"If you’re innocent why are you taking the Fifth Amendment"? Donald Trump

[playtime]

Their DA who said Smollett was innocent….

holy cow, you're throwing a lot against the wall to deflect from the fact that trumpco is really REALLY gonna get nailed.

anyhoo - this dude was a 25 yr federal prosecutor from DC & he had a few interesting things to say on the matter - because a civil suit deals with a preponderance of evidence, rather than proof beyond a reasonable doubt; taking the 5th in a civil case actually might end up doing more harm than good. seems eric trump, by invoking the 5th - is not only guilty AF - but bigley desperate too.

 

[Mac1958]

No group of people in American political history has ever put so much effort into looking guilty as Trump and his orbit.

Does that mean, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they committed crimes? Nope. But no one is surprised at this, even his adoring cult.

 

[Mac1958]

James said she found evidence that Trump was "personally involved" in approving the statements, and used them "in numerous commercial transactions for his own financial benefit."

She said one statement in June 2015 valued Trump's building at 40 Wall Street at $735.4 million, tacking on nearly $200 million to its appraised value, a mere eight months after one lender valued the same building at $257 million.

James said Trump inflated the values of the Scotland golf club and Seven Springs in part based on assumptions that residential housing could be built there.

She also said Trump in his 2015 and 2016 statements overstated the value of his penthouse apartment, putting it at $327 million by claiming it contained 30,000 square feet and not the 10,996 square feet described in various documents he signed.

Under questioning by her office, Weisselberg conceded that "this amounted to an overstatement of 'give or take' $200 million," James said in a filing.

Yeah, everybody does this. Totally normal. Nothing to see here. It's a witch hunt. Trump's an innocent victim.

 

[playtime]

I don't particularly like Trump, but Congress as ZERO authority to subpoena, punish contempt, etc.

false.

ArtI.S8.C18.4.1.2 Implied Power of Congress to Conduct Investigations and Oversight: Doctrine and Practice
Article I, Section 8, Clause 18:

[The Congress shall have Power . . . ] To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
Implied Power of Congress to Conduct Investigations and Oversight: Doctrine and Practice

they have a constitutional mandate to do so in their quest to legislate that this never happens again.

Congress it the single biggest bunch of liars and crooks in the whole world, and does not have the authority to pretend to have executive or judicial powers.

they, being the legislative branch, are a co equal branch of gov'ment.

There is no where in the constitution giving Congress any authority to subpoena or hold someone in contempt.

seems the SC disagrees with you.


Congress’s ability to hold individuals in contempt who interfere with its duties is considered an implied power of the legislature. The U.S. Supreme Court summarized this principle in the 1917 case Marshall v. Gordon, stating, “in virtue of the grant of legislative authority, there would be a power implied to deal with contempt insofar as that authority was necessary to preserve and carry out the legislative authority given.” That is, although the Federal Constitution does not explicitly provide for Congressional power to hold individuals in contempt, such power is considered implied because without it, Congress could not effectively carry out its duties.
Contempt of Congress

 

[Smokin' OP]

I’d encourage every witness to invoke the fifth for every single question these KGB democrats ask.

Good, they don't need their input.
When they prosecute on documents and witnesses, they can't defend themselves.
Then, when they're sentenced the judge can give them the maximum penalty.

 

[playtime]

Misleading asset evaluations is standard procedure for business.

maybe, maybe not. but it's still a crime. you need to actually do a little more fact finding & a little less wishful thinking based only on your opinion.

18 U.S. Code § 1344 - Bank fraud​

• U.S. Code

prev | next
Whoever knowingly executes, or attempts to execute, a scheme or artifice—
(1)
to defraud a financial institution; or
(2)
to obtain any of the moneys, funds, credits, assets, securities, or other property owned by, or under the custody or control of, a financial institution, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises;
shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.
(Added Pub. L. 98–473, title II, § 1108(a), Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 2147; amended Pub. L. 101–73, title IX, § 961(k), Aug. 9, 1989, 103 Stat. 500; Pub. L. 101–647, title XXV, § 2504(j), Nov. 29, 1990,
18 U.S. Code § 1344 - Bank fraud

Insurance fraud​

Primary tabs​

insurance fraud: an overview​

Insurance fraud refers to any duplicitous act performed with the intent to obtain an improper payment from an insurer.

Police and prosecutors typically refer to an insurance fraud scheme as either “hard fraud” or “soft fraud.” Hard fraud, the rarer of the two forms, occurs when a criminal deliberately brings about the destruction of property for the purpose of collecting on the insurance policy. Soft fraud, on the other hand, occurs when a policyholder exaggerates an otherwise legitimate claim or when an individual applies for an insurance policy and lies about certain conditions or circumstances to lower the policy’s premium.

One common form of insurance fraud occurs when the insurance policy amounts to a greater value than the value of the insured property.

Insurance fraud

The only time you can prosecute over asset evaluations if you it can be proven you used wildly different evaluations of the same asset in the same time period.

the NY AG states exactly what you just said, although she's going after trumpco civilly.

Donald Trump investigation reveals new details of alleged fraud​

Wed, January 19, 2022, 9:16 AM·4 min read

Her latest court filing on Tuesday is the first time the allegations being levelled at the Trump Organization have been detailed with specific examples.

They involve six of his properties in New York and Scotland, and the "Trump brand".

For example, his large property in Westchester county, north of Manhattan, was valued by the Trump Organization at $291m in 2012 (£189m at the time), however an appraisal in 2016 valued it far lower, at just $56m, the court filing says.

The attorney general also alleges that Mr Trump's lavish three-storey penthouse in New York's Trump Tower was valued based on a size of 30,000 sq ft (2,800 sq m), but it is in fact 10,996 sq ft.

The court filing claims that at least two false statements were made to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) - the main tax body in the US - that "substantially overstated" the value of two properties to get a tax break.

Ms James says this is evidence that the Trump Organization "used fraudulent or misleading asset valuations to obtain a host of economic benefits, including loans, insurance coverage, and tax deductions."
Donald Trump investigation reveals new details of alleged fraud

you're welcome for the facts.

 

[playtime]

Trump is in a world of shit, along with his family and all of his sedition buddies. He's taking a lot of folks down with him. Actually, he already has.

 

[pknopp]

Nah, Lois pleaded the 5th and then proceeded to testify that she hadn't done anything. The fact that she's collecting a pension after the shit she pulled makes me sick to my stomach.

Because the Republicans dropped it.

 

[playtime]

Does that mean, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they committed crimes?

SDNY - who hired mark pomerantz ... a leading expert on RICO & took down mob bosses, met with donny's long time fixer michael cohen at least 8x over this very thing. & he's not the only one.

NY prosecutors interview Cohen an 8th time in Trump inquiry​

New York prosecutors have met for an eighth time with former former Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen as part of a criminal investigation of the former president's finances
By JIM MUSTIAN Associated Press
March 19, 2021, 12:00 PM
• 2 min read

...The investigation includes an examination of whether Trump or his businesses lied about the value of assets to gain favorable loan terms and tax benefits....

NY prosecutors interview Cohen an 8th time in Trump inquiry

say what you will about AOC ... but when she had her 5 minutes to question cohen, she used every minute excellently. i'm willing to bet it opened the door & got the ball rolling on all of this:

 

[Couchpotato]

The same would have applied to Hillary also right? That is the point.

Sure. The only difference being Eric Trump isnt being questioned about his duties a government official which in my mind changes the requirements a bit or at least should.

 

[Couchpotato]

false.

ArtI.S8.C18.4.1.2 Implied Power of Congress to Conduct Investigations and Oversight: Doctrine and Practice
Article I, Section 8, Clause 18:

[The Congress shall have Power . . . ] To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
Implied Power of Congress to Conduct Investigations and Oversight: Doctrine and Practice

they have a constitutional mandate to do so in their quest to legislate that this never happens again.



they, being the legislative branch, are a co equal branch of gov'ment.




seems the SC disagrees with you.


Congress’s ability to hold individuals in contempt who interfere with its duties is considered an implied power of the legislature. The U.S. Supreme Court summarized this principle in the 1917 case Marshall v. Gordon, stating, “in virtue of the grant of legislative authority, there would be a power implied to deal with contempt insofar as that authority was necessary to preserve and carry out the legislative authority given.” That is, although the Federal Constitution does not explicitly provide for Congressional power to hold individuals in contempt, such power is considered implied because without it, Congress could not effectively carry out its duties.
Contempt of Congress

Oversight of things happening within the Government. Not looking into the private actions of private citizens. What I don't understand is why the Dems want to turn Congress into a political weapon like this. So if the DoJ isnt investigating something or doing so improperly you could make the argument that Congress could investigate the DoJ using it's oversight powers. But it shouldn't doing the investigation instead of the DoJ.

 

[Clipper]

The point of the 5th amendment is that the prosecutor is trying to make you look bad.
For example, the impeachment of Bill Clinton was over testimony about Lewinsky, in the Paula Jones case.
But since Lewinski had absolutely nothing to do with the alleged sexual assault of Paula Jones by Bill Clinton, he should have just plead the 5th amendment.
The Lewinsky situation was not relevant and was private.
You don't have to be guilty to plead the 5th amendment.
It may or may not make you look good, but it does not really matter.
You can and should always plead the 5th amendment if you simply want to maintain your privacy.

As far as Hillary, I do not believe she ever invoked the 5th amendment.
Instead she pretended to not know much about computers, why Stevens in was in Benghazi, that no one else was given the debate questions, etc.
She is much too good of a liar to risk taking the 5th.

But any lawyer will always tell you to invoke the 5th until they given you immunity.

The 5th Ammendment is in place so that criminals like the Trump crime family, Bannon, Meadows, Stone & the rest of those racketeers can't be forced under oath to answer questions which may implicate them in crimes they've commited. Criminals have the right not to self incriminate, hence the 5th Ammendment.

Guilty people don't usually take the 5th. Why would they?

 

[Clipper]

Nah, you can inflate property values all you want, because you can believe that is what they can easily be made to be worth.
What you can't do is tell 2 different people, different values.
You have to be consitent.

You can't over inflate a property's value then use that appraisal as collateral for a loan. That's called bank fraud.

That's why banks demand a professional appraisal on a home before they'll approve a mortgage.

Trump is a corrupt theiving bastard. Always was, always will be. The guy was born with larceny running thru his veins from the time he took his first breath.

 

[Bobob]

Because he is not going to do the AG's job for her. If she has a case bring it. I already explained that he believes its a witch hunt and he will not cooperate with it. I would do the same thing in his shoes. If she has a case then she should not need his testimony and legally she cannot ask for it. Any decent attorney would understand that.

Trump doesn't believe it is a witch hunt if, indeed, he is guilty. That consistent remark by him is for any investigation into his sordid activities, and means nothing. Of course, he will not "cooperate" because his cooperation will expose his guilt. Trump is a con and has been skirting the law forever. He has managed to stay ahead of his pursuers.

 

[Bobob]

And I want a Ferrari. The AG understands the law and the 5th Amendment rights of defendants. If she isn't prepared then its on her not on Trump. He is allowed under our laws to plead the 5th. Period. This should not be a surprise. This is simply red meat to leftist media and its lemmings.

Nah. Red meat? Hardly. She already has real red meat on the con-man. How she presents it is the next order of business.

 

[Nostra]

Got a link to the statute titled "Mega fraud"?

 

[Mac1958]

SDNY - who hired mark pomerantz ... a leading expert on RICO & took down mob bosses, met with donny's long time fixer michael cohen at least 8x over this very thing. & he's not the only one.

NY prosecutors interview Cohen an 8th time in Trump inquiry​

New York prosecutors have met for an eighth time with former former Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen as part of a criminal investigation of the former president's finances
By JIM MUSTIAN Associated Press
March 19, 2021, 12:00 PM
• 2 min read

...The investigation includes an examination of whether Trump or his businesses lied about the value of assets to gain favorable loan terms and tax benefits....

NY prosecutors interview Cohen an 8th time in Trump inquiry

say what you will about AOC ... but when she had her 5 minutes to question cohen, she used every minute excellently. i'm willing to bet it opened the door & got the ball rolling on all of this:

Very clear and pointed questions. No grandstanding, no hyperbole, no shifty eyes, no fat in her words. The anti-Trump.

I've seen Cohen being interviewed a few times, and I'm not sure about him. He consistently makes some pretty apocalyptic predictions about what's going to happen to Trump and his orbit. We'll see how much of that comes to fruition.

 

[BluesLegend]

Thanks, professor. But I doubt anyone thought otherwise.

Only the OP and most left wing assholes who are trying to spin taking the 5th as an admission of guilt. You are just butthurt that I called them out on it.

 

[pknopp]

Only the OP and most left wing assholes who are trying to spin taking the 5th as an admission of guilt. You are just butthurt that I called them out on it.

The thread is about Trump saying it's an admission of guilt.

 

[Nostra]

This witch hunt has been going on for years. Nobody has to participate in it. If the prosecutor thinks she have a case, make it. Nothing under the law says anyone must cooperate.


Sorry Dimwingers, no amount of whining and crying about Jr. not cooperating will change the fact it is a witch hunt.