by Giuseppe Sarcina, Washington correspondent, Massimo Gaggi and Samuele Finetti
The former president is not answering questions from the New York City Attorney, who has accused him of inflating the value of his real estate to obtain tax breaks and financing. But the party is backing him and his men to win the midterm primary and the gubernatorial election
When FBI agents showed up for a search at his Mar-a-lago, Fla., mansion Monday night, Donald Trump was not present. The former President of the United States was at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, an hour’s drive from his headquarters in Trump Tower in Manhattan, but also from the courthouse where he was scheduled to testify today as part of the Trump civil investigation. But Trump chose not to respond and appealed the Fifth Amendment.
The tycoon was called in to answer questions from New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who was examining the organization’s balance sheets with one goal: to understand if the value of its real estate, cited in a number of financial documents, was intentional was inflated to get tax breaks and bank loans. Judge James, whom Trump has called a racist (but the black attorney) has already heard from two of the former president’s children, Donald Jr. and Ivanka, in recent weeks, and in 2020 questioned another son, Eric, who didn’t get through questions Invocation has answered the Fifth Amendment. Trump called the investigation a political witch hunt and filed an appeal, which was then dismissed as unfounded. The investigation, as mentioned, was civil. But it could lead to criminal charges because the Manhattan DA’s office (the DA’s office) has been investigating the same documents for some time.
In the past, the former White House tenant’s finances have been the focus. In 2019, the New York Times reported in what would later be a Pulitzer-winning investigation, how the tycoon obtained more than $400 million from his father’s real estate empire in the 1990s through various ways to evade tax authorities. The following year, another Times investigation revealed how Trump paid $750 a year in taxes in 2016 and 2017 because he claimed he lost far more money than he made.
In any case, Trump can afford to celebrate during these hours. Before moving to New York to be impeached, the former president welcomed a delegation of Republicans led by Indiana Congressman Jim Banks to his golf club, who expressed their unconditional support and asked him to announce his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election accelerate. The moment, his staff is convinced, is perfect: Trump can play the part of the outsider, hampered by the investigation and the FBI that has been targeting him, and can count on the unconditional support of a Fox News already in campaign gear (In a broadcast in the past few hours, Republican strategist Newt Gingrich compared the FBI to the East German Stasi).
As if that wasn’t enough, after his mansion was ransacked, the tycoon also garnered the support of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, whom foreign analysts are pointing out as a surefire contender for the 2024 presidential election, and Mike Pence, who was his vice president, for all four years of his mandate and with whom he severed all relations following the events of January 6th. Pence has made more than one critical speech against Trump in the past few weeks, but was only able to join him after the events of the past few hours.
Trump’s other strength is the growing number of elected Republicans who are his cronies. a strategy that the ex-president has been pursuing for some time: replacing federal and state deputies who are hostile to him, who voted for his impeachment, for example, with loyal followers who are ready to fulfill his every wish. And a strategy that is very successful, as shown by the results of yesterday’s primary, which determined which Republican candidates will run in November’s midterm elections. Jaime Herrera Beutler, one of 10 congressmen who voted to impeach him, was beaten by Trumpian Joe Kent in the Washington state primary, ending his political adventure in Congress. Next week in Wyoming, Liz Cheney is sure to concede defeat to Harriet Hageman, who, backed by Trump, is leading the polls by a 22 percentage point margin.
But Trump’s weight is also being felt in the race for the governorship of some key states ahead of the presidential election (which, if won, could help Trump in a new possible attempt to overturn the polls). . For example, the new governor of Wisconsin could be Tim Michels. Michels, a die-hard Trumpian who defeated his Republican rival, backed by Pence and the party establishment, by campaigning filled with theories about stealing the 2020 election. In Pennsylvania, another state always in is the limbo could win a November Doug Mastriano, who was one of the most active Republicans in 2020 to undermine the election result and who was convened by the commission only yesterday Jan. 6, declined to answer.
We’re moving, but the result is the same: In Minnesota, Republicans are running for Secretary of State (the figure who authenticates the election results: Brad Raffensperger was the Secretary of Georgia whom Trump called to ask him to cast the votes find what he needs to overcome Biden) have decreed the victory of Kim Crockett, a lawyer who campaigned for her would-be Democratic opponent as a puppet controlled by George Soros and called the past presidential election rigged.
August 10, 2022 (change August 10, 2022 | 4:30 p.m.)
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