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What NY prosecutors can learn from Trump’s tax returns
Now that the Supreme Court has cleared the way for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance to obtain former President Donald Trump’s tax returns, a Democratic grand jury investigation into Trump’s business affairs could turn up new evidence that he lied to lenders or tax officials.
Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, is supposed to turn over draft and final versions of the 45th president’s tax returns and financial statements, CNN reported. Vance also is seeking raw financial data, work papers and communications between the firm and Trump representatives that show how the raw data was analyzed.
The news network said examining those documents could be key to determining any disparities in the information Trump or his companies gave tax authorities and other officials like banks and business partners about his income.
GOP wrestles with the post-Trump future
Two months into the Biden presidency, Republican party leaders are split on what direction the party should move. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the eve of the Jan. 6 insurrection that the pro-Trump mob was “provoked by the president,” and former Vice President Mike Pence later skipped Trump’s departure ceremony to attend Biden’s inauguration.
But Sens. Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson and others continued parroting Trump’s claims of electoral fraud up until inauguration day. Sen. Lindsey Graham, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve Scalise later visited Mar-a-Lago amid an ongoing feud between pro-Trump and Never Trump party members in the Biden era.
Inauguration sows seeds of doubt in QAnon believers
President Biden’s inauguration may have disappointed believers of the QAnon conspiracy alleging that a global cabal run by leftist pedophiles would face a reckoning known as “the storm,” but the truest among the believers are not abandoning the false theory yet.
The latest reporting by CNN, Newsweek and Salon suggests Q’s followers now believe former President Donald Trump will be inaugurated March 4. That falsehood arose from U.S. history: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president, was the last to be sworn in on March 4, in 1933. FDR changed the official date to Jan. 20 for his second inauguration in 1937.
Nevertheless, almost 5,000 National Guard troops will remain in Washington through March 12 to address concerns of violence from the QAnon crowd. U.S. Capitol Police requested the troops stay in Washington hoping to avoid a repeat of the failed Jan. 6 insurrection.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did confirm, however, that there is no specific or credible threat at this time. Beyond March, law enforcement officials in the nation’s capital are concerned about security around Biden’s joint address to Congress.
Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, called the pro-Trump conspiracy group “dangerous,” as the party continues dealing with its defeat in 2020 and would not encourage Trump himself to run again for the White House in 2024.
McDaniel stopped short of denouncing Trump as a viable leader for the party’s future though, saying the GOP would remain “neutral” in its next presidential primary, according to AP. She added that she would like to see Trump help Republicans win back majorities in the 2022 midterm elections.
Georgia GOP moves to reduce vote-by-mail
Republicans in Georgia’s state senate have proposed reductions to absentee voting by mail after relentless false claims by Trump and his allies. State election officials there have confirmed there was no widespread fraud in voting by mail or any other irregularities that could have changed the 2020 election results.
The same Republican Party introduced no-excuse absentee voting in Georgia in 2005 through a GOP-controlled legislature. Democrats, however, cast nearly twice as many absentee ballots as Republicans in 2020. Georgia Republicans now are supporting bills that would restrict who can vote absentee by mail, require a photo ID for those who do not vote absentee, ban ballot drop boxes and block outside groups from sending out absentee ballot applications, AP reported.
Other GOP-backed proposals include ending automatic voter registration when obtaining a driver’s license and banning new residents from voting in runoff elections. Not all Republicans are on board with every new idea: House Speaker David Ralston said in January that he was not convinced the state should do away with no-excuse absentee voting.
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