Trump Organization criminally charged by the Manhattan district attorney

It’s happening, it’s finally happening!

After a lengthy legal battle to keep his personal and business tax returns out of prosecutors’ hands, Trump is beginning to see a taste of the consequences of his actions. Investigations into Trump and the Trump organization have been ongoing for three years, and we’re now getting to see the results. Although the investigation has been broad, these charges are tightly focused on fraud related to evading taxes on compensation paid to Trump Organization executives.

There are still juicier cases that we’d all like to see meet the light of day — tax fraud on forgiven debt, improper use of campaign funds, hush money payments, insurance and tax fraud related to real estate valuation — but those will have to wait for another day.

The Trump Organization has been charged with a 15-year scheme to defraud the US government. CFO Allen Weisselberg has been charged with 15 felony counts including grand larceny, criminal tax fraud, and falsifying business records. Prosecutors allege that the Trump Organization maintains two sets of books: an internal set accurately detailing executive compensation and benefits, and an external set excluding those items, so as to avoid paying taxes on those amounts.

One thing we can be relatively certain of. For any charges at all to officially be filed, and especailly for charges this focused on just one aspect of Trump Organization fraud, prosecutors likely have a very strong and winnable case on their hands.

It should come as zero surprise how Trump responded to the charges.