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发帖数: 18158 | 1 Trump’s longtime lawyer could provide valuable testimony in New York’s
investigation into charity
A day after telling a federal court that Donald Trump directed him to
violate campaign finance laws, Michael Cohen was hit with a subpoena in a
separate investigation in New York state of Trump’s charitable foundation.
The New York state attorney general, Barbara Underwood, sued the Donald J
Trump charitable foundation, Donald Trump and three of his children in June
for allegedly violating state charity laws.
“The foundation is little more than an empty shell that functions with no
oversight from its board of directors,” the lawsuit alleged.
Simultaneous to the announcement of the subpoena on Wednesday, Cohen’s lead
lawyer, Lanny Davis, announced the launch of an online crowdsourced
fundraiser called the Michael Cohen Truth Fund to raise money for Cohen’s
legal bills. The fundraising goal is $500,000.
“Michael decided to put his family and his country first,” read the
fundraising pitch. “Now Michael needs your financial help – to pay his
legal fees.”
Cohen, who was for 10 years Trump’s trusted lieutenant, has pleaded guilty
to tax fraud, bank fraud and campaign finance violations. However he has not
yet been sentenced, and he would require additional legal representation in
any negotiation with prosecutors to enter a potential cooperation agreement
in the special counsel’s Russia investigation or other matters.
Prosecutors allege that Trump had not contributed to the charity since 2008
but used millions contributed tax-free by outside donors as “little more
than a checkbook” to settle legal claims against his Mar-a-Lago resort and
against Trump National Golf Club.
The suit additionally alleges that the charity paid $10,000 to buy a
painting of Trump displayed at the Trump National Doral golf course, and
that it operated as a wing of the Trump presidential campaign and not
independently as a charity.
“Trump ran the foundation according to whim, rather than law,” the suit
said.
The suit seeks $2.8m in restitution and penalties from Trump and asks for
the distribution of $1m in assets to other charities. The lawsuit also seeks
to dissolve the Trump Foundation and bar the Trumps from serving on the
boards of any charitable organizations – Trump senior for 10 years and
three of his children for one year.
In addition to Trump, the lawsuit names his children Donald Jr, Ivanka and
Eric.
Trump has denied all wrongdoing. In tweets after the suit was filed, he
blamed it on “the sleazy New York Democrats” and said “I won’t settle
this case!”
One potentially threatening aspect of the suit for Trump and his children is
that, should a criminal case develop, any conviction would not be
pardonable by the president, who can pardon only federal crimes under the
constitution.
Additionally, a state could indict a sitting president – a step the justice
department has signaled it would not do, tweeted Ryan Goodman, a former
special counsel in the department of defense and editor of the Just Security
blog.
“A good time to remember that even if [special counsel Robert] Mueller’s
hands are tied by the Department of Justice’s legal opinions – saying that
a sitting president can’t be indicted – state attorney generals aren’t,
” wrote Goodman. “It would be for them and the courts to decide.” | g******t
发帖数: 18158 | 2 可汗律师收到新传票，巨巨和巨巨的三个成年子女有难
黄陂川粉们心疼老头，每人再捐八百 |
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