I waited for my retirement… The 檢 blade aimed at Trump’striped’

Former US President Donald Trump’s term ended at noon on the 20th (local time). At the same time One of the enormous powers of the U.S. president, the’immunity privilege’, also disappeared.

As if the time has come, movements to prosecute former President Trump are also appearing everywhere. Trump is already under suspicion in a number of ways, from sexual scandals in the past to the’incitement of civil wars’ that led to a second impeachment crisis.

In the history of the United States, no former president has been criminally prosecuted. Former President Richard Nixon, who resigned in the Watergate Incident, was also pardoned by his successor, former President Gerald Ford. It follows a tradition that values ​​peaceful transfer of power. The problem is that Trump himself broke this tradition.

If former President Trump is prosecuted by investigative authorities, this could be another first record for Trump, who has worn various’first’ modifiers.

The first investigative agency that Trump is likely to encounter is the Manhattan District Prosecutor in New York City, which is investigating various suspicions such as the Trump Group’s financial fraud and tax evasion. New York is Trump’s hometown and where he has been in the real estate business for a long time.

Cyrus Vance, the chief prosecutor of the Manhattan District Prosecutors’ Office in New York, is aiming for former President Trump. In 2016, while investigating the “sex scandal silence”, the trump group’s tax evasion situation was captured and the investigation network expanded. The alleged sexual scandal was a case in which Michael Cohen, a former private lawyer of Trump, paid a large sum in 2016 to former pornographic actors alleging “extramarital relations” with former President Trump, and the Manhattan District Prosecutor’s Office investigated it.

In the process, the Manhattan District Prosecutors’ Office was reported to have captured the Trump Group’s tax evasion situation while looking at how they accounted for the large amount of silence.

According to the Associated Press, etc. Attorney Vance summoned Cohen to investigate on the 14th.. According to sources, the Cohen investigation centered on the Trump Group’s business dealings, especially the close relationship with Deutsche Bank, which has lent large sums to the Trump Group since the 1990s. Former President Trump is under suspicion of getting more loans to banks and insurance companies, including Deutsche Bank, by inflating assets or filing false financial statements.

The Manhattan District Prosecutor’s Office has been accelerating the investigation since last year’s presidential election. Last month, the Washington Post reported that they hired an accountant to get advice on Trump Group investigations. To find out if certain assets were manipulated to package illegal transactions and receive tax breaks.

In the same month, they summoned employees of companies that had a loan relationship with the Trump Group, such as Deutsche Bank and insurance brokerage Aeon, to investigate. According to the New York Times (NYT), who reported this, the employees summoned to the Manhattan District Prosecutors’ Office were experts in the bank’s guarantee review process.

Attorney Vance, who entered this month, recently requested three local governments in New York State to submit data on the Trump Group’s real estate, known as Seven Springs. This is to uncover allegations that the Trump Group received undue tax benefits by inflating land appraisers in the process of receiving tax credits on the land.

The Manhattan District Prosecutor’s Office is also in a court battle over filing financial information with Trump. Capturing the tax evasion situation, the Manhattan District Prosecutor’s Office requested the Trump Group’s eight-year tax payment details from Majas, an accounting firm, in 2019, but the former President Trump rejected this by advocating’the president’s immunity privilege’. Eventually, it led to a court case, and in October last year, the Federal Appeals Court raised the hand of the Manhattan District Attorney. However, Trump has appealed to the Supreme Court and continues to refuse to submit data.

However, the Bloomberg news agency reported on the 21st (local time) that the Manhattan District Prosecutors’ Office secured some of the Trump Group’s tax payments through sources other than the Marsas corporation. Bloomberg quotes an anonymous official “Prosecutor Vance’s investigation has made significant progress while securing information supporting the Trump Group’s charges of tax evasion,” he said.

Local media reported the move of the Manhattan District Prosecutor’s Office from time to time and reported that it was “a move to prosecute Trump”. In addition, it is analyzed that if former President Trump is charged with tax evasion or other charges, he may face long-term imprisonment under state law.

Georgia could also be prosecuted in Georgia, where he was a Republican garden and then raised President Joe Biden’s hand in the last presidential election. On the 2nd, he was charged with calling Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Rapansperger and encouraging a fraudulent election investigation. At the time, former President Trump pressured Minister Rapanspurger, saying, “Get 12,000 votes back,” and the transcript was reported, causing controversy.

According to NYT on the 18th Fanny Willis, attorney at Fulton County, Georgia, is weighing the possibility of an investigation into former President Trump. Fulton County is the state’s largest county, where former President Trump claims that elections are a key area of ​​rigging.

Georgia State Council member David Willie also said that if the Georgia State Council does not investigate by next month, the matter will be brought directly to Prosecutor Willis. Earlier, Prosecutor Willis also issued a statement saying, “If the case is filed, the law will be enforced without fear or favor.”

Georgia State State law that prohibits the solicitation of crimes to commit fraudulent elections. However, if the other party makes a request, order, or solicitation to engage in illegal election activities, the person who makes the request may be punished as a Level 1 or Level 2 crime. If you are prosecuted for a first-degree crime, you can be punished by imprisonment for not less than 1 year and not more than 3 years.

NYT explained, “If the investigation proceeds, it will be the second criminal investigation after New York State as a state-level crime that does not qualify for pardon.

Reporter Seok Kyung-min [email protected]