Early in his criminal career, Trump got away with destroying documents he was ordered to produce in a lawsuit - and he has repeatedly gotten away with withholding documents.
All of that “success” lulled him into being unafraid of documenting his criminal tax evasion.
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After all, if you have always gotten away with shredding the evidence or simply not turning it over, you get a little overconfident about whether documents can hurt you.
From yesterday’s indictment, it appears the Trump Org. kept meticulous records of off-books tax evasions.
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And it appears those records have landed in prosecutors’ hands.
Trump’s businesses may be a labyrinthine tangle virtually impossible to pull apart…
but any jury can understand the very simple fraud of paying someone X but only reporting Y on their taxes.
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I thought these initial charges sounded somewhat minor in comparison to Trump’s overall criminality but there’s some strategic wisdom to opening the floodgates with simple, clear, slam-dunk charges.
Amps the pressure on Weisselberg up considerably, it would seem.
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It’s one thing to believe you’re looking at a long and complicated trial over charges a jury might have a hard time following.
It’s another thing to know you’re looking at a short trial, conviction and prison stay.
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And between the evidence prosecutors appear to have in their hands already and cooperation they seem to have lined up from Weisselberg’s #2, who’s to say they even need Weisselberg?
People may be underestimating the strength of the case against Trump even without Weisselberg.
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Someone “warned me” they would unfollow me if I killed the aggressive hornets that have stung me twice in my yard.
These aren’t honeybees. They are bald-faced hornets. They are very aggressive. They attack over almost nothing. Vibrations. Movement close to their hive.
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They actually remember faces.
When they sting, they leave a chemical summoning the hive to swarm.
They are dickheads.
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And they are nesting right next to where my neighbors’ boys have a soccer goal - and they are going to kick the ball into that bush at some point this summer.
The problem ain’t bees. I sit with bumble bees all around me on flowering bushes. I leave them alone; and vice versa.
Trump is leveraged to the hilt. His business is a house of cards built on debt he can’t afford to service.
One tiny push and he would suddenly have to hastily sell off assets in a fire sale… which would make all of his other loans suddenly even riskier to lenders.
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High-debt businesses reliant on constant access to credit can go down in flames surprisingly fast.
Happens with retail brands a lot. They eke by until it just implodes. Doesn’t matter how big the retail chain is. Once they are in a credit squeeze, it’s a steep spiral.
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