Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

What fraud? Trump’s hopes of a return to White House very much alive

"Trump will use the indictment of HIS company and the CFO for a 15-year scam to rally his MAGA gang.
Trump has no shame - for Trump, no shame no sin."

This Australian opinion, though skating the surface, lays out the situation pretty well. However it is a superficial look as it omits an important ingredient.You know that one important reason why Trump's popularity has a solid bottom base. I'll revisit that in a 2nd reply.

By Matthew Knott
Updated July 2, 2021 — 11.57am first published at 11.39am

Washington: It’s never a good day when the company that bears your name and one of its most senior executives are indicted on charges of conspiracy, tax fraud and falsifying business records.

Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organisation’s veteran chief financial officer, has a lot to worry about after New York prosecutors charged him with a string of financial offences .. https://www.smh.com.au/national/australia-news-live-nsw-covid-19-cases-and-exposure-sites-continue-to-grow-four-states-and-territories-in-lockdown-20210701-p58618.html .. including grand larceny on Friday (AEST).

Being convicted of that charge alone could lead to more than 15 years in prison for the 73-year-old who has been one of Donald Trump’s most trusted advisers for decades.

IMAGE
Wall push continues: former US president Donald Trump on a visit to an unfinished
section of his border wall in Pharr, Texas, this week. Credit: AP

But Trump himself does not appear to be in imminent legal jeopardy.

While Weisselberg was being led into a Manhattan courtroom in handcuffs, Trump was safely ensconced in his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Neither Trump nor any of his family members have been charged with wrongdoing and it’s unclear whether they ever will be.

What’s obvious is that three years after launching his much-hyped investigation into Trump’s business operations, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance does not yet have the goods to bring a case against the former US president.

The prosecutors’ hope has been that by going after Weisselberg, they could persuade him to “flip” on Trump and provide them with the evidence required to charge him.

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Trump Organisation CFO Allen Weisselberg, seated, appears in court in Manhattan. Credit: AP

So far that hasn’t happened. Weisselberg has pleaded not guilty and remains loyal to Trump. It’s possible he could change his mind, but in cases like this a co-operating witness will usually strike a deal with prosecutors before charges are filed against them.
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If found guilty, Weisselberg would not be the first person to take the fall for shady behaviour in Trump’s business and political operations.

In 2018 Trump’s former personal lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison .. https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/trump-s-former-fixer-cohen-sentenced-to-prison-for-smorgasbord-of-fraud-20181213-p50lwo.html .. for tax evasion and violating campaign finance rules by making “hush money” payments to women who said they had affairs with Trump. Cohen said he did so at Trump’s direction, but Trump has not been charged over the matter.

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Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen, was sentenced to three years in
jail for tax evasion and campaign finance violations in 2018. Credit: AP

The Muller investigation saw Trump’s former campaign chief Paul Manafort .. https://www.smh.com.au/link/follow-20170101-p56pzn , foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos .. https://www.smh.com.au/link/follow-20170101-p56prr .. and longtime friend Roger Stone sentenced to jail. But Trump emerged essentially unscathed from a probe he labelled a “witch hunt”. (Trump pardoned all three shortly before leaving office.)

If Trump’s company is found guilty of tax fraud, it will have to pay a fine of up to $US250,000. That would certainly be an embarrassing outcome for Trump.

But it wouldn’t fundamentally change how anyone perceives him. Democrats already believe he’s a conman and a crook. Meanwhile, most Republicans would agree with him that the charges were politically-motivated. And they’ll ask: isn’t it common practice for business owners to cut corners and do some things “off the books”?

VIDEO - Trump teases political comeback 2:00
Former US president Donald Trump is in campaign mode and will hit key battleground
states ahead of next year’s midterms and a possible second run at the White House.

Even Trump’s most loyal supporters don’t regard him as morally-pure; they see him as someone who says what he believes and gets the job done.

Ever since Trump declared he was running for office, his opponents have been waiting for the emergence of a deus ex machina - a game-changing scandal capable of ending his political career once and for all.

The Access Hollywood tape scandal .. https://www.smh.com.au/link/follow-20170101-grxuox .. didn’t do it. Neither did the Mueller investigation. Neither did his two impeachment trials: Trump was acquitted .. https://www.smh.com.au/link/follow-20170101-p572an .. by the Senate both times. Despite losing last year’s election and fomenting the January 6 Capitol riot, Trump remains the Republican Party’s figurehead and the frontrunner for its 2024 nomination.

So far, the New York investigation and resulting criminal proceedings haven’t delivered a mortal blow to Trump’s career.

We don’t know where the legal story ultimately ends and there will be twists along the way. But for now Trump remains a free man with a realistic shot at returning to the White House in just a few years.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/what-fraud-trump-s-hopes-of-a-return-to-white-house-very-much-alive-20210702-p5868d.html