Jump to content

Future not looking bright....

DBP66

By DBP66
in Off-Topic Forum

 Share

Recommended Posts

DBP66 Grand Master

DBP66

Posted
Posted

Deutsche Bank plans to cut ties with Trump after the election and could seize his assets if he can't pay back his debts, Reuters reports

Tom Porter
Business InsiderTue, November 3, 2020, 6:38 AM EST
 
Trump
President Donald Trump at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

  • The German lender Deutsche Bank is seeking to dump about $340 million in debt owed by President Donald Trump, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

  • The bank could seek to sell the loans after the election or seek repayment of the money, which starts becoming due in two years, bank officials told the news agency.

  • Trump's ties with Deutsche Bank have long been scrutinized. The lender has handed over records to Manhattan's district attorney as part of a criminal investigation into Trump's businesses.

  • Trump has long denied allegations of wrongdoing in his business dealings.

  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The German lender Deutsche Bank is seeking to cut ties with President Donald Trump after the election, three senior officials at the bank told Reuters on Tuesday.

Deutsche Bank could seek to sell or demand repayment of about $340 million in outstanding loans to the Trump Organization, the report said.

Trump's ties with Deutsche Bank have long been scrutinized. Over the years the bank has become the biggest lender to the Trump Organization, the umbrella company for Trump's hotels, golf resorts, and other businesses.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
DBP66 Grand Master

DBP66

Posted
  • Author
Posted

How Trump's legal woes will worsen once he leaves office

Rick Newman
Rick Newman
·Senior Columnist
Thu, November 5, 2020, 3:37 PM EST
 
 

Donald Trump has used his duties as president to shield himself from a variety of lawsuits during the last four years. That will change if Joe Biden deposes him and Trump becomes a private citizen once again.

Trump is a magnet for litigation, and he already faces two separate inquiries into his business dealings by the New York state attorney general and the New York City district attorney. There are civil suits against Trump by two women claiming he defamed them by calling them liars when they accused him of sexual crimes. There’s also the further possibility that federal prosecutors could charge Trump with obstruction of justice or other crimes relating to the Robert Mueller investigation, Trump’s failed attempt to link Joe Biden with Ukrainian corruption and the same campaign-finance violations his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, went to prison for.

Many Trump critics—including the possible vice president-elect, Kamala Harris—have called for aggressive federal prosecution of Trump once he leaves the White House. In his probe of possible Trump campaign ties to Russia, special prosecutor Robert Mueller highlighted several instances of Trump behavior that may have been obstruction of justice. Mueller could have charged Trump, but he didn’t, most likely because of Justice Department policy opposing any federal prosecution of a sitting president. Many legal experts think Mueller was building a case against Trump for prosecutors to use once Trump was out of office.

Active investigations into Trumpworld

But federal prosecution of a former president would be unprecedented and fraught with political danger. The more immediate threat for Trump is probably an acceleration of the two New York cases, once Trump can no longer claim presidential privilege to hold off prosecutors. “His principal criminal problem is going to be at the state level,” says Ben Wittes, editor-in-chief of Lawfare. “Those are clearly active investigation looking at his finances, and I assume his finances are problematic. Trumpworld is a target-rich environment.”

NEW YORK, USA - FEBRUARY 24: Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. speaks at the press conference after the hearing of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein in New York, United States on February 24, 2020. Weinstein was convicted of third-degree rape and committing a first-degree criminal sexual act. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. speaks at the press conference after the hearing of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein in New York, on February 24, 2020. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

New York City District Attorney Cyrus Vance is seeking at least eight years’ of Trump’s personal and corporate financial records, in a probe most likely focusing on possible fraud by Trump’s family business, detailed in several New York Times exposes. Vance may also be looking into the two 2016 hush-money payments to women Trump allegedly had affairs with. Cohen, when he was Trump’s lawyer, arranged those payments, and in 2018 he pled guilty to violating campaign-finance law, among other things. If Cohen committed a crime by arranging the payments, then it stands to reason that Trump—who signed the checks—did too.

Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly argued that Trump’s duties as president should shield him from such prosecution. Lower courts have shot that down, Trump has appealed, and the Supreme Court will now decide once and for all whether Vance can obtain Trump’s financial records—perhaps soon. The Court may simply refuse to consider Trump’s latest appeal, which would leave the Appeals Court ruling intact and force Trump and his accounting firm to turn over the material. It could also hear the case—with three Trump appointees presiding. But if the court puts the Vance case on the docket, it would be after Trump leaves the White House, assuming Biden’s lead in the electoral college holds up.

The New York State attorney general is pursuing a civil case against Trump’s business, looking into claims that Trump deliberately misvalued several holdings, as Cohen and others have alleged. That case might also move more quickly if Trump becomes a private citizen who can’t claim any special treatment.

In a defamation case against Trump brought by E. Jean Carroll, U.S. Attorney General William Barr had moved to invalidate the suit by claiming Trump had immunity as a federal employee, and appointing the Justice Department, rather than Trump’s personal lawyers, to defend Trump. An appeals court judge shot that down last month. Barr’s Justice Department could appeal, but the point would become moot if Trump is due to leave his federal job in January. Carroll’s case would essentially be toast if she had to battle the Justice Department. But with Trump out of office Carroll’s case can continue as a dispute between two private parties.

Summer Zervos, left, leaves New York state appellate court with here attorney Mariann Wang, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018, in New York. President Donald Trump's lawyers hope to persuade an appeals court to dismiss or delay Zervos' claim that he defamed her by calling her a liar after she accused him of unwanted kissing and groping. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Summer Zervos, left, leaves New York state appellate court with here attorney Mariann Wang, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018, in New York. President Donald Trump's lawyers hope to persuade an appeals court to dismiss or delay Zervos' claim that he defamed her by calling her a liar after she accused him of unwanted kissing and groping. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Another woman, Summer Zervos, has also brought a defamation suit against Trump, with Trump once again claiming presidential immunity. That case is headed to a New York appeals court in 2021, with the immunity claim obviously neutered if Trump is no longer president.

A pardon or a case against Trump

Trump’s departure from government could also lead to some kind of resolution of his supposed audits at the IRS. The current IRS commissioner is a Trump appointee, which makes it unlikely Trump would face an adverse tax ruling that could cost him millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars. But the dynamic could flip once Trump is gone, especially if the IRS feels duty-bound to demonstrate its independence by going tough on Trump. We know very little about Trump’s tax disputes with the IRS, however, and Trump becoming a private citizen once again wouldn’t necessarily change that.

As for possible federal prosecution of Trump once he leaves office, Trump does have the option of trying to pardon himself before Jan. 20. That would be unprecedented, and the question of whether it’s legal might end up before the Supreme Court. It might also imply guilt in a way that could work against Trump in other cases at the state or local level. Another option is for Trump to resign before January and strike a deal with Mike Pence, who would become president long enough to pardon Trump in a way that might be less legally dubious—but would still imply guilt.

The Old Post Office Pavilion Clock Tower, which remains open during the partial government shutdown, above the Trump International Hotel, Friday, Jan. 4, 2019 ,in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The Trump International Hotel, Jan. 4, 2019 , in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

If there’s no pardon, Biden would face the unsavory prospect of pursuing a criminal case against Trump that’s likely to be politically explosive, given that nearly half of all voters wanted Trump to be reelected. The cleanest way to do it might be appointing a bipartisan commission of respected prosecutors to study the question and make recommendations as to whether the Barr Justice Department properly handled the matter, or violated legal or ethical norms. If the feds do pursue a case against Trump, a special prosecutor insulated from political influence—yes, like Mueller—would probably be better than Justice Department prosecutors answering to the attorney general, who’s a presidential appointee.

There’s also a case for dropping the matter at the federal level, which would fit with Biden’s call for unity and preserve precious political capital for other priorities. What Biden shouldn’t do is choose an attorney general with an explicit agenda one way or the other. “Biden’s role is to pick the right person for attorney general, then defer to that person,” Wittes says. “You don’t want to appoint somebody who has an obvious vendetta. You want to appoint somebody of enormous nonpartisan stature, and then defer to that person.” It might be a decision Biden is happy to delegate.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.


×
×
  • Create New...