New York grand jury closes in on Trump Organization
The story is getting almost shockingly little coverage, but a grand jury in New York is in the process of criminally indicting Donald Trump on state charges. We know this because the current court battle over Trump’s tax returns is partly a result of the grand jury’s attempt at subpoenaing the returns from Trump’s accountant. Now it turns out there’s a new development.
Based on the testimony from Michael Cohen and other publicly available evidence, this grand jury is going to end up indicting Donald Trump whether it gets its hands on his tax returns or not. The only question is when it will choose to hand down that indictment (before or after the election), and who else might also be indicted along the way.
According to a new report from ProPublica, the Manhattan District Attorney is targeting Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg – “among others” – for potential criminal charges in Donald Trump’s hush money scheme. Two things stand out here. First, it was widely reported that Weisselberg cooperated with the Feds in the case against Cohen, in exchange for some degree of immunity. This was shelved when Cohen decided to plead guilty, but everyone now knows that Weisselberg can be pressured into cooperating, and the Manhattan DA is clearly taking advantage of this.
Second, the “among others” part of the story is notable. New York State doesn’t care whether a glorified paper pusher like Allen Weisselberg goes to prison. It cares about getting Weisselberg to flip on the real players in the Trump Organization – who by the way all happen to be named “Trump.” This points to the grand jury not only indicting Donald Trump, but also indicting members of his family. Again, the big question is whether this will come down before or after the election. But there’s no question indictments are coming. It’s literally the only reason grand juries exist.
