Largely overlooked in the debate about poverty in America are the huge numbers of our fellow citizens who sit on the cusp of destitution – just a lost paycheck or unexpected medical bill away from joining the 46 million who struggled to get by beneath…
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In her column for the Daily Beast, longtime Washington D.C. insider Margaret Carlson claimed it is not beyond the realm of possibilities that Donald Trump will let his kids take the brunt of the prosecution for instances of fraud that are being investigated by New York Attorney General Leticia James and newly elected Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
As Carlson notes, the children of Trump, Ivanka, Eric Jr and Eric have their fingerprints all over financial documents that investigators believe show the family and the Trump Organization committed fraud.
According to the columnist, "We’ve been lulled into believing Donald Trump is made of Teflon...But Trump’s luck began to run out in early 2021—when he lost the White House, Air Force One, and his Twitter account inside a few weeks. His days of getting away with conduct that would sink anyone else appear to be over. He could even start losing so much that he’ll get sick of losing."
Pointing out that the Supreme Court's decision to allow the House committee investigating the Jan 6th insurrection to have White House documents from that period over Trump's protests was devastating enough, Carlson said the financial fraud investigation also seems to have the goods on the former president with Carlson writing, "It gets worse for Trump."
"New York Attorney General Letitia James this week filed subpoenas for two of Trump’s kids—Ivanka and Don Jr.—as part of her investigation of the Trump Organization," she wrote before suggesting, "This raises the tantalizing question of whether he’d put his own interests ahead of those of his own children. He’s used to throwing lackeys like Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort under the bus to save his own hide. But would Trump leave Ivanka and Don Jr. with skid marks on their backs?"
Elaborating on that, Carlson continued, "Unlike the assaults on democracy which Trump die-hards either embrace or make excuses for, James has documented the kind of fraud that could break the spell Trump has cast on his supporters, many of whom were drawn to him by a sense that they were cheated by life. If James can prove the allegations, they’d see Trump for the swindler whose 'wins' directly correlate with the working man’s losses."
According to Carlson, the former president is now facing an avalanche of investigations and lawsuits that he may never recover from, explaining, "The DC Attorney General Karl Racine is suing Trump and his 2016 inaugural committee for using funds to enrich the Trump Organization, including paying $175,000 for a ballroom at his hotel that previously went for $5,000. Trump’s also being sued for alleged violations of the Voting Rights and the Ku Klux Klan Act (which prohibits the intimidation of public officials), by the Capitol and Metropolitan police for injuries arising from the Jan. 6 violence, and by his former attorney Michael Cohen for retaliatory imprisonment after Trump learned he was writing a tell-all book. An active class action suit claims Trump used his brand name to defraud thousands of strivers through multi-level marketing schemes promising to divulge the secrets of his success."
Carlson concluded, "The heat, at long last, is on Trump."
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In interviews with the Guardian's Ed Pilkington, two people who have been closely associated with Donald Trump going back years claimed that his whole world is falling apart after the Supreme Court turned its back on him and New York Attorney General appears to have enough evidence of fraud by the Trump Organization, the former president and his children Don Jr. and Ivanka Trump.
According to his report, Trump built a golf course in 2006 that set in motion a string of financial statements about his properties over the years that demonstrated a Trump propensity for over-valuing them and that, in turn, raised red flags that drew the attention of NY AG Leticia James.
With James issuing a statement saying, "We have uncovered significant evidence that suggests Donald J Trump and the Trump Organization falsely and fraudulently valued multiple assets and misrepresented those values to financial institutions for economic benefit,” Trump's former lawyer and biographer claim the ex-president's past has finally caught up to him.
RELATED: Startling details of possible Trump Organization crimes revealed in new legal filing
According to former Trump attorney and "fixer" Michael Cohen, "The House of Trump is crumbling.”
As Pilkington reports, "Cohen, who was released in November from house arrest having had his own legal difficulties, has skin in this game. It was his testimony to the House oversight committee in February 2019 that sounded the alarm over allegedly inflated evaluations in Trump’s financial statements, which in turn prompted James to open her investigation the following month."
According to Cohen, "My testimony before the committee as well as my subsequent cooperation with the New York attorney general has led to this day. We are seeing individuals who have continuously escaped responsibility for their actions finally being held accountable.”
Biographer Tim O'Brien claimed that Trump should be even more worried about being investigated by Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, who the columnist described as a "tenacious and relentless prosecutor equipped with a large and highly experienced team of investigators."
"Bragg is asking exactly the same questions as James: did the Trump Organization commit accounting, bank, tax or insurance fraud? The critical difference is that Bragg’s investigation is criminal, threatening Trump not with fines but prison time," Pilkington wrote with O'Brien contributing, "Trump could end up in an orange jumpsuit at the end of that one."
"His book TrumpNation, a 2005 biography that raised doubts about Trump’s actual wealth in eerily similar terms to the James and Bragg investigations today, so irked the real estate developer that he sued O’Brien for billions of dollars," the columnist elaborated. "O’Brien’s lawyers deposed Trump as part of his defense. Over two days they managed to do something that has rarely been done before or since – they got the celebrity to acknowledge, no fewer than 30 times, that he had lied."
According to O'Brien, "This is behavior that Trump has been engaging with since he was a toddler, frankly,” before adding, "There was ample fodder in my book for prosecutors to pursue, but nobody picked it up. Law enforcement simply didn’t take Donald Trump seriously until it was too late.”
You can read more here.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who recently bowed out of a much-anticipated U.S. Senate bid, revealed that he was "bothered" after conversations with dozens of Republican Senators, who apparently wanted him to be a "roadblock" until the GOP retakes the White House. Sununu told The Washington Examiner this month that he was initially "pretty close" to running, explaining: "I wasn't ready to make an announcement, but I was like, 'OK, this makes sense. I think I could be a voice nationally.'" But after chatting with "most" of the GOP Senate caucus, Sununu reportedly soured on the role once it became apparent that they wanted him to be a legislative mule.
This article first appeared in Salon.
"They were all, for the most part, content with the speed at which they weren't doing anything. It was very clear that we just have to hold the line for two years," he told the Examiner. "OK, so I'm just going to be a roadblock for two years. That's not what I do."
"It bothered me that they were OK with that," the governor added.
Sununu's comments come in the wake of an intense legislative standoff between Democrats and Republicans over voting rights, an issue which became the focus of President Biden's agenda after negotiations on the "Build Back Better Act" – the president's $2.2 trillion social safety net plan – fell apart.
RELATED: Joe Manchin's revisionist history: Filibuster stands after Senate Democrat sides with Republicans
On Wednesday, Senate Republicans successfully filibustered Biden's sweeping voting rights overhaul – known as the "Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act" – which would standardize voting laws across all 50 states and clamp down on voter suppression. Not a single Republican backed the measure, even though the bill is supported by nearly 70% of Americans, according to a Navigator poll from November.
With Republicans having dashed Biden's hopes of passing the party's two signature pieces of legislation – the "Build Back Better Act" and the "Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act" – Democrats now question whether their colleagues believe in anything other than mindless obstructionism.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Biden echoed the spirit of Sununu's remarks, asking reporters, "What are Republicans for? What are they for? Name me one thing they're for."
That same day, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., sidestepped questioning when asked to lay out GOP's official agenda. "That's a very good question," McConnell said. "And I'll let you know when we take it back."
According to a recent Axios report, the Kentucky Republican has privately told colleagues and donors that the Republicans have no legislative agenda and are more interested in picking apart Democrats'.
Meanwhile, the House GOP caucus appears to be adopting the opposite strategy, according to The Washington Post, with its leadership drumming up a "list of policy pledges" designed to buoy support for the party in 2022.
Among those helming this effort are House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and House Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., both of whom ardently supported Donald Trump's election fraud conspiracy and voted to overturn the 2020 election.
RELATED: The right "isn't fully sold" on Kevin McCarthy's leadership, even if Republicans win the House
Playing an advisory role to McCarthy is former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who crafted the "Contract with America," a legislative platform widely linked to the GOP's successful campaign to flip both chambers in 1994.
Gingrich told the Post that McCarthy doesn't believe an anti-Biden agenda is sufficient for 2022, saying, "We need a positive message."
"I think that's clearly what McCarthy wants to do and I've offered to look at stuff and offer advice," Gingrich added. "There's lots of people in the House working on it. It will be a widespread commitment."
While the exact details of McCarthy's agenda remain hazy, the broad contours of the plan are clear.
So-called "parental rights" are expected to be front and center as Republican state officials continue to decry the alleged instruction of "critical race theory" – whose prevalence appears to be vastly overstated. For remedy, McCarthy has already released an informal "Parents Bill of Rights," which includes such provisions as the "right to be heard" and the "right to know what's being taught in schools and see reading material."
RELATED: Parental rights" started on the Christian fringe — now it's the GOP's winning issue
The House Speaker is also expected to assemble seven "issue-specific task forces" that will tackle a variety of other policy objectives, such as countering China's economic prowess, combating the recent crime wave, securing the nation's borders, regulating Big Tech, cutting corporate taxes, bulldozing environmental regulations, and curtailing inflation.
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The soaring cost of consumer goods has proven an evergreen source of whataboutism for Republicans, even as the year-end jobs numbers indicate that Biden has steered the economy through an unprecedented economic recovery since he took office. Fox News called inflation a "top weapon" for the GOP to wield against Democrats in the upcoming midterms.
Throughout 2021, the consumer prices index rose 6.8% – the highest increase it has seen since 1982.
RELATED: Behind Biden's booming economy
But when it comes to actually tackling inflation, lawmakers have historically had to walk a tightrope, said Brian Riedl, who served as an aide to Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.
"There is nothing that messages well, significantly reduces inflation and is painless," Riedl told the Post. "It's easier to criticize inflation than to map out an actual solution going forward, and that's the box Republicans are currently in."
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