The Proof the Nation Needs

To claim trump is the dirtiest, most crooked person to ever occupy the White House is easy to say, but difficult to prove. I mean, we can see trump violate the Emoluments Clause every single freaking day, but to prove it in the courts you need evidence, a paper trail, cold hard facts of fraud counted penny by penny.

Which is why getting at the proof - above all, those tax returns that trump refuses to go public with like every other President Loser of the Popular Vote has done - is so key towards exposing the crook for what he is.

Via Julia Arciga at the Daily Beast:

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office subpoenaed eight years of President Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns late last month, a person familiar with the investigation told The Daily Beast. Prosecutors are seeking Trump’s personal tax documents and those of the Trump Organization from accounting firm Mazars USA, including federal and state returns dating back to 2011. A spokesman for Manhattan D.A. Cyrus Vance Jr. declined to confirm or comment on the subpoena, which was first reported by The New York Times.

The subpoena was issued after prosecutors opened a criminal probe into the role Trump and the company played in the hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who says she had an affair with Trump. Michael Cohen—Trump’s former personal attorney—made the $130,000 payment to Daniels, and was subsequently reimbursed by the president and the Trump Organization. This also comes after Mazars USA was subpoenaed by Congress to hand over Trump’s financial records.

Granted, trump's lawyers are likely doing everything they can to throw this entire thing into delays and holds until the 2020 general election is over.

But this is all playing out at the state level, where the timetables run differently (hopefully faster than a few months) and also at a level that trump's cronies in the Justice Department and the Senate can't meddle or obstruct.

When it comes to trump, the most obvious thing you can investigate him for is his fraud: from bad business deals (how many bankrupt casinos?) to crooked con games (hi, Trump University!), if you want to find out trump's criminal habits you follow the money. The tax returns - something you're NOT supposed to lie about lest the IRS comes calling, even Al Capone found that out to his dread - are where you're going to find out where trump's money been coming from, and where it's been going to.

There may well be a simple psychological reason trump refuses to divulge his tax numbers: His ego. trump has spent decades claiming he's one of the richest men on the planet worth billions, but he never really goes out of his way to prove that. The tax returns would prove his wealth... but most likely showing him worth mere millions instead, exposing him to a public from which he desperately seeks adoration. (It could be even worse. The state tax returns from the 1990s suggests trump is in the red and living off of loans he can't pay off)

But that's just part of it. The darker reason trump is terrified his tax returns go public are the hints and allegations of money laundering for disreputable figures - above all the Russian mob - that those tax returns could validate. The revelations already made through Cohen's plea deal and how he was paying off people illegally suggest the rot touches everything under trump's corporate umbrella.

The federal government may not go after trump while he's sitting in the Oval Office, and there may even be legal restrictions on whether the state of New York can file criminal charges on him as well.

But one more thing to remember about trump's criminal empire: Most of his kids and personal handlers are all tied up in that rot as well. He may be untouchable but they aren't. And a crooked boss can't run his criminal empire without his most trusted people...

Start running, kids.