Former President Trump ‘s legal woes are mounting with the news that state and local prosecutors in New York are conducting a joint criminal investigation …
Former President Trump ‘s legal woes are mounting with the news that state and local prosecutors in New York are conducting a joint criminal investigation into his company. It’s unclear exactly what charges the New York attorney general and the Manhattan district attorney are exploring, but the announcement signals an escalation in the offices’ investigations that have at times spilled into public view in recent years. The rare move to publicly announce a criminal probe is also fueling Republican efforts to discredit it. The news comes three months after Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. (D) obtained Trump’s tax returns, ending a protracted legal battle that twice reached the Supreme Court over a grand jury subpoena. New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) separately has taken the Trump Organization to court in her own investigation into the company’s assets. James’s office said on Tuesday that it had informed the Trump Organization that the probe had expanded beyond a civil investigation. “We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA. We have no additional comment at this time,” Fabien Levy, a spokesman for the state attorney general, said in a statement. The immediate implications of the news are unclear, as both offices have been tight-lipped about their investigations, but it raises the stakes for both Trump and the prosecutors. “This appears to be an absolutely serious investigation. And based on what’s in the newspapers, it seems to be fairly advanced,” said Daniel Horwitz, a former Manhattan assistant district attorney. “It would seem that the district attorney and the attorney general have devoted significant resources to this investigation.” “Whether it ends in a prosecution of individuals, including the president, it’s impossible to say at this point. The answer to that question is going to turn on whether there is evidence to demonstrate that the president participated in a financial fraud,” Horwitz added. Horwitz said that if the attorney general’s office had found evidence of criminal wrongdoing, it would make sense that it would turn to the district attorney for more resources, given that the latter is better equipped for criminal investigations and prosecutions.
