In falsehood-filled video, Trump voices worry about N.Y. investigations targeting his financesBy CHRIS SOMMERFELDTHe’s in a New York State of fright.
President Trump released a lengthy, falsehood-filled video on Wednesday in which he expressed worry about the various fraud investigations that await him in New York once he leaves office.
Trump spent the better part of the 46-minute video recycling his baseless claims about “fraud” in the 2020 election, but about halfway through the fact-challenged rant, the outgoing president went off on the myriad investigations that have shadowed his time in office.
“The investigations never stopped. They went on for four years, and I won them all, I beat them all. Russia, Russia, Russia, the impeachment hoax and so much more,” he said.
Apparently cognizant of the fact that he’ll be out of office on Jan. 20, Trump continued, “These same people that failed to get me in Washington have sent every piece of information to New York so they can try and get me there.”
The only New York prosecutor Trump called out by name was State Attorney General Letitia James, who’s investigating the president and his namesake company over allegations that he inflated and deflated his assets to secure illegal tax breaks and bank loans.
“The New York attorney general who recently ran for office campaigned without knowing me, stating we will join with law enforcement and other attorneys general across this nation in removing this president from office. I never met her,” the Queens-born president said. “All it’s been is a big investigation in Washington and New York and any place else that can investigate.”
James fired back within minutes.
“Unlike the president and the unfounded accusations he hurled today, we are guided by the facts and the law, and the politics stop at the door. Period,” the state AG said in a statement.
James isn’t the only New York prosecutor Trump has to worry about, though.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, Jr., has signaled in court papers that he’s investigating Trump and his company over various bank, insurance and tax fraud allegations that span decades.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, meanwhile, named Trump in court papers as a conspirator in a criminal pre-2016 election hush money scheme, in which ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen paid off women who were threatening to go public with allegations about extramarital trysts with the soon-to-be president.
Trump’s concerns about New York comes as he’s reportedly mulling whether to issue preemptive pardons for his three adult children, son-in-law and personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. Trump — who won’t be protected from prosecution once he’s no longer president — has also been rumored to be considering a pardon for himself.
However, unlike the Cohen-linked hush money probe, the James and Vance investigations involve state crimes, which cannot be pardoned, preemptively or otherwise.
In an apparent effort to rally his supporters, Trump said the web of investigations are meant “to take, not me, but us down.”
“That’s what they want to do,” he said. “
We can never let them do that.”
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