide four stipulation agreements.
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Construction And Property Law Matters
In 2011, Donald Trump sued Scotland, alleging that it built the Aberdeen Bay Wind Farm after assuring him it would not be built. He had recently built a golf course there and planned to build an adjacent hotel. Trump lost his suit, with the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom unanimously ruling in favor of the Scottish government in 2015.
In 2013, 87-year-old Jacqueline Goldberg unsuccessfully sued Trump on allegations that he cheated her in a condominium sale by bait-and-switch when she was purchasing properties at the Trump International Hotel and Tower.
In 2015, Trump initiated a $100 million lawsuit against Palm Beach County claiming that officials, in a “deliberate and malicious” act, pressured the FAA to direct air traffic to the Palm Beach International Airport over his estate, because he said the airplanes damaged the building and disrupted its ambiance. Trump had previously sued the county twice over airport noise the first lawsuit, in 1995, ended with an agreement between Trump and the county Trump’s second lawsuit, in 2010, was dismissed.
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Which brings us back to the question: With all these investigations hanging over his head, will Donald Trump ever be charged with a crime?
We know this: For a former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime, the prosecutor’s case must be substantial, the evidence overwhelming and the jury unbiased. The most likely scenario is that the Trump Organization will be criminally charged with a financial crime . And if the New York prosecutors have enough documentary and testimonial evidence that Donald Trump knew about those financial crimes, they would be likely to bring charges against the former president, as well.
That’s a high hurdle for them to clear. But if they don’t make it, it won’t be for lack of trying.
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Dubious Tax Schemes And Outright Fraud
Vance’s filings appeared to reference that testimony, and one filing explicitly noted that The New York Times has reported that Trump engaged in “dubious tax schemes during the 1990s, including instances of outright fraud.”
Shortly before Christmas, Vance’s investigators requested records from three towns in Westchester County, New York, as part of the probe. The records relate to Trump’s 213-acre Seven Springs Estate site, which sprawls across those towns.
And The Wall Street Journal reported last Saturday that Vance’s office also is eyeing loans Trump took out on Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, and three other properties in Manhattan: 40 Wall Street, the Trump Plaza apartment building and the Trump International Hotel and Tower.
At the same time, Vance is waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether to hear an appeal by Trump of a grand jury subpoena for years of his income tax returns and other financial records, which the prosecutor is seeking as part of his investigation.
The Supreme Court last summer rejected Trump’s argument that the subpoena, which was issued to his accountants, Mazars USA, was barred because of his status as president at the time. But the high court said Trump could raise new arguments against the subpoena with a judge in Mahattan federal court.
Those arguments were quickly rejected by that judge, however, and then by a panel of judges on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.
“When are they going to rule?” Lefcourt asked, rhetorically.
Thomas Barrack: Top Trump Aide Accused Of Working As Foreign Agent
Billionaire and long-time Donald Trump ally Thomas J Barrack has been arrested in Los Angeles for allegedly acting as an agent of a foreign government.
The 74-year-old investment firm founder served as a key adviser to the former US president’s 2016 campaign, and was considered a top fundraiser.
Mr Barrack is accused of illegally lobbying on behalf of the United Arab Emirates during and after the campaign.
A spokesman for Mr Barrack said he planned to plead not guilty.
He is the latest ex-Trump official to face federal charges.
Mr Barrack is charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making multiple false statements to the FBI during a 2019 interview.
Also charged are Matthew Grimes, 27 – who works for Mr Barrack – and UAE citizen Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi, 43, according to the seven-page indictment.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mark Lesko said the conduct alleged in the indictment was “nothing short of a betrayal” of US officials including Mr Trump himself.
The three men are accused of seeking to advance the interests of the UAE government both by influencing Trump officials and through media appearances.
In May 2016 Mr Barrack is alleged to have inserted language praising the UAE into a Trump campaign speech. An advanced draft of the speech was allegedly sent to Mr Alshahhi to pass on to UAE officials.
The defendants are also alleged to have received “talking points” from senior UAE officials for use in media appearances.
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Could Trump Be The 1st Us President Charged With A Criminal Offense
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New Yorker writer Jane Mayer talks about the criminal investigation into whether Donald Trump engaged in tax, banking and/or insurance fraud. If convicted, he could be sentenced to prison.
TERRY GROSS, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. I’m Terry Gross.
Now that Donald Trump is out of office and can’t claim presidential immunity, he’s facing two investigations into possible criminal conduct. One was opened last month by a county prosecutor in Georgia who’s investigating Trump’s efforts to change the state’s election results. The larger investigation is being led by Manhattan’s district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., who’s looking into Trump’s financial business practices, examining the possibility that Trump and The Trump Organization engaged in tax, banking and insurance fraud. If Trump is charged, he’d become the first former president charged with a criminal offense. He could end up doing prison time.
In a new article about this investigation published in The New Yorker, my guest Jane Mayer writes that this is one of the most significant legal showdowns in American history. It’s about much more than a financial investigation it’s a stress test of the American justice system. Mayer is The New Yorker’s chief Washington correspondent. Her article is published in the March 22 issue of the magazine. If you’re looking forward on The New Yorker website, the title on the site is “Can Cyrus Vance, Jr., Nail Trump?”
GROSS: Did you get a look at it?
GROSS: Right.
GROSS: .
