On Tuesday, CNN reported that New York Attorney General Letitia James has joined the Manhattan DA’s office in its criminal investigation of the Trump Organization. A civil investigation into the former President’s business is still underway and is hunting for evidence that the company misled lenders and insurance companies about the value of its properties. It is also looking into whether the company paid their taxes in full. However, a spokesperson from the office of Letitia James claimed that the scale of investigation has now crossed and expanded into criminal territory.
Though the Trump Organisation did not respond to this statement, Donald Trump released a characteristic statement on Wednesday where he called the criminal investigation into his business, “a continuation of the greatest political Witch Hunt in the history of the United States.”
Trump’s former attorney, Micheal Cohen testified before Congress in 2019, claiming that the president inflated the values of some of his assets to obtain favorable loan terms and deflated the values of others to reduce real estate taxes. This was the stimulus for James to start a motion that requested the company to provide her office with documents and testimony from key witnesses. One of these witnesses was the former President’s son Eric Trump, who was according to James motion, “was intimately involved in one or more transactions under review,” Eric Trump, 36 was ordered by New York State Supreme Court Judge Arthur F. Engoron to testify in September 2020. Another key witness in this investigation is Trump’s chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg. Prosecutors recently subpoenaed records from Weisselberg’s bank and the private school his grandchildren attend.
This investigation is one of 29 lawsuits and investigations that Trump is facing down. Some of these investigations are probing the former president’s attempt to manipulate the results of the 2020 election.
