Donald Trump’s former lead attorney during his second impeachment proceedings slammed the state of New York’s criminal investigation into the former president. Bruce Castor, who said he still represents Trump, indicated he thinks Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.’s probe is politically motivated.
“What New York is doing to the former president is an outrage. Anyone connected with that effort is doomed at the polls when the political motivation for this attack becomes known,” Castor told me, referencing the move by former federal prosecutor and Trump impeachment lawyer Daniel Goldman to drop out of the New York attorney general race. “I cannot recall ever there being a more overt smear prosecution effort than is going on here. But of course, it’s OK because the target is Donald Trump.”
The investigation is centered around Trump and his business, the Trump Organization, and related to allegations of bank and insurance fraud. Vance is looking into whether Trump and his company inflated properties, undervalued properties to avoid taxes, and did not pay taxes on compensation to leading executives.
Trump similarly slammed the investigation in May as politically motivated, “after being under investigation from the time I came down the escalator 5 ½ years ago, including the fake Russia Russia Russia Hoax, the 2 year, $48M, No Collusion Mueller Witch Hunt, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment hoax #2, and others.”
Last week, two sources familiar with the matter told The New York Times that New York state attorney general Letitia James plans to subpoena Trump to testify in a separate investigation. James seeks to question the former president in January in connection to a civil inquiry into fraud that began in March 2019.
James determines that, among other items, the Trump Organization may have illegally obtained tax breaks in Westchester County, New York. Her office is working with the Manhattan district attorney’s office in regard to the criminal probe.
“As far as the subpoena is concerned I am not at liberty to say,” Castor also told me. “I cannot discuss strategy. What I was telling you is that anybody involved in the outrageous investigation being conducted by the New York attorney general is likely to have their head handed to them in an election when their political machinations become public and the lack of basis and potential abuse of office becomes evident.”
A spokesman for The Trump Organization said in a statement that New York’s criminal investigation is “another political witch-hunt.” Ronald Fischetti, a lawyer representing Trump as the investigations proceed, said that he determines the attorney general’s subpoena move as “an opportunity for them to get Donald Trump’s testimony under oath and then turn it over to the district attorney’s office.”
“New York is being overrun by violence, children are being shot in Times Square, arsonists are setting Christmas decorations ablaze and homelessness is through the roof, yet the only focus of the New York AG is to investigate Trump, all for her own political ambitions as she attempts to run for Governor. This political prosecution is illegal, unethical, and is a travesty to our great state and legal system,” the Trump spokesman said.
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