Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Why Jack Smith's reported wire fraud probe into Trump campaign could be a big deal
The Deadline White House Legal blog has some good articles
Wire fraud is a very easy crime to prove. I hope that Jack Smith brings charges on this crime on a standalone basis
Link to tweet
https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/trump-wire-fraud-probe-2020-election-rcna79620?cid=sm_npd_ms_tw_ma&taid=643978b23a982f00019a7fb9&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
As if Donald Trump and his allies didn’t have enough to worry about, new reporting suggests the former president could have additional criminal concerns — namely, wire fraud. Because we have to specify which investigation into the 2024 Republican presidential candidate we’re talking about, this one comes in Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 probe.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday, citing eight anonymous sources, that federal prosecutors have recently “sought a wide range of documents related to fundraising after the 2020 election, looking to determine if former President Donald Trump or his advisers scammed donors by using false claims about voter fraud to raise money.” Smith’s team is “interested in whether anyone associated with the fundraising operation violated wire fraud laws, which make it illegal to make false representations over email to swindle people out of money,” the Post reported. (Neither NBC News nor MSNBC has independently verified the report.)
This follows the House Jan. 6 committee’s finding noted in December that “Trump and his Campaign ripped off supporters by raising more than $250 million by claiming they wanted to fight fraud they knew did not exist and to challenge an election they knew he lost.” The committee called it the Big Rip-Off, stemming from Trump's Big Lie.
The Trump team, perhaps already not in a relaxed posture, may be increasingly discomfited by the fact that wire fraud is a relatively straightforward charge. Prosecutors bring such cases regularly — as opposed to, say, the seditious conspiracy charge that’s been brought in Jan. 6 cases against members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, or the potential charges being investigated in Smith’s other Trump probe, related to classified material at Mar-a-Lago (which, by the way, the Post reported in that same story “is said to be further along than the Jan. 6 investigation”).
The Washington Post reported Wednesday, citing eight anonymous sources, that federal prosecutors have recently “sought a wide range of documents related to fundraising after the 2020 election, looking to determine if former President Donald Trump or his advisers scammed donors by using false claims about voter fraud to raise money.” Smith’s team is “interested in whether anyone associated with the fundraising operation violated wire fraud laws, which make it illegal to make false representations over email to swindle people out of money,” the Post reported. (Neither NBC News nor MSNBC has independently verified the report.)
This follows the House Jan. 6 committee’s finding noted in December that “Trump and his Campaign ripped off supporters by raising more than $250 million by claiming they wanted to fight fraud they knew did not exist and to challenge an election they knew he lost.” The committee called it the Big Rip-Off, stemming from Trump's Big Lie.
Link to tweet
The Trump team, perhaps already not in a relaxed posture, may be increasingly discomfited by the fact that wire fraud is a relatively straightforward charge. Prosecutors bring such cases regularly — as opposed to, say, the seditious conspiracy charge that’s been brought in Jan. 6 cases against members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, or the potential charges being investigated in Smith’s other Trump probe, related to classified material at Mar-a-Lago (which, by the way, the Post reported in that same story “is said to be further along than the Jan. 6 investigation”).
15 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
I'd really like to see this one pursued. It goes right home to all his "grassroots" MAGA donors.
Fwiw, Donnie would likely at last have a basis for claiming selective prosecution. He's not the only candidate who raised money on false claims that Democrats were rigging elections, etcetera.
