Last night the federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) subpoenaed the financial records from Donald Trump’s inauguration committee.  This is a good indication that the SDNY prosecutors plan to bring criminal charges very soon against Donald Trump, members of his family, and others in his inner circle.
The crimes they will probably be charged with include (but are not limited to) conspiracy to defraud the United States, money laundering, and fraud. They will mostly be looking at where $107 million inauguration money came from, and where it went.
The SDNY apparently has evidence that connect the president and other close associates to the scandal. For example, there have been reports that both Ivanka Trump and Rudy Giuliani are caught up in it and may be charged.
However the real target is Donald Trump. And he has reportedly already confessed to his crimes in front of two key witnesses.Â
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At the heart of the inaugural committee probe is whether foreign donors illegally tried to buy access to Trump, and where exactly the $107 million in inauguration contributions went.
According to the witnesses, Trump considered those inaugural contributions to be his own personal slush fund.
Remember that Trump originally put Chris Christie in charge of the transition, and then fired him and replaced him with Mike Pence.
According to the Michael Lewis book The Fifth Risk, as reported by Daily Kos, Trump’s decision to fire Christie was because of Trump’s desire to pocket the money. Christie (a former federal prosecutor) said he couldn’t do it legally. So Trump got rid of him and put Pence in charge.
Here is a passage from the Lewis book which explains in graphic detail what happened:
“Trump was apoplectic, actually yelling, ‘You’re stealing my money! You’re stealing my f*cking money! What the f*ck is this??’ Seeing Bannon, Trump turned on him and screamed, ‘Why are you letting him steal my f*cking money?’
Bannon and Christie together set out to explain to Trump federal law. To which Trump replied, ‘F*ck the law. I don’t give a f*ck about the law. I want my f*cking money.’ Bannon and Christie tried to explain that Trump couldn’t have both his money and a transition.â€
With Pence in charge, Trump was able to illegally pocket the $107 million. And the SDNY prosecutors no doubt have evidence to prove that this happens.
But that’s not all. The Lewis book shows that Trump confessed his criminal intention to steal the money to both Bannon and Christie, who can be called as witnesses and forced to testify about what they heard Trump say about his plan to steal the money.
And Bannon has already spent at least twenty hours testifying to Robert Mueller. Which means both Mueller and the SDNY prosecutors already have a witness to Trump’s crime.
It’s interesting that Christie was on TV yesterday saying that the SDNY prosecutors are much more dangerous to Trump’s presidency than Mueller, since their scope isn’t limited like Mueller’s. He said:
“The Southern District of New York has no restrictions on their purview. Bob Mueller has a task. It’s Russian interference and potential collusion in the 2016 election. Southern District of New York is whatever the heck you want.â€
And, as NYU law professor Ryan Goodman tweeted:
“They can try to fire Bob Mueller, but they can’t fire the Southern District of New York.â€
“Also recall that Rick Gates who was deputy chair of the inaugural committee is fully cooperating with the feds.â€
They can try to fire Bob Mueller, but they can't fire the Southern District of New York.
Also recall that Rick Gates who was deputy chair of the inaugural committee is fully cooperating with the feds.https://t.co/wnk2XXgU3k
— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) February 4, 2019
The attorneys in the SDNY are some of the top prosecutors in the world. They have been gathering evidence for a long time, and undoubtedly have a paper trail proving that Donald Trump illegally took the $107 million in inauguration contributions.
But they also have willing witnesses to Trump crimes, which means he has no way out. Donald Trump will probably be indicted very soon, and there’s nothing he can do about it.
I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.
