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Trump, Manafort and the New York Inquiries, Explained

By Azi Paybarah March 14, 2019
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/nyregion/newyorktoday/nyc-news-trump-manafort.html

Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign manager, was indicted. (Again.)

Mr. Manafort was also sentenced. (Again.)

Two banks that financed Trump projects in New York and elsewhere were subpoenaed.

And that’s just this week, when New York State officials took on a much bigger role in the investigations swirling around the president and his associates.

Confused by the barrage of inquiries — and especially what New York officials are doing?

Let us explain:

Who is investigating in New York?

• Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat and vocal critic of Mr. Trump.

• The state’s Department of Financial Services, which is part of Governor Cuomo’s administration. He is a Democrat and successfully campaigned for re-election last year on the theme of battling Mr. Trump.

• The Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., a Democrat who said Mr. Trump’s policies and oratory undermine security efforts at home and abroad.

What are they looking into?

• Ms. James subpoenaed Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank, which financed Trump projects in New York, Chicago, Washington and Florida.

• Financial Services issued an expansive subpoena to the Trump Organization’s longtime insurance broker, Aon.

What happened to Mr. Manafort?

• Mr. Vance charged Mr. Manafort yesterday with mortgage fraud and more than a dozen other felonies. That’s a state case.

Earlier in the day, in Mr. Manafort’s federal cases, a judge sentenced him to more jail time, for a total of seven and a half years in prison, adding to an order from another judge last week.

What is the role of the federal investigations?

• There is overlap between some of the federal investigations and the recent state ones. One important difference is that as president, Mr. Trump has the authority to pardon someone convicted of federal crimes. Presidents cannot pardon someone convicted of state crimes.

Why is all this happening now?

• The inquiries by Ms. James and Financial Services came after congressional testimony last month from Mr. Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen. Under oath, Mr. Cohen said Mr. Trump inflated the value of his assets in documents provided to Deutsche Bank as part of a bid to buy the Buffalo Bills.

• Mr. Manafort’s state indictment came as a result of an inquiry that Mr. Vance’s office began in 2017. That investigation was postponed because it overlapped with another one by the federal special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.

What are the politics?

• Mr. Cohen’s congressional testimony is fueling the New York investigations. Democrats are facing pressure from their base to do something about Mr. Trump — investigate him, block him, impeach him.

• Here’s what’s interesting: Mr. Trump has been operating in New York — which has no shortage of ambitious regulators — for decades. The inquiries may be new. Mr. Trump’s finances are not.

• Of course, supporters of Mr. Trump will label the New York investigations as nothing more than an escalation of what he has termed a witch hunt. (The inquiry by Ms. James’s office is a civil investigation, not a criminal one. Financial Services is limited to civil regulatory actions, although it can refer possible criminal conduct to a local district attorney or the state attorney general.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/nyregion/newyorktoday/nyc-news-trump-manafort.html