A Democratic group is accusing Trump of violating campaign-finance laws by refusing to officially declare his 2024 presidential run now
American Bridge, a Democratic-aligned super PAC, filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Monday.In November, Summer Zervos, who had accused Trump of sexual assault following her appearance on "The Apprentice," dropped her lawsuit against him before he was forced to sit for a deposition. At around the same time, a New York state judge dismissed a lawsuit from Michael Cohen seeking to have the Trump Organization reimburse his legal fees for work he did on Trump's behalf.
© Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images A watchdog group alleged in a lawsuit that Trump's 2020 campaign laundered spending through an outside firm tied to Jared Kushner. Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images - A complaint accuses Trump's presidential campaign of hiding its spending.
- The Campaign Legal Center said the FEC has failed to respond.
- The group said other candidates — including Trump — could follow his 2020 campaign's example.
For nearly two years, federal election regulators have failed to respond to allegations that Donald Trump's campaign skirted disclosure requirements by laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in spending through firms closely tied to the former president, a watchdog group said in a court filing Tuesday.
US Senate candidate Mo Brooks blames Mitch McConnell after Trump pulls his endorsement
Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama blames Mitch McConnell over former President Donald Trump pulling his Senate race endorsement."It's disappointing that, just like in 2017, President Trump lets Mitch McConnell manipulate him again. Every single negative TV ad against our campaign has come from McConnell and his allies," Brooks said in a statement. "I wish President Trump wouldn't fall for McConnell's ploys, but, once again, he has.
In a 16-page complaint filed in federal district court, the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center said the Federal Election Commission has abdicated its duty to investigate claims that the Trump campaign routed funds through two firms — American Made Media Consultants and Parscale Strategy — to conceal its spending in the 2020 presidential election.
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2022 is shaping up to be a legal nightmare for Trumpworld. Here's a timeline of upcoming court cases and legal obstacles.
- Donald Trump and his allies are facing a flurry of legal challenges this year.
- Investigations into his company's finances are ongoing, along with others related to January 6.
- Here are the dates to watch out for this year.
Former President Donald Trump has had a number of surprising legal victories ever since he left the White House — though his greatest potential battles are still looming.
A top prosecutor who abruptly left the Manhattan DA's office said in his resignation letter there's 'no doubt' that Trump committed 'numerous' felonies
Mark Pomerantz, one of two Manhattan DA prosecutors who resigned last month, said in his resignation letter that not holding Trump accountable is a "grave failure of justice.""The team that has been investigating Mr. Trump harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes — he did," the prosecutor, Mark Pomerantz, said in his resignation latter, according to The Times.
In November, Summer Zervos, who had accused Trump of sexual assault following her appearance on "The Apprentice," dropped her lawsuit against him before he was forced to sit for a deposition. At around the same time, a New York state judge dismissed a lawsuit from Michael Cohen seeking to have the Trump Organization reimburse his legal fees for work he did on Trump's behalf.
But greater dangers loom. The Trump Organization is the subject of a sprawling investigation from the Manhattan district attorney's office and the New York attorney general's office into alleged financial misconduct.
In Atlanta, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is weighing charges over his conduct in the 2020 election. Those investigations are proceeding as the Justice Department comes up on the five-year deadline to prosecute Trump over acts of possible obstruction that former Special Counsel Robert Mueller III scrutinized as part of his investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election.
Trump files grievance-filled lawsuit accusing Hillary Clinton and Democrats of carrying out an 'unthinkable plot' to tie his campaign to Russia
The lawsuit makes a number of misleading claims about Hillary Clinton and the Russia probe and recycles Trump's grievances about Mueller.Calling it an "unthinkable plot," the legal complaint alleges that Clinton and other defendants — including her 2016 campaign advisors, the Democratic National Committee, and former DOJ and FBI officials — conspired to fabricate evidence tying him to "a hostile foreign sovereignty.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is sending a steady stream of Trump's White House records to the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. And Trump — along with many of his allies — face federal investigations and lawsuits stemming from the January 6 insurrection. Expect the judges in those cases to set court dates later this year.
While Trump mulls whether to run for president again in 2024, 2022 is shaping up to be a year of legal headaches for the former president and his associates. Here's a timeline of the threats Trumpworld faces.
Read the original article on Business Insider
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February
February 9 — A Florida collectibles dealer linked to the federal sex-trafficking investigation into GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz pleaded guilty to drug charges and conspiracy to commit fraud. Gaetz is an outspoken Trump ally who has remained close to people in the former president's orbit.
Joe Ellicott, known as "Big Joe," was named in a December 2020 grand jury subpoena that also listed Gaetz and former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, who agreed to cooperate with federal authorities as part of a guilty plea in which he admitted to sex trafficking and other charges. The 2020 subpoena said the grand jury is investigating alleged crimes "involving commercial sex acts with adult and minor women, as well as obstruction of justice," Politico reported.
A federal judge called out John Durham's prosecutors for creating a 'sideshow' with a court filing that sent Trumpworld into a frenzy
The judge questioned prosecutors over why they included certain details in the filing, later adding, "I don't know why the information is in there."At the center of the hearing was a conflict-of-interest motion that Durham's office filed in its ongoing case against the former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann.
Like Greenberg, Ellicott has been cooperating with prosecutors in the Gaetz investigation for months. His guilty plea requires him to "cooperate fully with the United States in the investigation and prosecution of other people," according to court documents.
February 15 — A Washington, D.C., court said the D.C. attorney general's lawsuit against Donald Trump's 2017 inaugural committee will go to trial in September.
In November, Trump notched a partial win when the judge dismissed part of the suit, but other elements of the case — such as the attorney general's claim that the committee illegally misused funds — will be moving forward. But on February 15, another judge reversed that decision, reinstating the Trump Organization as a defendant.
February 28 — More than a year after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, the first trial stemming from the January 6 insurrection is set to start in the case of a Texas man accused of attacking police and carrying a firearm.
Guy Reffitt was charged with civil disorder, obstructing Congress' proceedings, and carrying a semiautomatic handgun to the Capitol. In court filings, federal prosecutors provided a glimpse into how the Justice Department will approach not just Reffitt's trial but others connected to the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Federal judge says it's 'likely' Trump committed a felony on January 6 while attempting 'to secure the Presidency by any means'
Trump's "campaign" to disrupt Congress' election certification "was not confined to the ivory tower — it was a coup in search of a legal theory," the ruling said.The determination came in a ruling ordering the conservative lawyer and Trump ally John Eastman to turn over more than 100 emails to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot.
Prosecutors are planning to call a Secret Service agent to testify about preparations for the congressional session to certify the Electoral College vote and former Vice President Mike Pence's visit to the Capitol with family members. The Justice Department also plans to call three police officers and an inspector with the Capitol police force, Monique Moore, who will testify about the January 6 attack's effect on the department.
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March
March 7 — Trump's lawyers pushed for months in federal courts to keep the Biden administration from turning over his White House records to the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol. At every turn, the former president lost, with the Supreme Court effectively rejecting his claim of executive privilege.
Now, with the National Archives and Records Administration already turning over documents, Trump is facing a decision of how — or whether — to proceed with his legal challenge.
An answer could come in early March. Just days after the Supreme Court declined to take up Trump's case, lawyers for the House and Biden administration asked to have until February 4 to make their latest response to the former president's legal arguments. The Justice Department and House later asked for an extension to March 7.
In light of the Supreme Court decision and subsequent product of records to the House committee, the lawyers said they had agreed that the best course was to extend the deadline so that Trump "can determine his next steps."
Federal prosecutors are zeroing in on a single Trump tweet that may have been the catalyst for right-wing extremists to join the Capitol riot
The December 2020 tweet announced Trump's January 6, 2021 rally outside the Capitol and urged supporters: "Be there, it will be wild!""Big protest in D.C. on January 6th," Trump tweeted on December 19. It was the first time he announced the "Save America" rally, which took place at the Ellipse in Washington, DC, less than two miles from the US Capitol. "Be there, will be wild!" the tweet said.
March 10 — Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump must all sit for depositions for a civil investigation brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James into the Trump Organization's finances. A New York State Supreme Court Judge ordered them to comply with the attorney general's subpoena in February over the Trump family's objections.
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April
April 4 — The second special grand jury empaneled by the Manhattan district attorney's office in its criminal investigation into the Trump Organization's finances is set to wrap up by this date. Another indictment in the investigation — or decision from prosecutors to not indict — could come shortly afterward.
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May
May 2 — Jury selection is scheduled to begin in a trial regarding a civil lawsuit brought by a group of protesters against the Trump Organization. The protesters sued in 2015, alleging the company's security guards roughed them up during a demonstration outside Trump Tower. A video of a deposition Trump was forced to take this past fall is expected to be shown at the trial as evidence.
May 2 — A special grand jury for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' investigation into Trump will be impaneled on May 2 and continue for up to 12 months. This announcement on Monday comes after Willis formally requested to have a special grand jury that would give her the subpoena power to obtain documents and compel witnesses to testify.
May 13— A federal judge has ordered the government to provide a status report on the cooperation of Joel Greenberg, a former Gaetz associate who has pleaded guilty to federal sex trafficking charges.
Greenberg could potentially be a key witness in the Justice Department investigation into Gaetz, one of Trump's most loyal supporters. He'd been scheduled to be sentenced in March but his attorney requested a delay while his client continues to answer federal investigators' questions.
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has been served with another defamation suit. This time, it's from a former Dominion employee he once accused of being a 'traitor to the United States of America.'
Eric Coomer — who Lindell once called a traitor to the US — is suing the pillow CEO's and his Frank Speech platform for "destroying" his life.Lawyers for Coomer, Dominion's former director of product strategy and security, filed a court complaint against Lindell on April 4 to kick off a defamation case against the pillow CEO and his platform, Frank Speech. Lindell was served with the lawsuit on April 5 at a mini-rally he hosted in Denver, Colorado, on behalf of indicted clerk Tina Peters.
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June
June — Willis told the Associated Press in January that she is expecting to decide whether to charge Trump in Fulton County, Georgia, by the first half of 2022.
June 29 — Litigants will get to see a copy of Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice" tapes. June 29 marks the deadline of discovery in a lawsuit brought by a group of people who say the Trump Organization pushed an alleged pyramid scheme.
While Trump, in "Celebrity Apprentice," vouched for the ACN Videophone, litigants are trying to figure out if other footage shot for the show demonstrated otherwise. ACN lost an attempt to bring the case to arbitration, and a jury trial is expected to be scheduled for late 2022 or 2023.
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July
July 7 — Prosecutors and Roger Stone, one of Trump's longtime political advisors, have to meet this deadline for a civil case in which the US Attorney's Office in Florida alleged Stone failed to pay $2 million in unpaid taxes, interest, and penalties.
July 12 — The New York State Supreme Court will hold a hearing in the Manhattan District Attorney's criminal case against the Trump Organization and its CFO Allen Weisselberg, who's become more marginalized within the company following the indictment from last July.
The status conference is expected to update the public on how Trump Organization lawyers are reviewing the 6 million pages of discovery material for the case, in which the Manhattan District Attorney's office alleges the company and executive dodged millions of dollars in taxes. The judge has also signaled he wants to hold a trial before the end of 2022.
July 18 — Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist, is expected to go on trial in Washington, D.C. Bannon is facing two criminal charges over defying a congressional subpoena. The Justice Department formally charged him in November 2021 after he refused to comply with a subpoena handed down from the House Select Committee that is investigating the January 6 riot.
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September
September 7 — Tom Barrack, the chairman of Trump's 2017 inaugural committee, is set to stand trial in September on charges he secretly acted as an agent of the United Arab Emirates.
Barrack was charged in July with using his access to Trump to advance the United Arab Emirates' foreign-policy goals and later misleading federal investigators about his activities in a 2019 interview.
The indictment of the top Trump fundraiser marked an escalation of the Justice Department's crackdown in recent years on covert foreign influence.
Barrack's legal team is headlined by Daniel Petrocelli, a partner at the law firm O'Melveny & Myers who previously represented Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling and, more recently, defended AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner Inc. against a Justice Department antitrust challenge.
September 26 — The Trump Organization and Donald Trump's 2016 inaugural fund are expected to go to trial for a lawsuit brought by Washington, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine alleging they misused nonprofit funds. A precise trial date has not been set.
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November
November 7 — Trump's longtime political advisor Roger Stone is scheduled to go to trial in federal court in Florida over allegations that he failed to pay $2 million in taxes, as well as interest and penalties for the unpaid sum.
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The Campaign Legal Center also alleged that the Trump campaign had failed to keep an "arm's length relationship" with American Made Media Consultants, citing Insider's reporting that Trump's son-in-law and close advisor, Jared Kushner, approved the firm's creation.
The nonpartisan watchdog group said that, to its knowledge, the FEC had taken no action in response to its July 2020 complaint with the agency or a supplement filed in January 2021.
"Accordingly, even as likely 2024 hopefuls — including former President Trump — are already beginning to lay the groundwork for presidential election campaigns, [Campaign Legal Center] and voters remain in the dark about how the Trump campaign spent its money in 2020," the nonprofit group's lawyers argued in the court filing.
The Campaign Legal Center's lawyers asked for a court order requiring the FEC to respond within 30 days. If the FEC does not act within 30 days, the lawyers said, federal election law allows the Campaign Legal Center to sue the Trump campaign to address the alleged violations.
The group said that the FEC's failure to enforce disclosure requirements undermines voters' ability to make informed decisions at the ballot box.
"Moreover, the commission's prolonged inaction in this matter encourages future campaigns — including any 2024 Trump presidential campaign — to seek to evade the Act's reporting requirements by similarly laundering payments through a small number of reported vendors," Campaign Legal Center's lawyers argued.
Complex cases before the FEC, the nation's bipartisan, civil law enforcement authority for federal campaign laws, sometimes take years to review and investigate ahead of a commission vote. The FEC may issue fines to political committees determined to have violated campaign finance laws, although the agency's six commissioners regularly deadlock along ideological lines on high-profile cases.
The FEC and a representative for Trump's post-presidential political committees did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
'Merely as a conduit'
In the complaint, the Campaign Legal Center said Trump's campaign funneled millions of dollars to American Made Media Consultants and Parscale Strategy, which then paid sub-vendors.
In addition to Kushner's involvement, the lawsuit notes Insider's reporting that American Made Media Consultants' board included family members of Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence. The other firm, Parscale Strategy, is run by former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale.
"The effect and apparent goal of routing the campaign's spending through conduits was to disguise the Trump committees' ultimate payees, and the amounts, dates, and purposes of such payments, in violation of the reporting requirements," the lawsuit states.
The two firms each acted "merely as a conduit" for the Trump campaign's spending, the lawyers added. Parscale Strategies, for instance, "pay salaries for individuals working under the direction and control of the committee," including Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host who's now engaged to Donald Trump Jr.
The Campaign Legal Center originally filed its original complaint with the FEC in July 2020, then filed a supplement in January 2021.
The Campaign Legal Center was not alone in raising concerns about the Trump campaign's relationship with American Made Media Consultants and Parscale Strategy.
In December 2020, Insider reported that the Trump campaign and its affiliated committee with the Republican National Committee spent more than $600 million through American Made Media Consultants. At the time of the firm's formation, Kushner picked Lara Trump and Pence's nephew John Pence to serve on the board.
In response to the reporting, two House Democrats called on the FEC and FBI to investigate whether the Trump campaign and American Made Media Consultants violated public disclosure requirements and laws barring the spending of campaign cash for personal use.
"As former prosecutors, we know that this conduct, if true, violates multiple laws," Reps. Ted Lieu and Kathleen Rice wrote in their letter to the FBI. "We respectfully request that you open investigations into whether or not Mr. Kushner and members of the Trump family violated federal campaign finance or other statutes."
Read the original article on Business Insider
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has been served with another defamation suit. This time, it's from a former Dominion employee he once accused of being a 'traitor to the United States of America.' .
Eric Coomer — who Lindell once called a traitor to the US — is suing the pillow CEO's and his Frank Speech platform for "destroying" his life.Lawyers for Coomer, Dominion's former director of product strategy and security, filed a court complaint against Lindell on April 4 to kick off a defamation case against the pillow CEO and his platform, Frank Speech. Lindell was served with the lawsuit on April 5 at a mini-rally he hosted in Denver, Colorado, on behalf of indicted clerk Tina Peters.
American Bridge, a Democratic-aligned super PAC, filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Monday.In November, Summer Zervos, who had accused Trump of sexual assault following her appearance on "The Apprentice," dropped her lawsuit against him before he was forced to sit for a deposition. At around the same time, a New York state judge dismissed a lawsuit from Michael Cohen seeking to have the Trump Organization reimburse his legal fees for work he did on Trump's behalf. 
Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama blames Mitch McConnell over former President Donald Trump pulling his Senate race endorsement."It's disappointing that, just like in 2017, President Trump lets Mitch McConnell manipulate him again. Every single negative TV ad against our campaign has come from McConnell and his allies," Brooks said in a statement. "I wish President Trump wouldn't fall for McConnell's ploys, but, once again, he has. 
Mark Pomerantz, one of two Manhattan DA prosecutors who resigned last month, said in his resignation letter that not holding Trump accountable is a "grave failure of justice.""The team that has been investigating Mr. Trump harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes — he did," the prosecutor, Mark Pomerantz, said in his resignation latter, according to The Times. 
The lawsuit makes a number of misleading claims about Hillary Clinton and the Russia probe and recycles Trump's grievances about Mueller.Calling it an "unthinkable plot," the legal complaint alleges that Clinton and other defendants — including her 2016 campaign advisors, the Democratic National Committee, and former DOJ and FBI officials — conspired to fabricate evidence tying him to "a hostile foreign sovereignty. 
The judge questioned prosecutors over why they included certain details in the filing, later adding, "I don't know why the information is in there."At the center of the hearing was a conflict-of-interest motion that Durham's office filed in its ongoing case against the former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann. 
Trump's "campaign" to disrupt Congress' election certification "was not confined to the ivory tower — it was a coup in search of a legal theory," the ruling said.The determination came in a ruling ordering the conservative lawyer and Trump ally John Eastman to turn over more than 100 emails to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot. 
The December 2020 tweet announced Trump's January 6, 2021 rally outside the Capitol and urged supporters: "Be there, it will be wild!""Big protest in D.C. on January 6th," Trump tweeted on December 19. It was the first time he announced the "Save America" rally, which took place at the Ellipse in Washington, DC, less than two miles from the US Capitol. "Be there, will be wild!" the tweet said. 
Eric Coomer — who Lindell once called a traitor to the US — is suing the pillow CEO's and his Frank Speech platform for "destroying" his life.Lawyers for Coomer, Dominion's former director of product strategy and security, filed a court complaint against Lindell on April 4 to kick off a defamation case against the pillow CEO and his platform, Frank Speech. Lindell was served with the lawsuit on April 5 at a mini-rally he hosted in Denver, Colorado, on behalf of indicted clerk Tina Peters. 
