Donald Trump’s lawyers just tipped off in court that they fear New York could indict him before the election

| 10:02 pm EDT August 31, 2020
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

Donald Trump has already lost the Supreme Court ruling over his tax returns, but his lawyers are still filing dead-end motions in the hope of stalling things a bit before Trump’s accounting firm ultimately hands the tax returns over to the Manhattan District Attorney. Trump’s latest court filings over the matter just gave something away.

As Palmer Report is fond of pointing out, grand juries literally only exist for one reason: to bring criminal indictments against people. As soon as it became public knowledge that the New York grand jury was seeking Trump’s tax returns, it meant by definition that the grand jury was in the process of indicting Trump on state charges. One of the big questions has been whether the grand jury will indict Trump before the election. It turns out Trump’s lawyers are worried about this scenario.

In their new court filing, Trump’s lawyers specifically stated their fear that if the New York grand jury indicts Trump before the election, the contents of his tax returns could end up becoming public knowledge as part of the indictment filing. In such case voters could be swayed to vote against Trump based on what’s in his tax returns.

This argument alone reveals just how backed into a corner Donald Trump is. His lawyers are flat out publicly admitting that Trump’s tax returns are ugly enough, their contents could cause people to vote against him. Perhaps more importantly, they’re admitting that they fear New York will indict Trump before the election.

Even if New York can’t physically arrest Donald Trump before the election because he’s holed up in the White House, Trump being indicted would go a long way to convincing voters in the middle that he really is a criminal who needs to be voted out. And of course it means that if Trump loses, he’s going to prison.