New York prosecutors have convened a special grand jury to consider the evidence in Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.’s investigation into alleged criminal activities on behalf of Republican former President Donald Trump. According to the Associated Press, the grand jury will consider whether to bring an indictment on a variety of issues, including hush-money payments, property appraisals, and employee remuneration.
The trump company/organization may have also illegally compensated employees in order to avoid paying taxes. Trump’s attempt to prevent Vance from seeing eight years of his tax returns was rejected by the Supreme Court in February. Trump had previously attempted to keep his tax records hidden through legal means. Vance hasn’t revealed anything that he discovered from the tax returns.
During that time, Trump also called the Supreme Court’s decision a “continuation of the greatest political Witch Hunt in the history of our country.” Trump also added that “The Supreme Court never should have let this ‘fishing expedition’ happen, but they did,” and “This is something which has never happened to a President before, it is all Democrat-inspired in a totally Democrat location, New York City and State, completely controlled and dominated by a heavily reported enemy of mine, Governor Andrew Cuomo.”
Vance’s criminal investigation has been going on for over two years. On May 18, New York Attorney General Letitia James revealed the existence of Vance’s investigation and in early 2019, James launched a civil investigation into Trump’s business dealings. And now, in Fulton County, Georgia, the former president is also being investigated for allegedly attempting to rig the state’s 2020 election results.
The Trumps could face civil charges that require them to pay fines or make payments to those who have been harmed. Fines or other judicial penalties, such as prison time, may be imposed as a result of criminal charges.
