Trump faces 'legal tsunami' post NY court arraignment
Darpan News Desk IANS, 06 Apr, 2023 03:54 PM
Washington, April 6 (IANS) Former US President Donald Trump faces a "legal tsunami' post his arraignment by a New York court on 34 charges of felony, including tax fraud by his businesses and the hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, thus crashing hopes of a Republican nomination for his third presidential run.
On Tuesday, Trump was granted bail by the lower Manhattan court even as prosecution against him continued unabated and he lashed out at District Attorney (DA) Alvin Bragg as a "radical left backed by billionaire George Soros".
Trump's trusted allies and donors in the Republican Party and business tycoons have shied away and his 'best friend' media baron Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, has dumped him in favour of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is yet to announce his nomination.
Following his arraignment, the former President levelled a series of charges during an address to his supporters and media from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
Some of his charges were: the 2020 elections were "stolen"; other Presidents also took home official records and he was not the only one; the US has seen the strongest inflation in 60 years under the Democrats; and DA Bragg received monies for elections from George Soros.
But all these allegations were rubbished.
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) said once the President leaves office it takes custody of documents, but Trump took the records to his Florida home.
Soros denied giving money for Bragg's election campaign as DA saying the funds came from an NGO supported by him as part of strengthening a functioning democracy.
Meanwhile, the Department of Labour denied that inflation was the highest during the present administration.
Now the legal tsunami that Trump faces after the arraignment and his outburst, could see him behind bars for a 100 years.
Fox News specifically said Trump could face 100 years in jail for his tax fraud and hush money scandal and interference in Georgia election count.
As Trump faces criminal indictment in New York, legal experts feel his lawyers could act swiftly and loudly seeking change of venue of prosecution from the Democrat-ruled New York and demanding dismissal of the cases against him.
This could post a challenge to the judge selected to preside over Trump's arraignment, USA Today said in a report.
Trump's attorney Joe Tacopina has however, maintained that the legal team is "not considering anything" until they read the full indictment.
Yet the former President has said that the presiding judge, Juan Merchan, may be biased against him. This allegation this could bring contempt charges against Trump for suspecting the integrity of an independent judge.
Merchan, the acting Supreme Court justice in Manhattan, presided over the "tax fraud trial "of Trump's businesses and real estate company and the Trump Payroll Corporation interlinked with it.
The tax fraud case resulted in a conviction in December 2022 and $1.6 million in fines. Trump's CFO Allen Weiselberg was jailed and turned a possible approver against the fraud but not against Trump personally.
Any attempt by Trump's legal team to disqualify either DA Bragg or Judge Merchan is a losing game but attorneys may try this to whip a public sentiment in favour of the former President to keep him in the 2024 race.
Cyrus Vance Jr., the former Manhattan prosecutor who first initiated the Trump inquiry, said the defence also could seek a delay to accommodate the 2024 election and prepare an assault on the credibility of the state's key witness, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.
He told NBC News that Cohen will be attacked heavily as he carried the monies in instalments to Daniels.
"Cohen worked for Trump. They had a working relationship. So we often find in criminal cases that the witnesses who are involved aren't necessarily ... priests or nuns."
La Habra is a city in the northwestern corner of Orange County. The La Habra Police Department said in a press release that their officers responded at about 4:55 a.m. to a robbery at a 7-Eleven store, Xinhua news agency reported.
The former Chancellor again batted away calls for tax cuts before inflation is under control, saying "we need to have a grown up conversation". At the event in Westminster, he also heaped praise on Boris Johnson, describing him as "one of the most remarkable people I have ever met" who has a "good heart" - but it was "not working" any more.
The vacancy was created when the incumbent Boris Johnson lost the confidence of his party MPs after a series of scandals, and resigned on Thursday. 11 candidate have since thrown their hats into the ring. Among them, Sunak, who chancellor of the exchequer before he resigned last Tuesday, and Suella Fernandes Braverman, who is of Goan descent and is still serving as caretaker attorney general.
Balwani faced 10 counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. After a three-month trial, a jury has found him guilty of all 12 counts. He now faces up to 20 years in prison for each count, The Verge reported late on Thursday.
But the public liking for him was dented when this year he introduced taxes to reduce the government's heavy borrowings. This was followed by controversy over his wife avoiding paying taxes in Britain and instead doing so at a lower rate in India from her dividends from shares in Infosys, the Bangalore-based software giant founded by her father N.R. Narayana Murthy.
Addressing the media outside 10, Downing Street, the 58-year-old embattled British leader, who has faced controversies galore in his 1,079 days in power, said: "It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader of the party and therefore a new Prime Minister."
