For most of his 76 years, said Smith was “moving aggressively” in an attempt to “make good on his goal of resolving as quickly as possible whether Mr. Trump, still a leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, should face charges.”
Trump, who managed to blame Pence for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot that he in fact instigated, lashed out—predictably—at Smith, a highly respected former war crimes prosecutor, from the get-go.
“This fully weaponized monster, Jack Smith, shouldn’t be let anywhere near the political persecution of ‘President Donald J. Trump,’” Trump posted on Truth Social after Smith was appointed. “I did nothing wrong on January 6th, and nothing wrong with the Democrats’ fix on the Document Hoax, that is, unless the six previous Presidents did something wrong also….”
In another, Trump called for Smith to be removed, and accused him, without offering any evidence, of being mentally ill and unfit for the task.
“Fire a man who may very well turn out to be a criminal, Jack Smith,” Trump complained on Truth Social. “His conflicts, unfairness, and mental state of derangement make him totally unfit for the job of ‘getting Trump.’ Go after Biden and the Biden Crime Family instead. Like Bill Barr, the U.S. Attorneys in Delaware and Illinois are weak, ineffective, and afraid to do what must be done. The Election was RIGGED, and we are now losing our Country. We can’t let that happen. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
In various other “truths,” Trump has slammed Smith as “a Radical Left Prosecutor, who is totally controlled by Eric Holder and Obama,” called his investigation “a RIGGED SCAM,” described him as a “political hit man,” a “Trump Hater,” a “Trump Hating THUG,” and an “unfair savage,” claimed, groundlessly, that Smith “should never be allowed to work on anything having to do with me because of his and his family’s anger, hatred, and bias.”
“Did nothing wrong on Jan 6th (Peacefully & Patrioticly), or with Documents (Check out past presidents),” Trump wrote.
The “world’s greatest dealmaker” also deemed it unfair that “Mad Dog Psycho Jack Smith” is probing him but not any other former commanders-in-chief, posting on Truth Social late last month, that Smith “should should stop this Witch Hunt altogether or, at a minimum, should give Biden, Obama, and all of the others the same treatment!”
This week, Mike Pence was ordered by a federal judge to appear before a grand jury investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to sources cited by the Associated Press. The former VP had attempted to get out of testifying against his former boss by claiming an exception under the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause.
Earlier this month, a federal judge ordered one of Trump’s lawyers, M. Evan Corcoran, to turn over his notes and audio transcripts from his dealings with Trump, piercing the veil of attorney-client privilege. Corcoran testified before a Washington, D.C., grand jury last week in the classified documents probe.
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Letitia James
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL
While the first three cases could mean prison for Trump, New York State Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 billion lawsuit against Trump for what she deemed a spectacular pattern of financial fraud, could kill his company and saddle him with up to $1 billion in fines and costs.
“The number of grossly inflated asset values is staggering, affecting most if not all of the real estate holdings in any given year,” the suit alleges.
The Trump Organization, according to the filing, historically misled lenders and insurers about its balance sheet and properties, including Mar-a-Lago and New York City’s Trump Tower, to get “beneficial financial terms.” Trump and his adult children claimed certain buildings they owned were worth multiples of their actual value, submitting in excess of 200 bogus valuations across at least 11 annual statements. The lawsuit contends Trump’s company improperly benefited to the tune of $250 million, which New York State is now moving to claw back.
In one example cited by James, the Trump family allegedly claimed a block of Manhattan apartments an appraiser had valued at $750,000 were actually worth some $50 million. In another, James noted that Trump listed his own Trump Tower residence as clocking on at 30,000 square feet when it was in reality 11,000.
“Tripling the size of the apartment for valuation was fraud, not an honest mistake,” James said at a press conference announcing the lawsuit.
James is seeking to bar Trump from applying for loans or purchasing any commercial properties in New York State for five years. She is also asking a judge to permanently ban Trump, sons Don Jr. and Eric, and daughter Ivanka, from ever again running a business in New York.
The complaint filed by James is a civil one, and does not itself carry the threat of indictment. However, it notes that James shared her discoveries with federal prosecutors in Manhattan, specifying that she believes the Trumps are guilty of bank fraud. James also said in the suit that the Trump Org’s financial filings contravened a variety of state laws.
As has come to be expected, a splenetic Trump bashed James on Truth Social, complaining about being the target of a “Another Witch Hunt by a racist Attorney General, Letitia James, who failed in her run for Governor, getting almost zero support from the public, and now is doing poorly against Law & Order A.G. candidate, highly respected Michael Henry.” (James won.)
Trump continued, taking full advantage of Truth Social’s 500-character limit.
“I never thought this case would be brought—until I saw her really bad poll numbers. She is a fraud who campaigned on a ‘get Trump’ platform, despite the fact that the city is one of the crime and murder disasters of the world under her watch!”
In early November, Trump announced on Truth Social that he was suing James in an attempt to stop her suit from proceeding. His suit, which he filed in Florida, called James’ New York suit “a relentless, pernicious, public, and unapologetic crusade against President Trump, a resident of Palm Beach County, Florida, with the stated goal of destroying him personally, financially, and politically.” (Trump dropped the suit in January, after the case wound up before a judge who hit him and his attorney Alina Habba with nearly $1 million in fines over a separate suit against Hillary Clinton he declared frivolous.)
The penalties Trump and his kids are facing are what anyone else would face for “the same misconduct,” James emphasized after bringing the November action.
“Everyday people cannot lie to a bank about how much money they have in order to get a favorable loan or send their kid to college, and if they did, the government would throw the book at them,” James said at the time. “Why should this be any different?”
