Robert Mueller is going after Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump for financial crimes
Now we know why Donald Trump’s children began making a concerted effort this week to get Donald Trump to pardon them and resign. And now we know why Trump has begun inquiring as to whether he can legally get away with those pardons. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is now going after Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump for their business dealings with convicted Russian mafia figure Felix Sater, dealings which allegedly involve serious financial crimes.
Bloomberg made the following reveal today: “Mueller’s team is looking at the Trump SoHo hotel condominium development, which was a licensing deal with Bayrock Capital LLC. In 2010, the former finance director of Bayrock filed a lawsuit claiming the firm structured transactions in fraudulent ways to evade taxes. Bayrock was a key source of capital for Trump projects, including Trump SoHo.” (link). This doesn’t come as a huge surprise, but it does explain a lot of what we’re now seeing transpire regarding Trump’s kids.
The Trump Organization’s business dealings with Trump SoHo and Sater were not entirely spearheaded by Donald Trump himself. Instead, based on longstanding accounts, it was Ivanka and Donald Jr. who led those business deals; they had the longtime relationship with Sater. As has also long been widely reported, Sater has previously been convicted for financial crimes involving the Russian mafia, and somewhere along the way he’s worked as an FBI informant. Sater also recently agreed to cooperate with the Feds on the Trump SoHo investigation. So when Trump threatened to fire Mueller last night if he investigates his finances, it was because he’s afraid his own kids will be taken down.
As I wrote yesterday, it had become clear that Donald Trump’s kids have been recently trying to steer him toward pardoning them and then resigning (link). And sure enough, today the Washington Post revealed that Trump is indeed inquiring about whether he can pardon himself and his kids. As I’ve explained elsewhere, if Trump tries to pardon himself and his family, he’s finished (link).
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report