The bad news for former United States President Donald Trump has not stopped coming since he announced his candidacy for the Republican Party’s nomination for the 2024 elections just 15 days ago.
Last week, in fact, he suffered a series of setbacks, both political and judicial, that could have a high impact on his intentions to return to the White House one day.
On Tuesday, for example, a jury in New York City found two of his companies (Trump Corp. and Trump Payroll Corp.) guilty of 17 criminal counts of tax evasion and document forgery under a scheme that , according to the Prosecutor’s Office, had the objective of defrauding the authorities.
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The decision also affects two of its highest executives: Allen Weisselberg, the head of Finance, and the comptroller Jeffrey McConney, who will be sentenced next January, when the fine that the companies will have to pay will be set.
During the trial, prosecutors showed that for more than 15 years the companies “donated” to top executives luxurious apartments, cars and even money for university tuition that were later not reported on their tax returns.
The former US president, it is worth clarifying, was not one of the defendants in this criminal proceeding. In fact, Weisselberg insisted that while his actions benefited the company financially, the ultimate motivation was his own enrichment.
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A jury found two of his companies (Trump Corp. and Trump Payroll Corp.) guilty of 17 counts of tax evasion.
Despite this, prosecutors suggested at various points in the trial that Trump was aware of the company’s maneuvers to evade taxes. And they made it clear, in turn, that the trial was only the first salvo in a process that may have the former president as the final target.
“Trump explicitly sanctioned this fraud. This whole narrative that he had no idea and that they were just corrupt employees in his service is totally false, ”said Joshua Steinglass, another of the prosecutors in the case.
The verdict also seems to be just a taster of what could come against the former president in judicial terms. In September, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a civil lawsuit against Trump himself, three of his children, and Weisselberg, accusing them of manipulating their property values to obtain tax benefits and better terms on bank loans. and insurance policies.
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Trump explicitly sanctioned this fraud. This narrative that he had no idea (…) is totally false
If found guilty, they could be forced to pay more than $250 million in fines. But even more serious, the prosecution also seeks to veto the company from future business in the state of New York.
At the same time, Trump is being investigated for the alleged illegal theft of classified material when he left the White House and, in another case in Georgia, for his possible intervention to alter the results of the presidential elections in that state.
Likewise, there is another ongoing investigation that seeks to determine if he played an active role in the violent takeover of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters tried to block the legislative certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
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The former president is also being investigated for his role in the assault on the Capitol in 2021.
Photo:
EFE / EPA / JIM LO SCALZO
In other words, his presidential campaign will be accompanied by investigations by authorities throughout the country who are looking at him on various fronts. Something that will likely be exploited not only by his Democratic rivals, but by Republican candidates who aspire to unseat him.
But his entanglements don’t stop there. The controversy still fresh for having invited representatives of far-right white nationalist groups to his residence in Mar-a-Lago –something that was condemned by his party leadership-, Trump unleashed another great controversy by saying that the US Constitution Perhaps the US should be “abolished” to reinstate it in the Oval Office.
This as a result of documents published by Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, according to which the social network “vetoed” information that could have affected Biden’s candidacy.
Despite this, Musk’s “revelation” ended up being more of a “balloon”, since it only showed that the content moderators blocked the publication of an article for 24 hours (Facebook did the same), while its veracity was verified.
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In that light, his comments on the Constitution were widely criticized on both sides of the political spectrum where concerns were raised about his anti-democratic tendencies and his obsession with the results of the 2020 elections, where he lost by more than eight million votes and 100 votes to the College. Electoral.
“If you’re one of these people who is interested in a candidacy, then without a doubt this is an opportunity to show contrast (to what Trump is offering),” said John Thune, the Republican Party’s number one in the Senate, in a clear invitation to possible contenders.
Republicans failed to win a majority in the Senate and have partly blamed former President Trump.
And on Wednesday another piece of news was confirmed that also leaves the former president in a bad light and contributes to the narrative of those who seek to distance the party from its shadow. In Georgia, Senator Raphael Warnock handily defeated Trump’s handpicked candidate, Hershel Walker, for the second time.
That victory gives Democrats a 51-49 majority in the Senate. Something that allows them to head all the committees, speed up judicial nominations and protect Biden from the maneuvers of the House of Representatives that did pass into Republican hands in the last elections.
We had very bad candidates -to put it mildly- and Donald Trump is primarily responsible for that
Many attribute the double defeat -and others that the party conceded- to Trump himself for imposing very extreme candidates or without political experience. Which, they say, cost them control of the Upper House when they had everything to win. Since then the recriminations have not stopped.
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“We had very bad candidates – to put it mildly – and Donald Trump is primarily responsible for that. We already know how this ended,” said Republican Senator Patrick Toomey, one of those who insists that the party must move away from the former president or he will not return to power.
And while Trump remains preferred by the Republican base, his support continues to fall. A new Yougov poll gives him 33 percent of the favoritism to the 30 percent that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis already gets. And that was before the developments of the previous week became known, which could undoubtedly sink him further.
SERGIO GOMEZ MASERI
EL TIEMPO correspondent
Washington
On Twitter: @sergom68
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