According to a report from the Daily Beast, not only did former president Donald Trump have a terrible week in the courts over the past few days, but his responses to his court woes have handed investigators more information and clues that could bolster their cases against him.
As the report notes, the biggest fumble by Trump and his inner circle was their response to a letter from their former accounting firm Mazars which is now drawing scrutiny from the Manhattan district attorney's office.
As the Beast's Jose Pagliery and Asawin Suebsaeng wrote, "After news broke on Monday that Mazars dropped him, the former president and his staff were conspicuously silent on the topic. Trump, who usually spouts off as soon as he can, did not release a statement until a full day later—on Tuesday evening—when his spokespeople finally blasted out a typically baffling missive," before adding, "According to two people familiar with the matter, lawyers and financial data were consulted and reviewed during a protracted drafting process, with the former president’s staff taking Trump’s dictated message and adorning it with a shred of coherence."
According to one source, "They took their time on this one. You need to be careful and cautious and thorough. You do not want to give your enemies anything to use against you or your client, and you want to have a clear… strong message,” however, given the sketchiness of what was explained in the statement, the Beast is reporting "Tuesday’s written statement may have been just enough to hand the twice-impeached former president’s 'enemies' something new to wield."
As another insider put it, "It seems somebody dropped the ball, though, doesn’t it?"
According to Daniel L. Feldman, a former attorney at the AG’s office, Trump would have been better off if he had remained quiet.
“We’re talking about a guy who’s so in the habit of shooting his mouth off. I think this is quite damaging, and also unusual. Usually people refer everything to their attorney,” he told the Beast.
As evidence that the Mazars letter and Trump's response have been damaging to the former president's case, this week Judge New York State Judge Arthur F. Engoron wrote, "To proclaim that the Mazars’ red-flag warning that the Trump financial statements are unreliable suddenly renders the OAG’s longstanding investigation moot is as audacious as it is preposterous.”
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