Trump’s Swamp And His Legal Troubles Deepen

Michael Cohen’s plea deal last week put Trump into legal jeopardy. Court documents revealed a vast conspiracy set up to make hush payments for Trump’s affairs. And Trump continued to abuse his executive power, deepening the swamp. Here’s the latest:

 

Trump intervened in plans to build a new FBI headquarters across the street from his luxury hotel, and then blocked the inspector general from learning what he said in meetings.

 

USA Today: “President Donald Trump met twice with government officials who decided to build a new FBI headquarters across Pennsylvania Avenue from Trump International Hotel, according to a watchdog report Monday. But the General Services Administration's inspector general said officials refused to disclose what Trump said in the meetings before and after the decision to keep the FBI offices located near the hotel.”

 

Michael Cohen and Jared Kushner’s company were accused of falsifying construction permits to remove rent-control tenants from their buildings.

 

New York Times: “On Monday, the city’s Department of Buildings cited Kushner Companies for 42 violations in which it submitted false permit information at 17 buildings, where many of the tenants were protected from steep rent increases and eviction. The fines total $210,000.”

 

New York Times: “At 172 Rivington Street, for example, the Cohen group indicated that there were no rent-regulated tenants in the 20-unit building, after the company purchased it in October 2011 for $2.1 million. But records indicated that there were 19 protected tenants there, but only 11 remained after the Cohen group sold the building three years later for $10 million.”

 

The Trump Organization’s longtime CFO, who controls Trump’s finances, was granted immunity to provide info about hush-money payments made during the 2016 campaign.

 

Wall Street Journal: “Allen Weisselberg, President Trump’s longtime financial gatekeeper, was granted immunity by federal prosecutors for providing information about Michael Cohen in the criminal investigation into hush-money payments for two women during the 2016 presidential campaign.”

 

The Manhattan D.A. is considering pursuing criminal charges against the Trump Organization and two of its senior officials in connection to the hush money payments.

 

New York Times: “The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is considering pursuing criminal charges against the Trump Organization and two senior company officials in connection with Michael D. Cohen’s hush money payment to an adult film actress.”

 

Documents filed as part of Cohen’s plea deal revealed a sham paper trail created so that the Trump Organization could pay Cohen over $400,000 for Trump’s hush money payments.

 

Washington Post: “President Donald Trump’s real estate company authorized paying $420,000 to lawyer Michael Cohen in his effort to silence women during the presidential campaign and then relied on ‘sham’ invoices from Cohen that concealed the nature of the payments, according to legal filings released Tuesday.”

 

Court documents revealed that Cohen paid an unidentified tech company $50,000 for work done expressly “in connection with the campaign.”

 

CNBC: “Buried in the legal documents released Tuesday as part of Cohen’s guilty plea on eight felony counts, there was a new, previously unreported payment Cohen made in 2016 to help Trump: $50,000 for work that prosecutors say Cohen ‘solicited from a technology company during and in connection with the campaign.’”