China News Service, December 12 According to the New York Times report on the 11th, the Manhattan District Attorney in the United States has questioned several employees of banks and insurance brokerage companies that do business with President Trump in recent weeks.
This latest sign shows that Trump still faces the potential threat of criminal charges after leaving office.
Interrogations of Deutsche Bank and Aon staff by the office of the Manhattan District Attorney Vance (Cyrus R. Vance Jr.) heralded a significant escalation of the investigation, and Trump was unable to stop it .
Image source: Screenshot of the New York Times report
The New York Times quoted people familiar with the matter as revealing that Vance’s office has recently stepped up its investigation, issued new subpoenas, and summoned witnesses, some of which have also been questioned by grand juries.
Due to the sensitivity of the investigation, people familiar with the matter requested anonymity.
At present, it is unclear whether Vance's office will eventually bring charges.
For more than a year, they have been seeking to obtain Trump's personal and corporate tax returns, claiming that these tax forms are vital to their investigation, but this process was blocked by Trump and the issue has been appealed to the Supreme Court again. .
The report pointed out that once Trump resigns, he still faces potential criminal charges, which would exceed the scope of the federal government's pardon.
When Trump resigns in January 2021, he will lose the presidency to avoid criminal prosecution.
Presidential pardons apply only to federal crimes, not to state or local investigations. The investigations of the Vance Office fall into this category.
Vance’s current investigation focuses on Trump’s behavior as a private business owner and whether employees of his or his family business, the Trump Organization, have committed financial crimes.
Deutsche Bank and Aon Insurance have worked with Trump for the longest time, and they are also the only mainstream companies willing to conduct regular business dealings with him. They may provide investigators with a lot of information about the Trump Organization.
However, the report said that there is currently no sign that the two companies are suspected of improper conduct.
In court documents, prosecutors cited public reports about Trump’s business transactions as the legal basis for their investigations, including an article in the Washington Post that concluded that the president may have exaggerated him. When applying for loans from banks and insurance companies, his net assets exaggerated the value of his real estate.