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AP FACT CHECK: GOP skews budget bill’s impact on IRS, taxes

AP FACT CHECK: GOP skews budget bill's impact on IRS, taxes

Republican politicians and candidates are distorting how a major economic bill passed over the weekend by the Senate would reform the IRS and affect taxes for the middle class.

The “Inflation Reduction Act,” which awaits a House vote after passing in the Senate on Sunday, it would increase the ranks of the IRS, but it would not create a mob of armed auditors looking to harass middle-class taxpayers, as some Republicans are claiming.

While experts say corporate tax increases could indirectly burden people in the middle class, claims that they will face higher taxes are not supported by what is in the legislation.

A look at some of the claims about the package that emerged from a deal negotiated by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va.:

HOUSE MINORITY LEADER KEVIN MCCARTHY, R-CALIF.: “Do you make $75,000 or less? Democrats’ new army of 87,000 IRS agents will be coming for you — with 710,000 new audits for Americans who earn less than $75k.” – Tuesday tweet.

SEN. TED CRUZ, R-TEXAS: “The Manchin-Schumer bill will create 87,000 new IRS agents to target regular, everyday Americans.” —Friday tweet.

THE FACTS: That’s misleading. Last year, before the bill emerged, the Treasury Department had proposed a plan to hire roughly that many IRS employees over the next decade if it got the money. The IRS will be releasing final numbers for its hiring plans in the coming months, according to a Treasury official. But those employees will not all be hired at the same time, they will not all be auditors and many will be replacing employees who are expected to quit or retire, experts and officials say.

The IRS currently has about 80,000 employees, including clerical workers, customer service representatives, enforcement officials, and others. The agency has lost roughly 50,000 employees over the past five years due to attrition, according to the IRS. More than half of IRS employees who work in enforcement are currently eligible for retirement, said Natasha Sarin, the Treasury Department’s counselor for tax policy and implementation.

Budget cuts, mostly demanded by Republicans, have also diminished the ranks of enforcement staff, which fell roughly 30% since 2010 despite the fact that the filing population has increased. The IRS-related money in the Inflation Reduction Act is intended to boost efforts against high-end tax evasion, Sarin said.

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The nearly $80 billion for the IRS in the bill will also pay for other improvements, such as revamping the agency’s technology, said Janet Holtzblatt, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center and former Treasury official.

The Treasury says it will hire experienced auditors and workers who will improve taxpayer services, and that audit rates for those earning less than $400,000 are not expected to rise in relation to historical norms.

So that’s a long way from hiring 87,000 “agents” to go after average people in the United States, as the GOP claims have it. In any case, the bill has not mandated to hire that many people.

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REP. TROY NEHLS, R-TEXAS: “Americans asked for lower inflation and the Democrats gave us an armed IRS shadow army to spy on your bank accounts.” —Sunday tweet.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE. R-Ga.: “It’s going to hire 87,000 new IRS agents and it’s going to arm — as in guns, you know, Democrats are always upset about guns — 70,000 of these IRS agents.” — at the Conservative Political Action Conference, in an interview with the conservative Canadian news magazine The Post Millennial.

THE FACTS: That’s false. The bill will not create any such army, officials and experts say. Only some IRS employees who work on criminal investigations carry firearms as part of their work.

A division of the IRS called criminal investigation serves as the agency’s law enforcement branch. Its agents, who work on issues such as seizing illicit crypto currency and Russian oligarchs’ assets, carry weapons, Sarin said.

There were just more than 2,000 such special agents working at the IRS in 2021, according to agency documents. The branch will get money from the Inflation Reduction Act, but the bulk of the dollars will go toward other areas, according to Sarin.

The bill does not designate money specifically for a large number of armed IRS employees.

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NEVADA SENATE CANDIDATE ADAM LAXALT, criticizing his opponent, Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto: “.@CortezMasto just voted to raise taxes for Nevadans making as low as $30k/year.” —Sunday tweet.

THE FACTS: Nothing in the bill raises taxes on people earning less than $400,000, contrary to Laxalt’s claims. There are no individual tax rate increases for anyone in the bill, experts say.

It’s possible, though, that the bill’s new corporate taxes, including a minimum 15% tax for large corporations, could cause indirect economic impacts. A report from the Joint Committee on Taxation said some people who make less than $400,000 might see such impacts.

“Economists are generally in agreement that the corporate income tax is borne not just by the businesses, but also by shareholders and by workers,” Holtzblatt said. “So that tax that gets imposed on the corporation, some of that might end up getting shifted to workers in the form of lower wages.”

Added Garrett Watson, a senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation: “Distinguishing between whether lower after-tax incomes happen because of a direct tax hike or indirect incidence may be a distinction without a difference for many households.”

However, supporters of the bill did not vote for tax increases on people earning $30,000, as Laxalt claimed.

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Associated Press writer Karena Phan in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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EDITOR’S NOTE — A look at the veracity of claims by political figures.

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Find AP Fact Checks at http://apnews.com/APFactCheck

Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck

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US Justice Department charges Iranian with trying to assassinate John Bolton

US Justice Department charges Iranian with trying to assassinate John Bolton

The alleged plot was “likely in retaliation” for the January 2020 US air strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Justice Department said. After the strike, leaders of the terrorist organization vowed “revenge against Americans” for Soleimani’s death and publicly lashed out against then-President Donald Trump and other high-ranking officials in his administration.

Prosecutors said Shahram Poursafi, a 45-year-old Iranian national and IRGC member, attempted to pay $300,000 to an individual in the United States to kill Bolton and said he had a “second job” for $1 million.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was also a target of an Iranian assassination plot, according to a federal law enforcement source familiar with the investigation and a source close to Pompeo. A known Iran policy hawk, Pompeo served as Trump’s secretary of state at the time of the airstrike that killed Soleimani.

CNN has attempted to reach Pompeo for comment.

Poursafi has not been arrested and remains at large.

Poursafi originally contacted the US-based individual — who was secretly working as an FBI informant, also known as a “confidential human source,” or CHS — and asked them to take photos of Bolton “for a book that Poursafi was writing, “court documents say.

He later asked if the informant could hire a person to “eliminate someone,” who was later revealed to be Bolton, and promised protection for the CHS and the assassin, prosecutors say. Poursafi also allegedly suggested the murder should be done “by car,” provided the CHS with an address for Bolton’s office, and noted that Bolton had a habit of taking walks alone.

In November 2021, the informant traveled to Washington, DC, and sent Poursafi photos of Bolton’s office and descriptions of the building. Poursafi allegedly said that the killing should happen in the building’s garage, as it was a “high traffic” area.

Poursafi has been charged with the use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, which carries a 10-year maximum prison sentence, and attempting to provide material support to a transnational murder plot, which carries up to 15 years in prison.

In a statement, Bolton thanked the Justice Department, FBI and Secret Service for their efforts.

“While much cannot be said publicly right now, one point is indisputable: Iran’s rulers are liars, terrorists, and enemies of the United States,” Bolton said. “Their radical, anti-American objectives are unchanged; their commitments are worthless; and their global threat is growing.”

Bolton was Trump’s fourth national security adviser for a little over a year, starting in April 2018 until Trump fired him from the role in September 2019 via Twitter for “strongly” disagreeing with “many” of Bolton’s suggestions.

A hawkish neoconservative, Bolton had previously advocated for regime change in Iran and backed Trump’s decision to pull the US out of the multinational Iran nuclear deal.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler and Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.

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Ron DeSantis, unconstrained by constitutional checks, is flexing his power in Florida ahead of 2024 decision

Ron DeSantis, unconstrained by constitutional checks, is flexing his power in Florida ahead of 2024 decision

It was a striking scene, not just for its extraordinary outcome, but for how it had been choreographed. The event was premeditated to trigger — as his spokeswoman wrote on Twitter the night before — “the liberal media meltdown of the year.” Pat Kemp, a Democrat who sits on the local Hillsborough County commission, described it as “our own Jan. 6th moment.”

The ruthless display of raw political power in removing Hillsborough County state attorney Andrew Warren, however brazen and unprecedented, was merely the latest example of a new reality in Florida: DeSantis is governing unconstrained by the traditional checks on executive authority. In the last eight months, DeSantis orchestrated a new law to exact revenge on Disney amid a political feud with the entertainment giant, bulldozed an aggressively partisan redrawing of congressional boundaries through the state legislature and pushed nearly every facet of state government to the front lines of the culture wars. And he has done it all with limited dissent from the Republicans who control the other branches of government in Florida.

“DeSantis has a blank check,” said Bob Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University, a private school in Fort Lauderdale. “There is no part of the constitution now that is protecting democracy because the checks and balances on him have been completely eviscerated. If he wins, he’ll spin it as a mandate and say, ‘If Floridians didn’t like any of what I did, they would’ve voted me out.’ “

DeSantis justified the removal of Warren as necessary to protect Floridians from an elected official who won’t follow the law. Warren had pledged in a pair of letters to use prosecutorial discretion to not go after people who seek abortions or gender affirming care as well as those who provide those services.

“That is not how a rule of law can operate and ultimately, you cannot have safe and strong communities,” DeSantis said.

To defeat Ron DeSantis, Florida Democrats are coalescing around Charlie Crist and the Joe Biden playbook

His critics have bristled at these decisive and contentious actions as an overreach of his office. The two leading Democratic candidates for governor in Florida, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and Rep. Charlie Crist, liked DeSantis to a dictator after he suspended Warren.

But they have also solidified DeSantis as the only Republican who consistently challenges former President Donald Trump in polls looking ahead to the 2024 presidential primary, and they earn DeSantis plenty of free airtime on conservative media. DeSantis went straight from Thursday’s suspension announcement to an interview with Fox News digital. He then appeared on the network during prime time, where Fox host Tucker Carlson lauded DeSantis for “finally doing something more than whine.”
DeSantis is also building up his influence nationwide. This week, I have blasted the FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, calling it a “weaponization of federal agencies.” And next week, he’ll headline rallies for GOP candidates in New Mexico, Arizona, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Charlie Kirk, the president of Turning Point America, the conservative organization that is hosting the rallies, called DeSantis “the model for a new conservative movement” when he announced the planned events.
DeSantis has already laid out some of his future targets for a second term, when his actions will be closely watched amid the expected 2024 buzz. He recently said he wants to punish financial institutions that consider factors like environmental destruction or societal good when making investment decisions, which he has derived as “woke banking.” DeSantis has also vowed to change gun ownership laws to allow people to carry firearms in public without a license or prior training. Democrats are bracing for further restrictions on abortion after DeSantis promised to “expand pro-life protections,” though he hasn’t yet said how far he will go.

“Previously, under past Republican governors, you could expect policies to have a conservative bent,” said state House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell. “But this is not a conservative bent, this is a DeSantis bent. It’s not about what the party wants, it’s about what he wants.”

Wealthy space entrepreneur who has pushed for exploration of aliens and the afterlife donates $10 million to DeSantis
The Republican-controlled legislature has so far done little to suggest it will stand in DeSantis’ way. Instead, they have balked at the face of DeSantis’ growing popularity. After Republican lawmakers spent months carefully crafting a new congressional map, DeSantis blew up the redistricting process by introducing one of his own that eliminated two districts represented by Black Democrats. Republicans at first resisted, but ultimately caved, and are now defending the new boundaries in a legal challenge.
Then, later in year, they quickly got on board when DeSantis’ office authored legislation that punished Disney, the state’s largest employer, for wading into Florida’s fight over a contentious new law to restrict the teaching of gender identity and sexual orientation in schools. And two months after that, top legislative leaders cheered DeSantis on as he announced he was using his line-item veto power to slash their agreed-upon budget by $3 billion and eliminate many of their pet priorities from him.

“The dynamics have been this way for the last two years,” said Sen. Jeff Brandes, a Republican from St. Petersburg. “I think it maintains its trajectory.”

Brandes is the rare Republican who has publicly criticized DeSantis, but he’s also reaching his term limit this year. He’s leaving behind a legislature that is far more conservative than when he entered office in 2012 and one that will be shaped considerably by DeSantis, who has waded into GOP primaries, at times boosting candidates over others preferred by legislative leadership in his party.

Whether DeSantis continues to amass authority “really depends on whether the House and Senate and courts see themselves as independent bodies that are there to provide a check and balance to the system,” Brandes said. “If they forget that or if they believe that’s not necessary, then we go down one path. But if just one of those groups stand up and say, ‘We have a different perspective,’ I think you’ll see a different outcome. “

The Florida constitution gives the state Senate authority to reinstate Warren. Few expect it will. Senate leaders declined to publicly comment on the suspension, but in a telling series of post, the presumptive Speaker of the House for 2023, Rep. Paul Renner, applauded DeSantis on Twitter minutes after he suspended Warren, calling it a “decisive action.”

“The Florida way puts public safety first,” Renner wrote.

Warren has vowed to mount a legal challenge, arguing DeSantis has overstepped his constitutional authority. That case would likely end up before the state Supreme Court, a panel appointed entirely by Republican governors. On Friday, DeSantis nominated his fourth judge to the high court, meaning a majority of the seven-member panel owe their jobs to DeSantis.

Ron DeSantis has raised more than $100 million for his reelection bid. Could he use that money in a presidential race?

Jarvis, who teaches the Florida constitution and has written textbooks on the topic, said lawmakers did not envision a DeSantis-type executive when they wrote the latest version of the state constitution in 1968. They drew up a system of government that vested within the Legislature the authority to overrule the governor on several fronts, including appointments and suspensions, and oversight of executive administration. They initially placed considerable power in the hands of a Cabinet, six independently and constitutionally elected state executives who served alongside the governor.

With those checks, the constitution also awarded the governor incredible discretion to suspend elected officials for “malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty, drunkenness, incompetence, permanent inability to perform official duties, or commission of a felony.” Past governors have used the power sparingly to remove elected officials accused of egregious actions or violations of local trust, said Susan MacManus, a retired political science professor and the foremost expert of Florida’s political history.

However, Warren was not suspended for anything he had done, but for something he suggested he someday would not do. If that is the standard for removing someone from office, then, Jarvis said, there is little to stop DeSantis from removing any official he disagrees with — an alarming reality given that his administration has labeled political dissenters “groomers” and characterized Democrats as lawless socialists.

“This is sending a message to every other officer that is subject to his suspension power, ‘If you don’t toe the line or if I see you as a political threat, I won’t hesitate to suspend you,'” Jarvis said . “And I know the senate will remove you.”

MacManus said it’s presumptive to speculate that DeSantis in a second term won’t face new headwinds or changing sentiment from voters and fellow lawmakers. There are polls that show large swaths of voters fear for the future of democracy, though they often clash with other surveys that suggest crime remains a top issue for much of the country, she noted.

“It looks insurmountable right now, but politics shift, issues shift,” she said. “A snap of a finger, things can change.”

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Trump testimony in New York investigation: Live updates

Trump testimony in New York investigation: Live updates

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump invoked the Fifth Amendment and wouldn’t answer questions under oath in the New York attorney general’s long-running civil investigation into his business dealings, the former president said in a statement Wednesday.

Trump arrived at state Attorney General Letitia James’ offices in a motorcade shortly before 9 am, before announcing more than an hour later that he “declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.”

“I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?’ Now I know the answer to that question,” the statement said. “When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors and the Fake News Media, you have no choice.”

As vociferous as Trump has been in defending himself in written statements and on the rally stage, legal experts say the same strategy could have backfired in a deposition setting because anything he says could potentially be used in the parallel criminal investigation pursued by the Manhattan district attorney .

Messages seeking comment were left with James’ office.

Wednesday’s events unfolded as a flurry of legal activity surrounds the former president — just days before, FBI agents searched his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida as part of an unrelated federal probe into whether he took classified records when he left the White House.

The civil investigation, led by state Attorney General Letitia James, involves allegations that Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, misstated the value of prized assets like golf courses and skyscrapers, misleading lenders and tax authorities.

“My great company, and myself, are being from all sides,” Trump wrote beforehand on Truth Social, the social media platform he founded. “Banana Republic!”

In May, James’ office said that it was nearing the end of its probe and that investigators had amassed substantial evidence that could support legal action against Trump, his company or both. The Republican’s deposition — a legal term for sworn testimony that’s not given in court — was one of the few remaining missing pieces, the attorney general’s office said.

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Former President Donald Trump will be questioned under oath Wednesday in the New York attorney general’s long-running civil investigation into his dealings as a real estate mogul, he confirmed in a post on his Truth Social account.

Two of Trump’s adult children, Donald Jr. and Ivanka, testified in recent days, two people familiar with the matter said. The people were not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity. It’s unclear whether they invoked the Fifth Amendment during their depositions. When their brother Eric Trump sat for a deposition in the same investigation in 2020, he invoked the Fifth more than 500 times, according to court papers.

The three Trumps’ testimony had initially been planned for last month but was delayed after the July 14 death of the former president’s ex-wife, Ivana Trump, the mother of Ivanka, Donald Jr. and Eric.

On Friday, the Trump Organization and its longtime finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, will be in court seeking dismissal of tax fraud charges brought against them last year in the Manhattan district attorney’s parallel criminal probe—spurred by evidence uncovered by James’ office. Weisselberg and the company have pleaded not guilty.

James, a Democrat, has said in court filings that her office has uncovered “significant” evidence that Trump’s company “used fraudulent or misleading asset valuations to obtain a host of economic benefits, including loans, insurance coverage, and tax deductions.”

James alleges the Trump Organization exaggerated the value of its holdings to impress lenders or misstated what land was worth to slash its tax burden, pointing to annual financial statements given to banks to secure favorable loan terms and to financial magazines to justify Trump’s place among the world’s billionaires.

The company even exaggerated the size of Trump’s Manhattan penthouse, saying it was nearly three times its actual size — a difference in value of about $200 million, James’ office said.

Trump has denied the allegations, contending that seeking the best valuations is a common practice in the real estate industry. He says James ‘investigation is politically motivated and that her office de ella is “doing everything within their corrupt discretion to interfere with my business relationships, and with the political process.” He’s also accused James, who is Black, of racism in pursuing the investigation.

“THERE IS NOT MARRIED!” Trump said in a February statement, after Manhattan Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that James’ office had “the clear right” to question Trump and other principals in his company.

Once her investigation wraps up, James could decide to bring a lawsuit and seek financial penalties against Trump or his company, or even a ban on them being involved in certain types of businesses.

Meanwhile, the Manhattan district attorney’s office has long pursued its parallel criminal investigation. No former president has even been charged with a crime.

In fighting to block the subpoenas, lawyers for the Trumps argued New York authorities were using the civil investigation to obtain information for the criminal probe and that the depositions were a ploy to avoid calling them before a criminal grand jury, where state law requires they be given immunity.

That criminal probe had appeared to be progressing toward a possible criminal indictment of Trump himself, but slowed down after a new district attorney, Alvin Bragg, took office in January: A grand jury that had been hearing evidence disbanded. The top prosecutor who had been handling the probe resigned after Bragg raised questions internally about the viability of the case.

Bragg has said his investigation is continuing, which could be behind Trump’s decision to decline to answer questions from James’ investigators during the deposition in a Manhattan office tower that has doubled as the headquarters of the fictional conglomerate Waystar Royco — run by a character partly inspired by Trump — on HBO’s “Succession.”

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Balsamo and Sisak reported from Washington. Associated Press journalist Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.

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On Twitter, follow Michael Balsamo at twitter.com/mikebalsamo1 and Michael Sisak at twitter.com/mikesisak

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More on Donald Trump-related investigations: https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump

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Donald Trump to be deposed by NY attorney general on Wednesday

Donald Trump to be deposed by NY attorney general on Wednesday

It is unclear whether Trump will answer questions or assert his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during the behind-closed-doors testimony.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social early Wednesday morning that he would be “seeing” James “for a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in US history! My great company, and myself, are being attacked from all sides. Banana Republic!”

Some Trump advisers have advocated that the former President answer questions since he previously testified about his financial statements under oath, while others have warned him against providing any answers because of the potential legal jeopardy he may face, people familiar with the matter tell CNN. The Manhattan district attorney has a separate ongoing criminal investigation into the Trump Organization.

Another consideration that has been discussed, the people familiar say, is the political implications of not answering questions as Trump is widely expected to announce that he will run for president in 2024. While campaigning in 2016, Trump suggested not answering questions was a sign of guilt. At a campaign stop in Iowa in 2016, Trump said, “If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”

A lawyer for Trump declined to comment. A representative for the attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s testimony comes near the end of a long running New York state investigation into whether the Trump Organization misled lenders, insurers, and tax authorities by providing them misleading financial statements.

In January, James’ office said it found “significant” evidence indicating the Trump Organization used false or misleading asset valuations in its financial statements to obtain loans, insurance and tax benefits. The attorney general’s civil investigation is nearing the end and a decision on an enforcement action may come soon.

The former President and the Trump Organization have previously denied any wrongdoing and called the civil investigation by James, a Democrat, politically motivated. Both James and Trump have traded public barbs.

The showdown follows Trump’s failed attempt to block subpoenas for depositions from him and his children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump.

Ivanka Trump’s deposition took place last week and Trump Jr. had his deposition in late July, people familiar with the matter said.

Trump Jr., who runs the Trump Organization with his brother Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump did not assert their Fifth Amendment rights and answered the state’s questions, the people said. It is not clear what they were specifically asked or what they said. Their decision breaks with Eric Trump and former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, who both asserted their Fifth Amendment rights more than 500 times when deposed in 2020.

Trump has testified under oath in civil lawsuits over the past decades and since leaving office he has also been deposed. Last year he provided videotaped testimony for a lawsuit involving an assault outside of Trump Tower. The case is set to go to trial in the fall. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

Questions about Trump’s net worth

Trump has been questioned about the accuracy of his net worth and financial statements in previous lawsuits, something some advisers say is one reason why he should answer questions in the current investigation.

In a 2007 deposition in a defamation lawsuit, Trump once said he calculated his net worth, to a degree, on his “feelings,” and that he put the “best spin” on some of the assets. “I think everybody” exaggerates about the value of their properties, he testified, adding: “Who wouldn’t?”

Did I inflate values? “Not beyond reason,” Trump said.

In the past Trump has tried to push responsibility for his valuation decisions onto Weisselberg, while at the same time, documents and depositions appear to show that, even as Trump claimed that he left those valuation decisions to others, he was also deeply involved in running his business.

Trump said in the 2007 deposition that the only person he dealt with in preparing the statements of financial condition was Weisselberg.

Trump fields calls from Republican allies to speed up 2024 bid after FBI raid

“I would give my opinion,” Trump said in the deposition. “We’ll talk about it,” he said, adding that “ultimately” and “predominately” it was Weisselberg who came up with the final values, which Trump said he viewed as “conservative.”

When questioned specifically about swings in values ​​from one year to the next Trump had ready explanations.

During the deposition, Trump was questioned about the family compound in Westchester County, New York, called Seven Springs, where its value nearly doubled in one year from $80 million in 2005 to $150 million in 2006.

“The property was valued very low, in my opinion, then and it became very — it just has gone up,” Trump said.

He was asked if he had any basis for that view, other than his own opinion.

“I don’t believe so, no,” he said.

In addition to Weisselberg, two others involved in the preparation of the financial statements, Jeff McConney, the Trump Organization’s controller, and Donald Bender, the real estate firm’s external accountant, have both been interviewed by the attorney general’s office and Manhattan district attorney.

Trump’s lawyers are likely to argue that the financial statements were not audited so anyone relying on them would be on notice. The financial statements reviewed by CNN show they have numerous disclosures indicating that they did not conform with generally accepted accounting principles. In addition, none of the lenders lost money on the transactions, which could make it harder to allege that they were defrauded or misled.

The appraisals underlying the property values ​​were in many cases provided by Trump’s longtime appraiser Cushman & Wakefield, which is also under investigation. Cushman, who broke ties with Trump after the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, has denied any wrongdoing and stands by his work.

Legal risks to Trump

The depositions pose significant legal risks to the Trumps.

If Trump is sued by James and the case goes to trial, the jury can draw an “adverse inference” against him for not answering questions, which could result in a higher judgment against him if he’s found liable. If he answers questions, it could open the door to potential civil and criminal liability.

Rudy Giuliani ordered to appear in front of Georgia grand jury investigating 2020 election aftermath next week

The criminal investigation, led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, has slowed down but not stopped. Earlier this year, Bragg would not authorize prosecutors to present evidence before a state grand jury after raising concerns about the strength of the case, CNN has reported. A special grand jury hearing evidence in the case expired in April, but a new one could be settled in the future.

Bragg told CNN in an interview in April: “Anytime you have a parallel civil, criminal investigation, if there’s testimony in that proceeding, obviously we will look at it.”

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Rep. Scott Perry says FBI agents seized his cellphone

Rep. Scott Perry says FBI agents seized his cellphone

WASHINGTON (AP) — US Rep. Scott Perry said his cellphone was seized Tuesday morning by FBI agents carrying a search warrant.

The circumstances surrounding the seizure were not immediately known. Perry, though, has been a figure in the congressional investigation into President Donald Trump’s actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.

Former senior Justice Department officials have testified that Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican, had “an important role” in Trump’s effort to try to install Jeffrey Clark — a top Justice official who was pushing Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud — as the acting attorney general.

In a statement Tuesday, Perry said three agents visited him while he was traveling Tuesday with his family and “seized my cell phone.” He called the action “banana republic tactics.”

“They made no attempt to contact my lawyer, who would have made arrangements for them to have my phone if that was their wish,” Perry said. “I’m outraged – though not surprised – that the FBI under the direction of Merrick Garland’s DOJ, would seize the phone of a sitting Member of Congress.”

The lawmaker, representing Pennsylvania’s 10th District, was cited more than 50 times in a Senate Judiciary report released in October 2021 outlining how Trump’s effort to overturn his election defeat Joe Biden brought the Justice Department to the brink of chaos and prompted top officials there and at the White House to threaten to resign.

Perry, who has continuously disputed the validity of Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania, has said he obliged Trump’s request for an introduction to Clark, then an assistant attorney general whom Perry knew from unrelated legislative matters. The three men went on to discuss their shared concerns about the election, Perry has said.

The Justice Department found no evidence of widespread fraud in Pennsylvania or any other state, and senior Justice officials dismissed Perry’s claims.

The Senate report outlined a call Perry made to then-acting Deputy Attorney General Rich Donoghue in December 2020 to say the department wasn’t doing its job with respect to the elections. Perry encouraged Donoghue to elicit Clark’s help because he’s “the kind of guy who could really get in there and do something about this,” the report said.

Perry has said his “official communications” with Justice Department officials were consistent with the law.

The Justice Department’s inspector general conducted a search in June of Clark’s Virginia home.

Perry slammed the Justice Department’s decision to serve him with a warrant as an “unnecessary and aggressive action.”

“My phone contains info about my legislative and political activities, and personal/private discussions with my wife, family, constituents, and friends,” Perry said. None of this is the government’s business.”

The seizure of Scott’s cellphone was first reported by Fox News Channel.

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FBI’s search for Trump’s Florida estate: Why now?

FBI's search for Trump's Florida estate: Why now?

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI’s unprecedented search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence ricocheted around government, politics and a polarized country Tuesday along with questions as to why the Justice Department — notably cautious under Attorney General Merrick Garland — decided to take such a drastic step.

Answers weren’t quickly forthcoming.

Agents on Monday searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, which is also a private club, as part of a federal investigation into whether the former president took classified records from the White House to his Florida residence, people familiar with the matter said. It marked a dramatic escalation of law enforcement scrutiny of Trump, who faces an array of inquiries tied to his conduct in the waning days of his administration.

From echoes of Watergate to the more immediate House probe of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, Washington, a city used to sleepy Augusts, reeled from one speculative or accusatory headline to the next. Was the Justice Department politicized? What prompted it to seek authorization to search the estate for classified documents now, months after it was revealed that Trump had taken boxes of materials with him when he left the White House after losing the 2020 election?

Garland has not tipped his hand despite an outcry from some Democrats impatient over whether the department was even pursuing evidence that has surfaced in the Jan. 6 probe and other investigations—and from Republicans who were swift to echo Trump’s claims that he was the victim of political prosecution.

All Garland has said publicly that “no one is above the law.”

A federal judge had to sign off on the warrant after establishing that FBI agents had shown probable cause before they could descend on Trump’s shuttered-for-the-season home — he was in New York, a thousand or so miles away, at the time of the search.

Monday’s search intensified the months-long probe into how classified documents ended up in boxes of White House records located at Mar-a-Lago earlier this year. A separate grand jury is investigating efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, and it all adds to potential legal peril for Trump as he lays the groundwork for a potential repeat run for the White House.

Trump and his allies quickly sought to cast the search as a weaponization of the criminal justice system and a Democratic-driven effort to keep him from winning another term in 2024 — though the Biden White House said it had no prior knowledge and current FBI Director Christopher Wray was appointed by Trump five years ago.

Trump, disclosing the search in a lengthy statement late Monday, asserted that agents had opened a safe at his home, and he described their work as an “unannounced raid” that he likened to “prosecutorial misconduct.”

Justice Department spokesperson Dena Iverson declined to comment on the search, including whether Garland had personally authorized it. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the West Wing first learned of the search from public media reports and the White House had not been briefed in the run-up or aftermath.

“The Justice Department conducts investigations independently and we leave any law enforcement matters to them,” she said. “We are not involved.”

About two dozen Trump supporters stood in protest at midmorning Tuesday in the Florida summer heat and sporadic light rain on a bridge near the former president’s residence. One held a sign reading “Democrats are Fascists” while others carried flags saying “2020 Was Rigged,” “Trump 2024” and Biden’s name with an obscenity. Some cars honked in support as they passed.

Trump’s Vice President Mike Pence, a potential 2024 rival, tweeted Tuesday, “Yesterday’s action undermines public confidence in our system of justice and Attorney General Garland must give a full accounting to the American people as to why this action was taken and he must do so immediately.”

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell echoed Pence, saying, “Attorney General Garland and the Department of Justice should already have provided answers to the American people and must do so immediately.”

“The FBI director was appointed by Donald Trump,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., when asked about GOP allegations that the raid showed the politicization of the Justice Department. She added, “Facts and truth, facts and law, that’s what it’s about.”

Trump was meeting late Tuesday at his Bedminster, New Jersey, club with members of the Republican Study Committee, a group headed by Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana that says he is committed to putting forth his priorities in Congress.

The FBI reached out to the Secret Service shortly before serving a warrant, a third person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. Secret Service agents contacted the Justice Department and were able to validate the warrant before facilitating access to the estate, the person said.

The Justice Department has been investigating the potential mishandling of classified information since the National Archives and Records Administration said it had received from Mar-a-Lago 15 boxes of White House records, including documents containing classified information, earlier this year. The National Archives said Trump should have turned over that material upon leaving office, and it asked the Justice Department to investigate.

Christina Bobb, a lawyer for Trump, said in an interview that aired on Real America’s Voice on Tuesday that investigators said they were “looking for classified information that they think should not have been removed from the White House, as well as presidential records.”

There are multiple federal laws governing the handling of classified records and sensitive government documents, including statutes that make it a crime to remove such material and retain it at an unauthorized location. Though a search warrant does not necessarily mean criminal charges are near or even expected, federal officials looking to obtain one must first demonstrate to judge that they have probable cause that a crime occurred.

Two people familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said the search Monday was related to the records probe. Agents were also looking to see if Trump had additional presidential records or any classified documents at the estate.

Trump has previously maintained that presidential records were turned over “in an ordinary and routine process.” His son Eric said on Fox News on Monday night that he had spent the day with his father and that the search happened because “the National Archives wanted to corroborate whether or not Donald Trump had any documents in his possession of him. ”

Trump himself, in a social media post Monday night, called the search for a “weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024.”

Trump took a different stance during the 2016 presidential campaign, frequently pointing to an FBI investigation into his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, over whether she mishandled classified information via a private email server she used as secretary of state. Then-FBI Director James Comey concluded that Clinton had sent and received classified information, but the FBI did not recommend criminal charges.

Trump lambasted that decision and then stepped up his criticism of the FBI as agents investigating whether his campaign had colluded with Russia to tip the 2016 election. He fired Comey during that probe, and though he appointed Wray months later, he repeatedly criticized him, too, as president.

The probe is hardly the only legal headache confronting Trump. A separate investigation related to his efforts by him and his allies to under the results of the 2020 presidential election — which led to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol — has also been intensifying in Washington. Several former White House officials have received grand jury subpoenas.

And a district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, is investigating whether Trump and his close associates sought to interfere in that state’s election, which was won by Democrat Joe Biden.

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Associated Press writers Terry Spencer, Meg Kinnard, Michelle L. Price, Lisa Mascaro, Alan Fram, Darlene Superville and Will Weissert contributed to this report.

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Categories
Australia

Mark McGowan in security scare after University of WA student targets him over abortion at press conference

Mark McGowan in security scare after University of WA student targets him over abortion at press conference

A University of Western Australia student gate crashed a press conference being held by Premier Mark McGowan and had to be ushered away by his security team as she demanded to know whether abortion would be made free across the State.

The female student approached Mr McGowan as he was preparing to answer questions from reporters after announcing a contract had been awarded for the installation of 98 electric vehicle chargers as part of WA’s electric highway.

“I’m a student here at UWA and I just wanted to know if you were planning to make abortion free in WA,” the young woman said as she walked towards Mr McGowan.

Protester lead away from Premier Mark McGowan announcing the latest milestone in the EV charging network project.
Camera IconThe student was dealt with by the Premier’s bodyguards. Credit: Andrew Richie/The West Australian

The Premier’s minders immediately jumped into action, getting between the woman and Mr McGowan and attempting to move her away from the gathered media.

She asked one of Mr McGowan’s male bodyguards why he had placed his hands on her but seemed to accept the explanation when told he was part of the Premier’s personal security team.

“I just, I don’t understand why Mr McGowan can’t just answer my question,” she shouted as she was moved away.

“I’m just a student at UWA and I want to know if abortion will be made free?”

Protester lead away from Premier Mark McGowan announcing the latest milestone in the EV charging network project.
Camera IconThe woman was ushered away during the press conference. Credit: Andrew Richie/The West Australian

Mr McGowan remained silent throughout the encounter, but later addressed the protester’s question — after she had been moved well away from the site of the press conference — when it was repeated by the media.

“We’re reviewing the law in relation to abortion reform as to whether or not further reforms need to be put in place to make it nationally consistent with other states,” the Premier said.

“You may not know but I was in the Parliament when abortion was made legal in Western Australia. I’m one of the few members still left from that period and I voted in favor of it.”

Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson in June revealed work was underway to modernize WA’s abortion laws, which have been described as among the most oppressive in Australia.

Protester lead away from Premier Mark McGowan announcing the latest milestone in the EV charging network project.
Camera IconSecurity staff swoop on the UWA student. Credit: Andrew Richie/The West Australian

“Cost is an issue and… women do fly interstate to access abortions past actually about 15 weeks. There are only two private providers and often their hours are limited,” she said.

Abortions cost vary from state to state and can run into hundreds of dollars depending on the medications or surgical procedures required.

In WA, women who seek an abortion after 20 weeks must have their request reviewed by an “ethics panel” consisting of six medical practitioners, two of whom must agree the mother or fetus has a severe medical condition that justifies the procedure.’

Mr McGowan said he understood the review of WA’s abortion regime would be completed by the end of the year.

“It’s obviously come into more focus recently with the Supreme Court decision in America and we’re looking at what we need to do to make it more nationally consistent and if there are anomalies that make it difficult for women in certain circumstances,” he said .

“They’re the sorts of things we’re looking at changing and repairing.”

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Categories
US

Ilhan Omar will win Democratic nomination for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, CNN projects

Ilhan Omar will win Democratic nomination for Minnesota's 5th Congressional District, CNN projects

Omar, who is running for a third term in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, held off a primary challenge from former Minneapolis City Councilman Don Samuels and three other Democratic primary candidates, CNN projects.

Omar beat back a well-funded primary rival in 2020, but Samuels, a moderate, entered the race with higher name recognition in the Minneapolis-based district and the support of a big-spending super PAC.

Takeaways from the Vermont, Wisconsin and Michigan primaries

Samuels had run as a pro-police critic of Omar’s calls to “defund the police.” He and his wife de el successfully sued the city of Minneapolis to force it to increase police staffing levels to the 741 officers required by the city’s charter.

Momentum built behind what had been widely seen as a long-shot challenge after Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey endorsed Samuels last week. He was also backed by building trades unions, several suburban mayors and more moderate DFL leaders.

His close call could inspire another effort to oust Omar in 2024. Democrats currently control four out of the state’s eight US House seats to three for the Republicans and one vacancy.

Omar’s victory comes the week after two other liberal members of the “squad,” Missouri Rep. Cori Bush and Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, also beat back primary challenges.

Votes were being counted in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont and Connecticut on Tuesday night following a round of primaries that will further clarify several of November’s key contests.

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Categories
US

Primary election: Trump’s pick will win Wisconsin GOP gubernatorial nomination, CNN projects

Primary election: Trump's pick will win Wisconsin GOP gubernatorial nomination, CNN projects

Tim Michels’ defeat of former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch comes as Republicans are looking to unseat Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in November in a critical battleground state that flipped from Trump to Joe Biden in 2020.

Michels, a construction company owner and political neophyte, won Trump’s endorsement by more aggressively amplifying the former President’s 2020 election lies — most notably in the intra-party debate over whether Wisconsin should seek to decertify Biden’s victory there nearly two years ago. Kleefisch was widely considered the favorite early in the campaign. She spent eight years as former Gov. Scott Walker’s second-in-command and enjoyed the broad backing of the state’s powerful GOP establishment.

Wisconsin is the third state in which Trump and Pence have backed opposing candidates for governor. Trump’s choice in Arizona, Kari Lake, a conservative commentator and election denier, narrowly won the nomination, while Pence’s pick in Georgia, incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp, defeated Trump-backed primary challenger David Perdue, a former senator, in a landslide.

But Trump prevailed in the rubber match between the former running mates as the Republican Party finished filling out its slate of nominees for governor in the five states — Wisconsin, Arizona, Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania — that flipped from Trump in 2016 to Biden four years later. All are expected to be fiercely contested again in 2024, and GOP victories in those political battlegrounds this fall could help ease Trump’s path back to the White House if he runs again.

Wisconsin is also home to a critical GOP primary in the state legislature, where longtime Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, an arch conservative who has mostly gone along with Trump’s 2020 election claims, is being challenged by Adam Steen, who picked up a Trump endorsement because Vos , in the former President’s estimation, has been insufficiently bullish about right-wing efforts to have the state decertify his defeat.

Democrats, meanwhile, were very much enjoying the anticlimactic finish to what many expected to be a closely-contested Senate primary. Lt.Gov. Mandela Barnes will win the Democratic nomination, CNN projects, after his top rivals all dropped out in a span of a few days. Those departures effectively handed him the nomination and a November showdown with Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, one of Trump’s leading defenders in Washington and a top target for Democrats hoping to preserve or potentially expand their Senate majority.

Also in the Upper Midwest on Tuesday, Republicans in Minnesota will pick their candidate to face Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who is seeking a second term.

Scott Jensen, a doctor and former state lawmaker, had all but clinched the nomination after winning the support of the state party. But he made it official on Tuesday night, CNN projects, cruising past underdogs Joyce Lynne Lacey and Bob “Again” Carney Jr.

Jensen is a longtime critic of Walz, mostly railing against statewide lockdowns during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. But he also suggested hospitals inflated their counts of the sick and questioned the safety and efficacy of the vaccines, which Jensen has said he did not receive.

The race between Walz and Jensen could also help determine the fate of abortion rights in Minnesota. Jensen told Minnesota Public Radio in March that he would “try to ban abortion” if elected, a remark Walz and other Democrats have already seized on. Jensen, late last month, backed off his more aggressive language in remarks, saying he supports exceptions to allow abortion in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at risk. But Democrats, emboldened by Kansas’ vote last week to preserve abortion rights in a statewide referendum, are expected to make the issue a central piece of their fall campaign.
Trump fields calls from Republican allies to speed up 2024 bid after FBI raid

Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, the progressive “squad” member from the state’s 5th Congressional District, will survive a surprisingly close primary challenge, CNN projects, from moderate Don Samuels. Omar beat back a well-funded primary rival in 2020, but Samuels entered this race with higher name recognition in the Minneapolis-based district and the support of a big-spending super PAC.

Voters in the current version of southern Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District will choose a replacement to fill the seat of the late Rep. Jim Hagedorn, a Republican who died earlier this year. The special election in the GOP-friendly district features Republican Brad Finstad and Democrat Jeffrey Ettinger. The winner will almost immediately head to Capitol Hill to serve out Hagedorn’s term.
But both candidates were also on the regular primary ballots as they vied for their respective parties’ nominations in a new version of the district, which was redrawn ahead of the midterms. Finstad, a former state lawmaker and USDA official in the Trump administration, will win the GOP nomination, CNN projects. Ettinger, the former Hormel Foods chief executive, is expected to win easily on the Democratic side.

History in the making in Vermont

Vermont Democrats will nominate Rep. Peter Welch, CNN projects, to fill the seat of retiring Sen. Patrick Leahy, who will leave office next year after nearly 50 years on the job. Welch’s decision to run for the Senate created a rare open Democratic primary for the state’s lone House seat, setting in motion a contest that will almost certainly end with a history-making election.

State Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint will win the nomination, CNN projects, defeating Lt. Gov. Molly Gray for the nomination to replace Welch in the House. An overwhelming favorite in the fall, Balint is poised to become the first woman elected to Congress from Vermont, which is the only state that has never sent a woman to represent it at the federal level.

Vermont Democrats face historic decision in open-seat House primary

Little separated Balint and Gray on the major issues, but their candidates split the loyalties of Vermont Sens. Bernie Sanders and Leahy. Sanders and leading progressives from around the country endorsed Balint. Gray had the support of Leahy, who donated to her because of her and said he voted for her, although he did not issue a formal endorsement in the race. Former Vermont Govs. Howard Dean and Madeleine Kunin also backed Gray.

But in a race that saw the candidates themselves about level on fundraising, a flood of outside spending for Balint likely helped tip the scales. The LGBTQ Victory Fund invested about $1 million into the race for Balint, who is gay. She also benefited from spending by the campaign arm of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, whose chair, Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, along with the progressive senators from neighboring Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, endorsed her.

In Connecticut, there is little jeopardy for Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont or Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal. Both were unapposed in their primaries.

On the GOP side, former state lawmaker Themis Klarides, a moderate, will be bested by Trump-backed Leora Levy, CNN projects. A first-time candidate, Levy will move on to face Blumenthal in November. Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski was, like Lamont, alone on the ballot Tuesday — setting the stage for a rematch of their 2018 race.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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