Legal threats and headaches that fuel Trump’s family and friends’ pleas for mercy

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Among the names Trump and his advisers have discussed as potential pardon recipients, CNN reported, include Trump’s three eldest children – Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. in the coming weeks, CNN reported , the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who has waged questionable legal battles in hopes of overturning the presidential election results.

Pardons for one of them or for the President himself would be preventive, as none of them has been convicted or charged with crimes. But all have faced various legal challenges, and at least one, Giuliani, has recently been the subject of a federal criminal investigation.

Giuliani has denied discussing a forgiveness for himself with Trump.

The bigger question is whether Trump will seek to forgive himself, as he faces a range of possible legal issues that are likely to escalate once he steps down and relinquishes the protections of his post.
The most serious threat to Trump is a criminal investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney into the financial functioning of the Trump organization, an investigation that would not be affected by a presidential pardon.

Prosecutors have suggested in court documents that the investigation could examine whether Trump and his company engaged in insurance fraud, criminal tax evasion and falsification of business records.

Another potential case Trump is facing is the possible resumption of the federal investigation into what prosecutors in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office said was his directive to his former attorney Michael Cohen to violate campaign finance law in Canada. paying silent money to women who alleged previous affairs with Trump during the 2016 election cycle. (Trump has denied having any dealings with them.)

During Cohen’s prosecution, prosecutors cited the president as “Individual 1” in the papers charge, but did not prosecute Trump himself due to an opinion from the ministry’s legal counsel’s office. of Justice according to which a president in office cannot be indicted.

The Biden administration’s Justice Department, however, may choose to reconsider Trump’s role once he leaves office.

A wild card is what would happen to a decade-long civil tax audit conducted by the IRS, which reports to the Treasury Department, and whether it could be forwarded under a Biden administration to the Department of Justice for review. According to the New York Times, the IRS is considering a tax credit of $ 72.9 million claimed by Trump.
Trump’s three oldest children have faced various legal entanglements. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team declined to prosecute Donald Trump Jr. and other campaign members on campaign finance charges for attending the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, in part because ‘they couldn’t prove they had broken the law.

Kushner also attended the meeting, along with Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman. Manafort was convicted of federal crimes, but he did not cooperate with the Mueller investigation. He is serving a seven-year prison sentence. CNN reported that he was among the names Trump was considering securing a pardon.

Ivanka Trump has not surfaced in any federal investigation, but her name appeared recently in the Manhattan grand jury investigation.

State prosecutors sent subpoenas to the Trump Organization following a New York Times investigation into President Trump’s tax returns, which first revealed he took $ 26 million. dollars in write-offs from fees he paid to consultants, including an apparent fee of $ 747,000 that the Times said corresponded to a payment disclosed by Ivanka Trump. There is no indication that Ivanka herself, who described the investigation as “harassment”, is being investigated.
She also took into account a civilian investigation into the inaugural presidential committee, which is headed by the Washington attorney general, for abuse of nonprofit funds. On Tuesday, it was filed in connection with this trial, according to a court file.

The attorney general sued the committee and the Trump Organization earlier this year, alleging that the committee wasted more than $ 1 million by “grossly overpaying” for event space at the Trump Hotel in Washington. Ivanka Trump was warned of the costs by one of the organizers, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, according to the lawsuit. Ivanka has not been named as an accused.

Eric Trump was sworn in as part of a civil investigation by the New York State Attorney General’s office to determine whether the Trump organization defrauded tax authorities or lenders by inflating the value of certain active.

Ivanka Trump’s husband Kushner came under close scrutiny for providing false information about his foreign contacts when applying for a security clearance, but President Trump still issued him one .

As for Giuliani, federal prosecutors in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office have been investigating him along with businessmen Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman since early last year as part of their efforts to oust the U.S. ambassador. then, Marie Yovanovitch, and initiate investigations by the country into Democratic presidential rival of Trump, Joe Biden, and his son Hunter.

After Parnas and Fruman were indicted in October 2019, the investigation extended to Giuliani, and prosecutors sent subpoenas to political donors and fundraisers to question them about any business dealings they had. had with the former mayor of New York or his company Giuliani Partners.

In September, however, prosecutors laid a series of additional charges against Giuliani’s associates who removed a reference in the original indictment to Yovanovich’s ouster, which leaves it unclear whether that element of the survey is still active.

Yet in recent weeks, FBI agents in New York have questioned witnesses about Giuliani’s efforts in Ukraine and possible links to Russian intelligence, CNN reported. Agents asked about the origin of the Hunter Biden-related emails and documents that appear to be similar to those the New York Post reported that Giuliani and others helped deliver.

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