Ex-Watergate Prosecutor Says SCOTUS Ruling Opens Door To Trump Being Indicted For Tax Fraud

Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 12:05 pm

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Former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman said on Thursday that the Supreme Court’s ruling on Donald Trump’s financial documents could be a ticking time bomb for the president.

During an interview with MSNBC’s Joy Reid, Akerman said Trump should be concerned that a tax or bank fraud indictment is on the horizon now that independent investigators will be able to dive into his tax returns.

“It’s just a matter of time before this evidence gets before the prosecutors, gets put before a grand jury,” he said. “What Donald Trump is looking at is the potential that he is going to be indicted for either tax fraud or bank fraud.”

Akerman said Trump could share the same fate as his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, who was sentenced to more than seven years in prison.

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Akerman said:

Now the prosecutors who are not beholden to William Barr, independent people are actually going to have these tax returns and be able to conduct an investigation based on these returns. That is an absolutely huge difference than what’s been going on now and has been going on in the Barr Justice Department, who has been nothing more than a sycophant for Donald Trump and has basically assisted him in covering up the Russian investigation and what’s been going on in the Southern District of New York. So this is absolutely a red letter day in terms of what the Supreme Court did, and I think it’s just a matter of time before this evidence gets before the prosecutors, gets put before a grand jury. And what Donald Trump is looking at is the potential that he is going to be indicted for either tax fraud or bank fraud – basically the same thing that his former campaign manager, Manafort, was convicted of. So this has not been a good day for Donald Trump.

Not even Bill Barr can save Trump

William Barr has spent every day since he became attorney general shielding Trump from any and all accountability. Barr has essentially become the president’s personal defense attorney instead of the people’s lawyer.

But as Nick Akerman pointed out on Thursday, the Supreme Court’s ruling now means that the investigation into the president’s finances won’t be tied to Barr. It will be conducted by independent investigators.

If Donald Trump loses to Joe Biden in November, he won’t just be leaving the White House. He could potentially be headed to the big house.

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Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.