Tag Archives: Cyrus Vance Jr.

national news

Indictment coming? Hmm?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The immediate past president of the United States reportedly is plotting his political future while he spends time at his posh resort in South Florida.

Hold on a minute, Donald Trump.

The ex-president’s political future might be decided by at least two prosecutors up and down the East Coast. One of them, District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. in Manhattan, N.Y., reportedly is assembling a mountain of evidence related to assorted tax, campaign finance and related matters associated with Trump. He keeps calling back a former Trump lawyer/fixer/convicted felon for more information on what Trump did before he was elected president. Vance also has summoned the help of racketeering investigators who reportedly are pretty adept at rooting our corruption.

Meanwhile, down yonder in Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis is looking into whether Trump broke state laws by pressuring a Georgia secretary of state into “finding” enough votes to flip that state’s presidential election total; President Biden won that state’s electoral votes, but Trump reportedly wanted officials to dig up enough votes to give Trump the electoral victory.

I haven’t a clue as to either of these probes will produce indictments. However, I have heard reports from prosecutors experienced in these matters who suggest that Cyrus Vance Jr. is closing in on a near-certain indictment of the former president on an array of campaign finance violation and/or tax violations. He was able to secure those elusive tax returns that Trump has fought so hard to keep from public view.

So, does Donald Trump have a political future, such as a potential return to the presidential campaign trail in 2024? I’ll venture a wild guess and suggest that any future that awaits Donald Trump likely won’t include raw politics.

At least that is my sincere hope.

business news, crime news

DA gets Trump tax returns … what now?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

OK, where do we stand now that the Manhattan, N.Y. district attorney has gotten his hands on Donald J. Trump’s tax returns?

DA Cyrus Vance Jr. had been fighting with Trump over those tax returns. He is investigating alleged campaign finance violations and other matters that involve the complexities of Trump’s, um, complex fiscal dealings.

Cyrus Vance: Manhattan DA faces critical decisions in Trump investigation as his time in office runs low (msn.com)

It’s not clear whether the public will get to see these returns. As one American who has been yapping and yammering for them to be released, I want to see them. I want to know if the former president is as rich as he said he is; I want to know if he’s paid his fair share of taxes; I want to know all that I can grasp relating to those returns. I mean, he was the president of the United States and even though I never voted for him, I am a citizen/patriot and I deserve to get a glimpse of my country’s formerly elected president.

Cyrus Vance is serving his final term as Manhattan DA. The word is that he is likely to take his findings to a grand jury soon. The grand jury then would have to decide whether to indict the ex-president, which all by itself is a huge deal.

At least the game of keep-away is over. Trump said he would release the returns. Then he backed away from that. It had been customary for presidential candidates, dating back to 1976, to release their personal financial records. Then came Donald Trump. He tossed that custom into the crapper.

So, I am going to place a measure of faith that Cyrus Vance Jr. will do the right thing with those returns now in his possession.

I’ll be patient.

national news

Biden won’t go after Trump

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I am willing to take President-elect Biden at his word that he has “no interest” in pursuing federal charges against his presidential predecessor, Donald Trump.

I also am willing to accept that glimmer of magnanimousness from the new president as the statesmanlike thing to do.

However, my gut also tells me that Biden is going to coast on that one because he might be willing to step aside and let state prosecutors in, say, Manhattan have their day in court with the president.

Whatever pardons Trump might hand out — for himself or members of his family, for example — are good only for federal charges that might be on the horizon. He has no say over what states might do.

I am guessing, therefore, that the president-elect is lying low to give Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. time to conclude whether he wants to indict and then prosecute the former president for assorted campaign finance violations.

That’s just a hunch on my part. What the heck. Hasn’t Donald Trump framed his non-response to the pandemic on a “hunch” that it will just vanish? My own hunch might be as worthless as Trump’s pandemic hunch … but I am free to offer it as a possible explanation for President Biden’s pledge to keep his hands off Trump’s troubles.

business news

Oh, Mr. POTUS, you’re breaking another promise

Oh, c’mon Mr. President. You once said you would release your tax returns. You promised us while campaigning for the presidency.

Then you back away from that promise. Oh, and then you said again you would do so.

What’s the deal, then, with this lawsuit you’ve filed against Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who has subpoenaed your tax returns to help him solve a criminal investigation he’s been seeking to clear up?

Vance wants those returns to ascertain whether you committed a campaign law violation in paying off the stripper with whom (she says) you had a fling in a hotel room back in 2006. I get that you deny it happened, yet you paid her that $130,000 sum to keep her quiet.

I am just one American who wants to know why you paid her the money. I also want to know whether you broke any laws in paying it.

The DA wants to know, too. He’s within his rights to subpoena those returns.

So, knock off with the lawsuit, Mr. President.

Inquiring minds want to know the truth about your finances. They deserve to know it as well.