Donald Trump forced to cancel rally in midst of New York Attorney General probe
It sounds too on-the-nose to be real. Donald Trump was scheduled to hold a for-profit political rally this Friday, but he’s had to cancel it because he’s being forced to testify that day to the New York Attorney General about his overall pattern of financial fraud? This can’t really be happening in such poetic fashion, can it?
But as it turns out, it really is indeed happening. The Raleigh News & Observer newspaper is reporting that Donald Trump really has canceled this Friday’s rally and issued refunds, because he and two of his kids have to be in New York this Friday to testify under oath as part of NY AG Letitia James’ investigation into the Trump Organization.
Trump could still try to BS his way out of testifying. But a judge overseeing this probe already held Trump in contempt once, and forced him to turn over documents. So if Trump plays games with his testimony date, the judge will swiftly force Trump to once again fall in line. As we just saw with Steve Bannon, once you’re at a point in your downfall where you’re reduced to hurling BS at a judge, you’re only making it worse for yourself by playing games.
Trump only has a few options, all of them varying degrees of bad: 1) Plead the fifth to specific questions and give the AG an opening to criminally charge him. 2) Lie and go down for perjury. 3) Say “I don’t recall” about things it can be proven he does recall, and go down for contempt. 4) Honestly confess to crimes.
Trump’s testimony will be devastating to him no matter how he plays it. New York AG James spent a long time strategically working to ensure Trump ended up cornered like this. She finally has him right where she wants him. The only question is how aggressive she’ll be with the penalties she dishes out.
Trump’s sure-to-be-disastrous testimony, and the evidence turned over by others close to him, should allow James to do anything she wants. She can shut down the Trump Organization. She can take Trump’s assets, including any assets he may have tried to shift outside of the Trump Organization in an effort at shielding them. Trump simply does not have a magic wand for hiding assets from James at this point. She has his books, official and unofficial.
Of more interest is whether James will also criminally charge Donald Trump when she hands down the inevitable financial penalties. Hers is a civil probe. But her probe has long been partnered with the Manhattan DA’s related criminal probe. She can bring the criminal charges that the DA punted on. That’s the real intrigue here. If Trump tries something stupid this Friday and gets caught up in perjury or obstruction, that’ll just give James more potential criminal charges to bring. Stay tuned.
