‘Very Real Chance’ Donald Trump Goes To Prison As Financial Investigation Intensifies

Two and a half months after leaving the White House, Donald Trump is, among other things, planning retaliation in 2024 for his role as leader of the free world from the comfort of his resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

But if the ex-president’s mounting legal troubles are something to go through, there is a “very real possibility” that he will head to jail instead.

In addition to being the defendant in no fewer than 29 lawsuits, according to The Washington Post, the 74-year-old is also the subject of multiple criminal investigations, including one in which lawyers have gained access to his tax returns after four years. year, Trump fights to keep them a secret.

The investigation into whether he has committed bank, tax and insurance fraud has increased somewhat in recent weeks, after the personal bank records of the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, were cited.

“Mr. Weisselberg, who has not been accused of wrongdoing, has overseen the finances of the Trump Organization for decades and may be the key to any possible criminal case in New York against the former president and his family business,” wrote journalists from The New York Times. on Wednesday.

People with knowledge of the matter also told The Times that prosecutors are seeking a new round of internal documents from the Trump Organization to “compare those details. [of each Trump property’s financial situation] against the information that the company provided to its lenders and local tax authorities to assess whether it misled them fraudulently. “

While Trump is likely not going to jail for “the rest of his life,” it is “quite likely” that if proven guilty of insurance and bank fraud, it could “lead to criminal charges and that would lead to a jail sentance”. Daily Beast legal analyst Jay Michaelson said in late February.

“If Trump committed any kind of crime, even if they are, you know, some kind of ordinary business crimes, if he died, it is important that there is not a culture of impunity in this country, that there must be a message sent that there are consequences, no matter how rich and important you are, if you break the law, “Jane Mayer told Terry Gross, chief Washington correspondent for The New Yorker.

But, Mayer added, people he has spoken to who know Trump are skeptical that he will ever serve a prison sentence, predicting instead that he would “run away.”

“It’s hard to know what to expect. But it’s … for me, anyway, it’s hard for me to really look at him in orange jumpsuit on, you know, Rikers Island,” he said.

“I think there is an absolute possibility that he could face serious charges and be convicted. I mean, this is not a joke.”

In addition to the criminal investigation, Trump was also sued this week by two Capitol Police officers, who fought the enraged mob the former president was accused of “inciting” on January 6.

In a federal lawsuit, Officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby seek damages for the physical and emotional injuries they sustained during the violent insurrection.

“The insurrectionary mob, which Trump had inflamed, encouraged, incited, directed, aided and abetted, broke through the plaintiffs and their fellow officers, pursuing and attacking them in and out of the United States Capitol, and causing the injuries . “the lawsuit reads, according to The Washington Post.

“Officer Hemby was relentlessly attacked. He was bleeding from a cut located less than an inch from his eye. He had cuts and abrasions on his face and hands and his body was pinned against a large metal door, preventing attacks.”

Officer Blassingame, who is Black, faced “endless threats and attacks” from the mob, and “it was not clear to him on January 6 that he would survive to get home.”

Trump also faces multiple defamation lawsuits, including that of writer E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of sexually assaulting her at Bergdorf Goodman in late 1995 or early 1996, only for him to deny his allegations and claim he was lying to increase the charges. sales of a book. .

Another, involving former trainee contestant Summer Zervos, was given the green light to move forward after Trump’s lawyers tried to have him removed because he was the president.

Zervos came forward in the run-up to the 2016 election, claiming that Trump touched and kissed her without her consent in 2007. In 2017, she sued him for defamation after he denied her allegations and called her story a “hoax. “.

“Now that he is a private citizen, the defendant has no more excuses to delay the justice of Ms. Zervos, and we are eager to return to the trial court and prove his claims,” ​​a Zervos attorney, Beth Wilkinson, told The Wall Street Journal in a statement. statement.