The real reason the New York District Attorney is finally going after Donald Trump
On Friday, New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance let it be known that he was bringing unpardonable state-level criminal charges against Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort. He was sending a clear signal that he’s planning to charge every criminal in Trump’s orbit, including Trump and his kids. But wait a minute, wasn’t Vance the guy who let Trump’s kids off the hook a few years back?
Yes it is, as a matter of fact. Back in late 2017, the New Yorker exposed that Cyrus Vance was in position to criminally indict Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump in 2012, and that he dropped the whole thing after Donald Trump’s attorney made a sizable donation to Vance’s campaign. Vance also let Harvey Weinstein off the hook after a similar donation. Then in late 2018, the New York Daily News reported that the FBI was investigating whether this counted as Vance taking an illegal bribe.
At the time, Palmer Report wrote that “At the least, this new federal investigation into Vance could place additional pressure on him to try to right his own wrong by bringing Ivanka and Don Jr to justice.” Sure enough, now Vance is making a point of bringing criminal charges against Paul Manafort, even though Manafort is already going to prison for life. It sure looks like Vance is trying to keep the legal heat off himself by targeting Trump’s people as quickly and loudly as he can.
We have no way of knowing if Cyrus Vance is still under FBI investigation. Has he been cleared? Is the probe still ongoing? Will he be indicted and removed? We don’t know. But we do know that Vance is now very much acting like a guy who thinks he has to do something to show that he’s not corruptly in the pocket of wealthy criminals like Donald Trump. Even if Vance hasn’t seen the light, he may have simply decided to try to cover his tracks. In any case, Vance is now making a point of targeting Trump’s people. We’re sure the New York Attorney General won’t allow Vance to let Trump’s people off the hook this time.
