In its latest announcement, the Lincoln Project, a political action committee of Republicans who oppose Republican President Donald Trump, predicts that as soon as Trump’s presidency ends, he will quickly face lawsuits and perhaps even imprisonment over the Southern District. of New York (SDNY), a federal district court whose prosecutors have been investigating “illegal actions” possibly taken by Trump.
The Lincoln Project ad, entitled “Happy Moving Day, Donald”, uses sound effects from moving vans, cleaning and fumigation teams to imitate people by rubbing the words “dirt”, “indecency”, “corruption”, “lies” “and COVID-19 from the president of the White House. These preparations, the announcement says, are to pave the way for “a new president, a real president, the next president of the United States, Joe Biden”.
“Hey, Donald. Don’t let the door slam your ass on the way out. But wait, what is that noise?” the narration asks near the end of the ad’s one-minute run time. “It’s the sound of New York’s Southern District, and they’re coming after you.” The ad ends with the sound of a prison cell closing.
SDNY is investigating whether Trump’s inaugural committee in 2017 spent any of the $ 107 million it raised for its inaugural event.
In addition, both the Manhattan district and New York State have conducted two investigations into the Trump Organization’s taxes: a criminal investigation by Manhattan district attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. and a civil investigation by state attorney general Letitia James. Both are Democrats.
The court documents suggest that Vance’s investigation is focused on “banking, tax and insurance fraud, as well as falsification of business records” by the Trump Organization, Reuters reported.
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James’ investigations suspect that Trump fraudulently reduced his taxable income between 2010 and 2018, with nearly $ 26 million in fees deducted from unidentified consultants, written off as business expenses. Some of the fees may have been paid to Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump.
A 2017 financial disclosure, when she became presidential adviser to the White House, showed that Ivanka Trump received $ 747,622 in payments from TTT Consulting LLC, a consulting firm she co-owns. This financial number exactly corresponds to the consulting fees paid to the same company and claimed as tax deductions by the Trump Organization for consulting on hotel projects in Hawaii and Vancouver, Canada.
Payments also raise suspicion, as Ivanka Trump also worked as executive director of the Trump Organization at the time, which means that the organization may have actually paid one of its own leaders to regularly serve as a consultant and then canceled the fees as tax-deductible expenses, which is prohibited by the IRS.
Trump called the James and Vance investigations “politically motivated”.
In addition, Attorneys General in Washington, DC and Maryland have an ongoing lawsuit alleging that Trump violated the U.S. Constitution’s emoluments clause by illegally using his presidential office to benefit his personal finances.
Trump also faces possible lawsuits for defamation of accusers of sexual misconduct, as well as possible charges of federal income tax evasion by the U.S. Department of Justice due to reports that Trump paid only $ 750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017.
Newsweek contacted the Trump campaign for comment.