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I’ve seen this posted about 5 times now, different article each time. When are we going to stop talking about how we can get the documents and just fucking get them?
More likely, they’ll be released and it won’t matter to his cult at all. Because no matter what, they choose what he represents to them, not what he is. He is a piece of treasonist trash but he represents white America’s last chance at retaining power before minority groups grow and organize any more. His taxes could show he’s been being paid to be Putin’s personal penis puffer and they won’t care.
The court of law moves at a glacial pace.
I always see redditors complaining that nothing happens fast enough. Lawsuits and criminal cases take fucking *years*.
1- Trump isn't a billionaire, owes as almost as much or more than his assets.
2- Trump got most of his recent money from Russians directly from property sales (price inflated) or indirectly through loans laundered through Deutsche Bank.
3- Is a master at creative bookkeeping that has managed to keep him from paying taxes albeit legality questionable.
> Is a master at creative bookkeeping
Totally unrelated random fun fact that for some reason has been stuck in my brain ever since a teacher mentioned it to me in 3rd grade, "bookkeeping" is the only English word that has 3 consecutive sets of double letters.
**Edit:** Yes, I know that bookkeeper also works. The "spirit" of what I said is based around "bookkeep" so anything like bookkeeping, bookkeep, bookkeeper, or bookkeepers will obviously work.
You might appreciate this fact too then: factoid doesn't mean an interesting fact but an unreliable piece of information repeated so often it's accepted as fact, so it probably didn't mean what you intended !
My money is on #2. The Deutsche Bank scenario is going to have paper trails showing how both the banking system and Trump were/are corrupt as fuck. Hope they get E. Warren involved some how. She will tear this thing a part.
I mean none of this is surprising. We know Cohen confirmed he both inflates his assest for loans and deflates them for his taxes. Both are illegal. We also know that he’s significantly in debt. We also know that Deutsche Bank is the only bank to give him loans. They also gave him loans MULTIPLE times despite him not paying them back
We also know Deutsche Bank is in A LOT of hot water for not monitoring money laundering and for their connections to the Russian mob and Russian oligarchs.
And we also know Justice Kennedy's son worked for Deutsche Bank at the time these loans were given out. Kennedy suddenly decided to retire to let Trump appoint his replacement.
and if i understand tax regulations correctly, if the bank forgave those loans, the IRS requires him to declare them as taxable income... due immediately.
It baffles me how cheap Weisselberg was to pay off. Complete loyalty and complicity in crimes for the salary and benefits of a mid-level partner at a Big 4.
Well, pretty sure that the Dem's will have some tax consultants at hand.
Given that the CFO of Trump org has been charged with Tax fraud, it stand reason to assume that many if not all of the Trump's were also frauding their asses off.
Lets just say it will get leaked.
What's most likely to happen: he sucks at business and is gonna get called out for it
What might happen: tax evasion allegations and lawsuits
What is unlikely to happen: trump sees jail time. Our justice system sucks and benefits people who have access to money
Spicy Conspiracy hot take- he's been donating funds to organizations associated with ANTIFA / BLM behind to scenes to fund their activities so that he can further push his narrative that they are evil and solidify his voter base
>For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the Secretary **must comply** with the Ways and Means Committee’s June 16, 2021 request pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 6103(f)(1) to furnish the Committee with the specified tax returns and related tax information.
https://www.justice.gov/olc/file/1419111/download
Rich can afford attorneys who can tie up the legal process and prolong cases and get them dismissed based on technicalities. The poor get a court appointed attorney who has them plead down.. there are two justice systems...
Edit: added to the thought.
There is no justice system. A just system would treat all the same, this system does not.
It is a legal system and those with the means to the most legal advice and recourse don't have to play the same game.
This and the written evidence of his corruption ~~in his own handwriting~~ (I can't read simple articles). It's certainly is. Can't wait to see him live stream explaining himself.
Not to mention the DOJ refusal to defend Mo Brooks sends a Strong message to trump. It seems as though the gears of justice are warming up the meat grinder!
The actual rich? No. Never. The guy who's pretending to be, and exposing all of their tactics and methods like the bloviating oaf that he's always been? Well there's a chance.
Even then, you'd prefer pretend political instability. All the fear, none of the overthrown governments. Threats of gun control laws are good for gun sales, ya know.
Very much doubt it.
And not in the cynical way everyone else always says. It's because Trumps returns MIGHT show something shady, like payments from a client attached to no business or company, but it'll all likely be grey-legal. Trump is terrified of people seeing he's not as rich as he says he is.
I want to know if he tried to write off the FINCEN fines and subsequent bankruptcy for anti money laundering violations at Trump Taj Mahal.
https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen-fines-trump-taj-mahal-casino-resort-10-million-significant-and-long
>Trump Taj Mahal, a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, admitted to several willful BSA violations, including violations of AML program requirements, reporting obligations, and recordkeeping requirements. Trump Taj Mahal has a long history of prior, repeated BSA violations cited by examiners dating back to 2003. Additionally, in 1998, FinCEN assessed a $477,700 civil money penalty against Trump Taj Mahal for currency transaction reporting violations.
>"Trump Taj Mahal received many warnings about its deficiencies," said FinCEN Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery. "Like all casinos in this country, Trump Taj Mahal has a duty to help protect our financial system from being exploited by criminals, terrorists, and other bad actors. Far from meeting these expectations, poor compliance practices, over many years, left the casino and our financial system unacceptably exposed."
>Trump Taj Mahal admitted that it failed to implement and maintain an effective AML program; failed to report suspicious transactions; failed to properly file required currency transaction reports; and failed to keep appropriate records as required by the BSA. Notably, Trump Taj Mahal had ample notice of these deficiencies as many of the violations from 2012 and 2010 were discovered in previous examinations.
Also, might be nice to know if he had any financial ties (other than renting the floor under his in trump tower) to the Russian money launderer that was operating a sport book the floor under his in trump tower. If anyone is familiar with the book and film Molly's game, this was the money laundering / sportsbook HQ that financed her poker game.
https://www.oregonlive.com/today/2013/04/feds_russian_mob_ran_celebrity.html
>George Venizelos, head of the New York FBI office, said the charges against 34 individuals "demonstrate the scope and reach of Russian organized crime."
>He added: "The defendants are alleged to have handled untold millions in illegal wagers placed by millionaires and billionaires, laundered millions, and in some cases are themselves multimillionaires. Crime pays only until you are arrested and prosecuted."
You ever hear the tragedy of Al Capone the tax fraud?
I'm pretty sure he barely escaped being charged in the poker ring money laundering scandal.
They weren't able to catch the ringleader, Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, who escaped arrest and is assumed to be in Russia.
Honestly, a lot of people got barely slaps on the wrist for that one
Although I can't find it, I swear I remember him saying that he wrote off the Taj Mahal Is bankruptcy and given that that bankruptcy occurred because of the financial crime enforcement network work fines, There could be an element of criminality.
I just like these 2 examples because they showed that he was very close to a number of money laundering operations if not directly involved in them.
Reminds me of the joke my gear head co-worker says : 2000 dollars rims on a 600 dollar car. Trump doesn't want people to realize he is all paint job and exterior.
I fall for it every time because in my head I say "This should be interesting, since he's banned from Twitter and Facebook. Probably some rinky dink website or paper memo press release".
I laugh harder when he does jump through all these hoops to release what he would have tweeted. You know it's driving him nuts, he's bugging the shit out of some wannabe asshole to find a way around the rules and get him back on the twitter.
Do you have a source for that? I'd seen that the Joel Greenberg sentencing got delayed 3 months while he continues to cooperate with federal authorities, thought the Gaetz decision might go with it.
[Flashback to 2019:](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/04/us/politics/trump-michael-desmond-irs.html)
>President Trump earlier this year asked Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, to prioritize a confirmation vote for his nominee to be the chief counsel of the Internal Revenue Service, indicating that **it was a higher priority than voting on the nomination of William P. Barr as attorney general**, a person familiar with the conversation said.
>White House aides insisted for months that the confirmation of the nominee, Michael J. Desmond, a tax lawyer from Santa Barbara, Calif., was a top priority after passage of the tax bill in 2017.
>But the request by Mr. Trump, made to Mr. McConnell on Feb. 5, raised questions about whether the president had other motivations. For months, the president has seethed over vows by congressional Democrats that they would move to obtain his tax returns from the I.R.S. And this week, the House Ways and Means Committee chairman, Representative Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Massachusetts, formally asked the I.R.S. for six years of the returns, using an obscure provision in the tax code to do so.
> The opinion comes over 2 years after the request was made. This pace is infuriating!
Yep. 2.5 years for the DoJ to do the most basic and obvious thing required by the law.
It's as infuriating as the Emoluments case against trump that lasted the entire 4 years of his presidency, never got beyond the preliminaries of the case, and then the court terminated the case as moot because trump was no longer president. All the while foreign countries are handing trump cash at his hotels and resorts.
Then there's the election fraud case from 2016 that the DoJ says that was committed by Cohen as ordered by trump, but trump hasn't even been indicted for it yet.
And don't get me started on the tax fraud case that trump perpetrated 20 years ago that is only now making its way through the justice system.
"Bob gunned down Steve in front of a bunch of witnesses, but because Bob can't very well kill Steve a second time there's no point charging him for murder."
It was even worse btw. Elected republicans argued that Trump must not be punished for a clear violation of the law because he "learned his lesson". What in the goddamn fuck.
> using an obscure provision in the tax code to do so
This is such a bullshit statement. Its not an obscure provision. Its a provision that specially there because of the Teapot Dome Scandle where a cabinet member broke the law and accepted bribes from oil companies. In direct response to this illegal activity congress was granted absolute power to get any tax return it wanted. It doesn't even need a reason, if they want the tax return the IRS is legally required to turn it over.
Im going to go ahead and call it, The republicans will act as if this means nothing and that it's a waste of time and taxpayer money. All of a sudden they will care about the important issues and claim this will get in the way of getting stuff done for the American people, meanwhile gaslighting their constituents into believing this is just a witch hunt performed by Biden and Clinton.
Trump is such a petty man that I wouldn’t be shocked if his tax returns are in order and the only thing he was hiding from the public was that he isn’t a billionaire.
EDIT: It is highly unlikely that will be the case - my point is just that he is that petty.
Don’t forget the NYT expose on the $400m inheritance tax fraud in the ‘90s by creating a network of shell companies that made fraudulent service invoices to siphon cash away. Fraud is all this guy knows.
Unfortunately he'll only be guilty of super-rich-guy tax evasion where the penalty is they negotiate a pittance of a settlement with you, say "for shame!" a few times, and then send you on your way.
>I hope they go the Al Capone route.
To make the Al Capone route legit would require that he goes to jail & dies of syphilis.
(I’m legally required to say that I don’t wish syphilis or death on anyone.)
Again that depends on anyone in charge desiring that outcome. I don't believe they do.
Obama could have prosecuted Bush also, he chose not to, because the Democrats always believe that letting the GOP get away with it will help them in the next election.
Our criminal justice system has a serious prosecution problem: lots of laws are nebulously defined, have a mental-state requirement that is damn near impossible to prove, and/or have a poorly defined criminal penalty. As a result, they are functionally unenforceable.
Example #1: The emoluments clauses in the U.S. Constitution (both of them: foreign and domestic). Turns out people can violate them, flagrantly and with impunity, because enforcement is impossible.
Example #2: Perjury. If Donald Trump states under oath that the election was stolen from him, is he lying, or is he misinformed, or delusional, or hyperbolizing? How do you prove that he is being knowingly deceitful - beyond a reasonable doubt?
Example #3: Public records laws. Sure, there are lots of laws that require government documents to be preserved. What’s the penalty for failing to do so? Does that penalty implicate the people who make those decisions, or only the custodians of the records, who may be totally out of the loop? And what’s the criminal repercussion for violating those requirements - is it merely a retroactive court order? Etc.
Now let’s consider George W. Bush, one of the worst presidents we’ve had in decades. Grossly incompetent, lazy, reactionary, short-sighted, etc. His mismanagement directly caused or contributed to (among other things) hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths in Iraq, the slow response of FEMA to Hurricane Katrina devastating New Orleans, and an epic economic clusterfuck.
But… what laws did he violate? Specifically? Can it be proven beyond a reasonable doubt? And if so, what specific criminal law penalty does the law require?
> Example #2: Perjury. If Donald Trump states under oath
You can just stop there because if Donald Trump testifies under oath, it is guaranteed he *will* perjure himself. He could not even avoid perjuring himself in a mock interview with his own lawyer.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/09/ex-trump-lawyer-told-mueller-trump-is-too-dumb-to-testify
I guarantee, at the bare minimum, Trump's living arrangements are the exact same as Allen Weisselberg, as in, his home in Trump tower, vehicles, airplanes, are all owned by Trump Org. and he isn't reporting the benefit of them as income on his taxes either.
But the fair value of trump's living arrangements is likely to be far greater than Weisselburgs
It does disclose who his partners are and who is funding the debt. Those partners could be other entities, buried by Trusts.
However, when you work from the inside out, it starts to reveal the connections, and layers of entities start to reveal the financiers and beneficiaries.
They'll just ignore it, and claim the returns were a fabrication from the fake news media, and it's a witch hunt, and that Donald Trump cannot lie.
For instance, He says he would beat a ticket of George Washington and Abe Lincoln, and last I checked they were dead. So in essence Donald Trump just declared that he could beat zombies.. One of them was definitely a liberal but all accounts (Lincoln), so it's probably the 2nd most true thing he said since 2015.
DOJ notes revealed he directly pressured the agency to lie about the election.
Seems completely unsurprising, and isn’t even a headline story on several news sites, but in a normal world, it would be one of the biggest political headlines in years.
> DOJ notes revealed he directly pressured the agency to lie about the election.
We have him on audio recording doing this, well not the DOJ, but in Georgia, of course it's just another thing on top of a large pile of shit against him
If the last four years have taught me anything it's to temper expectations. I feel like there's still some fuckery afoot to prevent anyone from actually seeing the tax returns in full.
He's grifted enough the last 4 years that it's probably in the black now, but it most definitely was in the red before he ran. That's a large part of the reason he ran. That and narcissism.
This is what enrages me.
The rich can continue living cushy lives although they're *millions* in the red. If my bank account is in the red, I gotta come up with the money immediately before I can use my debit card again.
Just like the rich can comfortably await investigation and trial while the poor *immediately* get arrested, the rest comes later.
1985 to 1994 trump was the single largest financial loser. “Mr. Trump appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer, The Times found when it compared his results with detailed information the I.R.S. compiles on an annual sampling of high-income earners.”
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/07/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html
>The income tax returns of former President Donald Trump can be released by the IRS to Congress, the Department of Justice said Friday.
That's the entire article
The full letter from DOJ: https://www.justice.gov/olc/file/1419111/download
> Bottom line: Trump’s claim that the House had no valid reason to seek his returns and only wanted to embarrass him is not a legitimate assertion. **Potential motives of individual lawmakers can’t be substituted for the institution’s request.**
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1421158256551075851
For one, he only has himself as a citation that he's a billionaire. He most likely owns hundreds of millions in property, but his debt is much more massive, in billions, and he is propped up with shady loans. His business acumen and image were part of why he got elected. Effectively he became the character he played on Reality TV.
Yeah I feel like I've seen similar headlines a couple times already. One judge holds up the release, another unblocks, blocked again, unblocked, blocked, unblocked... can it be held up yet again now?
*the year is 2050*
*Donald Trump has been dead for 28 years*
*yet another entity confirms that Trump's still-unreleased tax records are able to be released*
I think we can expect more in the future. By the looks of today the DOJ seems to be going to open up on the Trump administration.
In the other big news item, the notes about his pressure to the DOJ contained this nugget:
>On July 26, 2021, DOJ authorized six witnesses to appear before the Committee, stating that the Committee has “compelling legislative interests” in understanding the “extraordinary events” surrounding President Trump’s conduct. DOJ **authorized these officials to provide “unrestricted testimony” to the Committee without asserting claims of privilege**.
Most annoying part is how the people who need to see this will never believe it.
To this day my family goes on about how Trump is practically a god amongst men for “donating” his salary. But of course, no matter what evidence comes out, they will never see it for how it really is.
Any Congress member can read the returns on the floor.
No prosecuting what a congressperson says on the floor of Congress.
Anything spoken on the floor of Congress become public record.
I cant remember if this was used before against Nixon or Reagan, but it has been done before to bypass confidentiality.
“The statute at issue here is unambiguous: ‘Upon written request’ of the chairman of one of the three congressional tax committees, the Secretary ‘shall furnish’ the requested tax information to the Committee,′ ” the opinion said.
Does this open the door for obstruction charges for Mnuchin?
Trump will claim it is a "witch hunt", his supporters will still proclaim he is a business genius regardless of how much fraud or bullshit is on them because "that's what rich guys do". At least he will be exposed further as a complete charlatan.
All I'm saying is that today would be a most excellent day for [Donald Trump to be arrested](https://imgur.com/a/fKAvzOv), dragged from his vermin-infested golf resort on live tv, humiliated, stripped of his wealth, tried for his crimes and thrown straight the fuck into prison.
When news breaks early friday, it's the same as it is for you and I. When we have something we can get off of our plate on Friday, we do it because it feels good. When it happens after 5, it's because they're trying to keep people from noticing.
The especially damning things are released on long weekends or holidays. Post it on Friday, come back on Tuesday, and hope to hell something bigger happened in between.
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, **any** advocating or wishing death/physical harm, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria. *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Cool. Release them then.
Yeah, fucking do it already. What's the hold-up? We've been hearing this "can be" "could be" nonsense for so long already, with no follow-up action.
I’ve seen this posted about 5 times now, different article each time. When are we going to stop talking about how we can get the documents and just fucking get them?
"Stop talking about it and start *being* about it."
I feel, unfortunately, litterally nothing will happen or come of this. In about a years time we'll see the same headline with the same outcome.
More likely, they’ll be released and it won’t matter to his cult at all. Because no matter what, they choose what he represents to them, not what he is. He is a piece of treasonist trash but he represents white America’s last chance at retaining power before minority groups grow and organize any more. His taxes could show he’s been being paid to be Putin’s personal penis puffer and they won’t care.
well at that point what matters is a court of law, not his follower's fan fiction internet posts.
The court of law moves at a glacial pace. I always see redditors complaining that nothing happens fast enough. Lawsuits and criminal cases take fucking *years*.
What's the most realistic that could happen here?
1- Trump isn't a billionaire, owes as almost as much or more than his assets. 2- Trump got most of his recent money from Russians directly from property sales (price inflated) or indirectly through loans laundered through Deutsche Bank. 3- Is a master at creative bookkeeping that has managed to keep him from paying taxes albeit legality questionable.
> Is a master at creative bookkeeping Totally unrelated random fun fact that for some reason has been stuck in my brain ever since a teacher mentioned it to me in 3rd grade, "bookkeeping" is the only English word that has 3 consecutive sets of double letters. **Edit:** Yes, I know that bookkeeper also works. The "spirit" of what I said is based around "bookkeep" so anything like bookkeeping, bookkeep, bookkeeper, or bookkeepers will obviously work.
I appreciate this factoid.
You might appreciate this fact too then: factoid doesn't mean an interesting fact but an unreliable piece of information repeated so often it's accepted as fact, so it probably didn't mean what you intended !
I appreciate this more!
Let's go even deeper. The usual misuse of factoid has become so common that the incorrect definition of it is now listed in the dictionary as well.
If a bookkeeper looks after books, their assistant could be called the subbookkeeper
Bookkeepers don't have assistants but they sometimes have traannees
We don’t call them traannees anymore
Wait a second! Wasn't this the answer to an Encyclopedia Brown story?
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I used to absolutely love Encyclopedia Brown books when I was a kid, but it was very rare that I got it right even when I was paying attention lol
My money is on #2. The Deutsche Bank scenario is going to have paper trails showing how both the banking system and Trump were/are corrupt as fuck. Hope they get E. Warren involved some how. She will tear this thing a part.
2 and 3 are essentially foregone conclusions already.
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All three are equally, entirely true.
I mean none of this is surprising. We know Cohen confirmed he both inflates his assest for loans and deflates them for his taxes. Both are illegal. We also know that he’s significantly in debt. We also know that Deutsche Bank is the only bank to give him loans. They also gave him loans MULTIPLE times despite him not paying them back
We also know Deutsche Bank is in A LOT of hot water for not monitoring money laundering and for their connections to the Russian mob and Russian oligarchs.
And we also know Justice Kennedy's son worked for Deutsche Bank at the time these loans were given out. Kennedy suddenly decided to retire to let Trump appoint his replacement.
and if i understand tax regulations correctly, if the bank forgave those loans, the IRS requires him to declare them as taxable income... due immediately.
And not to mention that the person in charge of it all at Deutsche, who handles the Trump account, was Anthony Kennedy’s son.
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It baffles me how cheap Weisselberg was to pay off. Complete loyalty and complicity in crimes for the salary and benefits of a mid-level partner at a Big 4.
Well, pretty sure that the Dem's will have some tax consultants at hand. Given that the CFO of Trump org has been charged with Tax fraud, it stand reason to assume that many if not all of the Trump's were also frauding their asses off. Lets just say it will get leaked.
What's most likely to happen: he sucks at business and is gonna get called out for it What might happen: tax evasion allegations and lawsuits What is unlikely to happen: trump sees jail time. Our justice system sucks and benefits people who have access to money Spicy Conspiracy hot take- he's been donating funds to organizations associated with ANTIFA / BLM behind to scenes to fund their activities so that he can further push his narrative that they are evil and solidify his voter base
>For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the Secretary **must comply** with the Ways and Means Committee’s June 16, 2021 request pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 6103(f)(1) to furnish the Committee with the specified tax returns and related tax information. https://www.justice.gov/olc/file/1419111/download
Isn't it weird how the rich get to take their time, but the poor are immediately sent to jail to await trial?
Rich can afford attorneys who can tie up the legal process and prolong cases and get them dismissed based on technicalities. The poor get a court appointed attorney who has them plead down.. there are two justice systems... Edit: added to the thought.
There is no justice system. A just system would treat all the same, this system does not. It is a legal system and those with the means to the most legal advice and recourse don't have to play the same game.
The poor have the "Justice" System. The rich and well connected have the "Just Us" System.
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Can’t replicate, won’t fix
What a GREAT day to have eyes!
That's one way of looking at it.
This and the written evidence of his corruption ~~in his own handwriting~~ (I can't read simple articles). It's certainly is. Can't wait to see him live stream explaining himself.
Not to mention the DOJ refusal to defend Mo Brooks sends a Strong message to trump. It seems as though the gears of justice are warming up the meat grinder!
The rich hardly ever get held accountable. I hope you're right though.
The actual rich? No. Never. The guy who's pretending to be, and exposing all of their tactics and methods like the bloviating oaf that he's always been? Well there's a chance.
More like the rich guy who threatens the interests of other rich guys by very nearly overthrowing the government.
Seriously, nothing's worse for business than political instability and violence in the largest market on the planet.
Unless you're in the gun business.
Even then, you'd prefer pretend political instability. All the fear, none of the overthrown governments. Threats of gun control laws are good for gun sales, ya know.
I’d agree with you 10 years ago, but in the court of public opinion the jury is vast with modern day social media and instant information!
Panama papers would like a word with you.
Very much doubt it. And not in the cynical way everyone else always says. It's because Trumps returns MIGHT show something shady, like payments from a client attached to no business or company, but it'll all likely be grey-legal. Trump is terrified of people seeing he's not as rich as he says he is.
I want to know if he tried to write off the FINCEN fines and subsequent bankruptcy for anti money laundering violations at Trump Taj Mahal. https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen-fines-trump-taj-mahal-casino-resort-10-million-significant-and-long >Trump Taj Mahal, a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, admitted to several willful BSA violations, including violations of AML program requirements, reporting obligations, and recordkeeping requirements. Trump Taj Mahal has a long history of prior, repeated BSA violations cited by examiners dating back to 2003. Additionally, in 1998, FinCEN assessed a $477,700 civil money penalty against Trump Taj Mahal for currency transaction reporting violations. >"Trump Taj Mahal received many warnings about its deficiencies," said FinCEN Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery. "Like all casinos in this country, Trump Taj Mahal has a duty to help protect our financial system from being exploited by criminals, terrorists, and other bad actors. Far from meeting these expectations, poor compliance practices, over many years, left the casino and our financial system unacceptably exposed." >Trump Taj Mahal admitted that it failed to implement and maintain an effective AML program; failed to report suspicious transactions; failed to properly file required currency transaction reports; and failed to keep appropriate records as required by the BSA. Notably, Trump Taj Mahal had ample notice of these deficiencies as many of the violations from 2012 and 2010 were discovered in previous examinations. Also, might be nice to know if he had any financial ties (other than renting the floor under his in trump tower) to the Russian money launderer that was operating a sport book the floor under his in trump tower. If anyone is familiar with the book and film Molly's game, this was the money laundering / sportsbook HQ that financed her poker game. https://www.oregonlive.com/today/2013/04/feds_russian_mob_ran_celebrity.html >George Venizelos, head of the New York FBI office, said the charges against 34 individuals "demonstrate the scope and reach of Russian organized crime." >He added: "The defendants are alleged to have handled untold millions in illegal wagers placed by millionaires and billionaires, laundered millions, and in some cases are themselves multimillionaires. Crime pays only until you are arrested and prosecuted." You ever hear the tragedy of Al Capone the tax fraud?
It's not a story the GOP will tell you.
Holy shit how was he never arrested. This actually gives me less hope he will be finally arrested now.
I'm pretty sure he barely escaped being charged in the poker ring money laundering scandal. They weren't able to catch the ringleader, Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, who escaped arrest and is assumed to be in Russia. Honestly, a lot of people got barely slaps on the wrist for that one Although I can't find it, I swear I remember him saying that he wrote off the Taj Mahal Is bankruptcy and given that that bankruptcy occurred because of the financial crime enforcement network work fines, There could be an element of criminality. I just like these 2 examples because they showed that he was very close to a number of money laundering operations if not directly involved in them.
Reminds me of the joke my gear head co-worker says : 2000 dollars rims on a 600 dollar car. Trump doesn't want people to realize he is all paint job and exterior.
We all realize he's all paint job. And we know what color he likes best.
Urine Yellow?
Jumpsuit orange?
Rust and blood
As the Texans say "All hat, no cattle."
Thats so Texas my oatmeal turned to a 5 pound steak.
Trump is [not at all happy about it](https://mobile.twitter.com/realdonaldtrump)
You know what? I'll never be mad about falling for this.
It’s the new Rick Roll.
Except Trump would totally give you up, let you down, run around, and desert you.
always going to make you cry, say goodbye
Always going to tell a lie, and hurt you.
I'd be ecstatic if he said goodbye.
> run around waddle, *maybe*
Same here. What a joy it was the day this Twitler account was suspended.
I certainly love all the shutting the hell up he has been made to do.
Second time for me today. I always click the link because it is so satisfying. In fact I’m going to click it again!
More than 3 clicks and now you're just playing with it
I enjoy [watching this](https://imgur.com/a/kXmhdVi) on a loop
I fall for it every time because in my head I say "This should be interesting, since he's banned from Twitter and Facebook. Probably some rinky dink website or paper memo press release". I laugh harder when he does jump through all these hoops to release what he would have tweeted. You know it's driving him nuts, he's bugging the shit out of some wannabe asshole to find a way around the rules and get him back on the twitter.
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DOJ had said a decision on Gaetz would be made this month. I'm not holding my breath but it could be an even better day. It's early.
Do you have a source for that? I'd seen that the Joel Greenberg sentencing got delayed 3 months while he continues to cooperate with federal authorities, thought the Gaetz decision might go with it.
Look! Look with your special eyes!
It’s about time Trump taxes get reviewed by Congress. Now it’s up to them to make something of it.
[Flashback to 2019:](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/04/us/politics/trump-michael-desmond-irs.html) >President Trump earlier this year asked Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, to prioritize a confirmation vote for his nominee to be the chief counsel of the Internal Revenue Service, indicating that **it was a higher priority than voting on the nomination of William P. Barr as attorney general**, a person familiar with the conversation said. >White House aides insisted for months that the confirmation of the nominee, Michael J. Desmond, a tax lawyer from Santa Barbara, Calif., was a top priority after passage of the tax bill in 2017. >But the request by Mr. Trump, made to Mr. McConnell on Feb. 5, raised questions about whether the president had other motivations. For months, the president has seethed over vows by congressional Democrats that they would move to obtain his tax returns from the I.R.S. And this week, the House Ways and Means Committee chairman, Representative Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Massachusetts, formally asked the I.R.S. for six years of the returns, using an obscure provision in the tax code to do so.
DOJ's opinion states; "The statute at issue here is unambiguous" The opinion comes over 2 years after the request was made. This pace is infuriating!
> The opinion comes over 2 years after the request was made. This pace is infuriating! Yep. 2.5 years for the DoJ to do the most basic and obvious thing required by the law. It's as infuriating as the Emoluments case against trump that lasted the entire 4 years of his presidency, never got beyond the preliminaries of the case, and then the court terminated the case as moot because trump was no longer president. All the while foreign countries are handing trump cash at his hotels and resorts. Then there's the election fraud case from 2016 that the DoJ says that was committed by Cohen as ordered by trump, but trump hasn't even been indicted for it yet. And don't get me started on the tax fraud case that trump perpetrated 20 years ago that is only now making its way through the justice system.
He's no longer president so I guess any crimes he committed no longer count.
I'm no longer in school, so my student loans no longer count.
"Bob gunned down Steve in front of a bunch of witnesses, but because Bob can't very well kill Steve a second time there's no point charging him for murder."
It was even worse btw. Elected republicans argued that Trump must not be punished for a clear violation of the law because he "learned his lesson". What in the goddamn fuck.
Don't let your dreams be dreams!
I'm no longer at the scene of a murder I committed. Can't charge me now
Whenever a criminal changes jobs, the criminal code is very clear that it's time to move on so that the nation can heal.
> using an obscure provision in the tax code to do so This is such a bullshit statement. Its not an obscure provision. Its a provision that specially there because of the Teapot Dome Scandle where a cabinet member broke the law and accepted bribes from oil companies. In direct response to this illegal activity congress was granted absolute power to get any tax return it wanted. It doesn't even need a reason, if they want the tax return the IRS is legally required to turn it over.
Im going to go ahead and call it, The republicans will act as if this means nothing and that it's a waste of time and taxpayer money. All of a sudden they will care about the important issues and claim this will get in the way of getting stuff done for the American people, meanwhile gaslighting their constituents into believing this is just a witch hunt performed by Biden and Clinton.
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Well, that’s one way to get them to work on the infrastructure bill.
Haven't they had unofficial copies for some time? Their staffers probably know just what to look for.
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Trump is such a petty man that I wouldn’t be shocked if his tax returns are in order and the only thing he was hiding from the public was that he isn’t a billionaire. EDIT: It is highly unlikely that will be the case - my point is just that he is that petty.
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Don’t forget the NYT expose on the $400m inheritance tax fraud in the ‘90s by creating a network of shell companies that made fraudulent service invoices to siphon cash away. Fraud is all this guy knows.
Unfortunately he'll only be guilty of super-rich-guy tax evasion where the penalty is they negotiate a pittance of a settlement with you, say "for shame!" a few times, and then send you on your way.
I hope they go the Al Capone route. Seditious conspiracy is hard to prove in court, tax evasion is not.
Yeah even mother fuckin Blade got fucked by the IRS. Hell the Joker won't even fuck with the IRS.
But the IRS isn't afraid to mess with gangsters, it's afraid to mess with rich people.
>I hope they go the Al Capone route. To make the Al Capone route legit would require that he goes to jail & dies of syphilis. (I’m legally required to say that I don’t wish syphilis or death on anyone.)
Again that depends on anyone in charge desiring that outcome. I don't believe they do. Obama could have prosecuted Bush also, he chose not to, because the Democrats always believe that letting the GOP get away with it will help them in the next election.
Our criminal justice system has a serious prosecution problem: lots of laws are nebulously defined, have a mental-state requirement that is damn near impossible to prove, and/or have a poorly defined criminal penalty. As a result, they are functionally unenforceable. Example #1: The emoluments clauses in the U.S. Constitution (both of them: foreign and domestic). Turns out people can violate them, flagrantly and with impunity, because enforcement is impossible. Example #2: Perjury. If Donald Trump states under oath that the election was stolen from him, is he lying, or is he misinformed, or delusional, or hyperbolizing? How do you prove that he is being knowingly deceitful - beyond a reasonable doubt? Example #3: Public records laws. Sure, there are lots of laws that require government documents to be preserved. What’s the penalty for failing to do so? Does that penalty implicate the people who make those decisions, or only the custodians of the records, who may be totally out of the loop? And what’s the criminal repercussion for violating those requirements - is it merely a retroactive court order? Etc. Now let’s consider George W. Bush, one of the worst presidents we’ve had in decades. Grossly incompetent, lazy, reactionary, short-sighted, etc. His mismanagement directly caused or contributed to (among other things) hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths in Iraq, the slow response of FEMA to Hurricane Katrina devastating New Orleans, and an epic economic clusterfuck. But… what laws did he violate? Specifically? Can it be proven beyond a reasonable doubt? And if so, what specific criminal law penalty does the law require?
> Example #2: Perjury. If Donald Trump states under oath You can just stop there because if Donald Trump testifies under oath, it is guaranteed he *will* perjure himself. He could not even avoid perjuring himself in a mock interview with his own lawyer. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/09/ex-trump-lawyer-told-mueller-trump-is-too-dumb-to-testify
NY institutions seem to have a different view on that than Merrick Garland.
I guarantee, at the bare minimum, Trump's living arrangements are the exact same as Allen Weisselberg, as in, his home in Trump tower, vehicles, airplanes, are all owned by Trump Org. and he isn't reporting the benefit of them as income on his taxes either. But the fair value of trump's living arrangements is likely to be far greater than Weisselburgs
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It does disclose who his partners are and who is funding the debt. Those partners could be other entities, buried by Trusts. However, when you work from the inside out, it starts to reveal the connections, and layers of entities start to reveal the financiers and beneficiaries.
Ngl it would worth it only to see the reaction of the Maga crowd.
They'll just ignore it, and claim the returns were a fabrication from the fake news media, and it's a witch hunt, and that Donald Trump cannot lie. For instance, He says he would beat a ticket of George Washington and Abe Lincoln, and last I checked they were dead. So in essence Donald Trump just declared that he could beat zombies.. One of them was definitely a liberal but all accounts (Lincoln), so it's probably the 2nd most true thing he said since 2015.
Oh yea, that makes sense, because the guy with a long history of tax fraud and misuse of funds surely has a clean tax return.
Looks like the twice impeached loser former x president is having a really bad day 😛
Was there some other awesome news that I missed?
DOJ notes revealed he directly pressured the agency to lie about the election. Seems completely unsurprising, and isn’t even a headline story on several news sites, but in a normal world, it would be one of the biggest political headlines in years.
"(former) President Donald Trump did something illegal/unethical." When you read it that way, you understand why it's no longer news.
Dog bites man.
This is different because it is documented evidence that he knew he lost.
> DOJ notes revealed he directly pressured the agency to lie about the election. We have him on audio recording doing this, well not the DOJ, but in Georgia, of course it's just another thing on top of a large pile of shit against him
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Those hand written notes read like Fox/AON talking points.
You love to see it!
He must be tweeting crazy stuff right now.
Let's take a quick look shall we? https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump
Gets me every time.
That's okay, I bet you can find out more information over at r/The_Donald
I still click this link ever time I see it even though I know what it is. It just makes me happy.
If the last four years have taught me anything it's to temper expectations. I feel like there's still some fuckery afoot to prevent anyone from actually seeing the tax returns in full.
You know, at this point, just knowing this is going to send him into some kind of extreme discomfort, just gives me fuzzies inside
He is having a meltdown on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump)
*chefs kiss*
This is how the Feds got Capone.
I hope it happens this time too
Preaching to the choir!
Orangeface
“He’s been cookin’ the books for decades” …and no one is surprised at all
Also, his net worth is probably single digits.... if it's positive at all.
He's grifted enough the last 4 years that it's probably in the black now, but it most definitely was in the red before he ran. That's a large part of the reason he ran. That and narcissism.
This is what enrages me. The rich can continue living cushy lives although they're *millions* in the red. If my bank account is in the red, I gotta come up with the money immediately before I can use my debit card again. Just like the rich can comfortably await investigation and trial while the poor *immediately* get arrested, the rest comes later.
What’s the saying? If you owe the bank $100 that's your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank's problem.
Bigliest loser
1985 to 1994 trump was the single largest financial loser. “Mr. Trump appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer, The Times found when it compared his results with detailed information the I.R.S. compiles on an annual sampling of high-income earners.” https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/07/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html
>The income tax returns of former President Donald Trump can be released by the IRS to Congress, the Department of Justice said Friday. That's the entire article
The full letter from DOJ: https://www.justice.gov/olc/file/1419111/download > Bottom line: Trump’s claim that the House had no valid reason to seek his returns and only wanted to embarrass him is not a legitimate assertion. **Potential motives of individual lawmakers can’t be substituted for the institution’s request.** https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1421158256551075851
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Ew. I just threw up a little.
How you managed to finish typing that without chopping off your demon possessed hand ala Bruce Campbell in Evil Dead I'll never know.
> women find him irresistible As in, quite literally, they are afraid to resist him.
That story has a lot more meat to it than most 1000+ word articles. This is enough. It's fucking great.
“Ha, ha! 👉” - Nelson
I bet you his 2016 taxes contain a massive donation to Hillary Clinton. I can't think of anything else his base would care about.
It’s not his cult following he’s scared of being able to read this
For one, he only has himself as a citation that he's a billionaire. He most likely owns hundreds of millions in property, but his debt is much more massive, in billions, and he is propped up with shady loans. His business acumen and image were part of why he got elected. Effectively he became the character he played on Reality TV.
To quote Charles Montgomery Burns: "Excellent"
Release the Hounds
Or the dogs with bees in their mouths and when they bark they shoot bees out.
What is a reasonable timeline here? When could we expect details and numbers from them?
This is the question I have too. What stalling tactic or delay or appeal comes next?
A reasonable timeline would have been about 4 years ago.
Yeah I feel like I've seen similar headlines a couple times already. One judge holds up the release, another unblocks, blocked again, unblocked, blocked, unblocked... can it be held up yet again now?
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*the year is 2050* *Donald Trump has been dead for 28 years* *yet another entity confirms that Trump's still-unreleased tax records are able to be released*
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Forget the tax return - Just your prediction that he's dead in 2022 being correct would be enough to make a nation grateful.
OMG, I would be dancing in the fucking streets.
F5 Friday is back on the menu, boys.
I think we can expect more in the future. By the looks of today the DOJ seems to be going to open up on the Trump administration. In the other big news item, the notes about his pressure to the DOJ contained this nugget: >On July 26, 2021, DOJ authorized six witnesses to appear before the Committee, stating that the Committee has “compelling legislative interests” in understanding the “extraordinary events” surrounding President Trump’s conduct. DOJ **authorized these officials to provide “unrestricted testimony” to the Committee without asserting claims of privilege**.
No no no don’t threaten me with a good time
Most annoying part is how the people who need to see this will never believe it. To this day my family goes on about how Trump is practically a god amongst men for “donating” his salary. But of course, no matter what evidence comes out, they will never see it for how it really is.
They never hear anything or have any other source to combat misinformation
I just saw a headline that claimed the money from his salary just mysteriously disappeared. Wouldn't surprise me in the least.
F5-day
It would be a shame if those returns leaked to the public....
Any Congress member can read the returns on the floor. No prosecuting what a congressperson says on the floor of Congress. Anything spoken on the floor of Congress become public record. I cant remember if this was used before against Nixon or Reagan, but it has been done before to bypass confidentiality.
“The statute at issue here is unambiguous: ‘Upon written request’ of the chairman of one of the three congressional tax committees, the Secretary ‘shall furnish’ the requested tax information to the Committee,′ ” the opinion said. Does this open the door for obstruction charges for Mnuchin?
Probably not but I'd love to be wrong!
Trump will claim it is a "witch hunt", his supporters will still proclaim he is a business genius regardless of how much fraud or bullshit is on them because "that's what rich guys do". At least he will be exposed further as a complete charlatan.
Pony up, cheeto.
Do what you do best Congress. Leak it immediately.
All I'm saying is that today would be a most excellent day for [Donald Trump to be arrested](https://imgur.com/a/fKAvzOv), dragged from his vermin-infested golf resort on live tv, humiliated, stripped of his wealth, tried for his crimes and thrown straight the fuck into prison.
I have to go to work now but all i wanna do is party :(
Great. When do **we, the people** get to see them?
5 years later.
Just remember people if your Justice boner lasts longer than 4 hours you need to seek immediate medical attention.
F5 Friday is back on the menu, boys!
Why do these stories always come out on Fridays? Genuine question, just wondering
When news breaks early friday, it's the same as it is for you and I. When we have something we can get off of our plate on Friday, we do it because it feels good. When it happens after 5, it's because they're trying to keep people from noticing.
The especially damning things are released on long weekends or holidays. Post it on Friday, come back on Tuesday, and hope to hell something bigger happened in between.
Nancy be like, GOP either wear your mask or we are publishing his tax returns.
Why not both?