On Monday, December 19, the January 6 Committee of the House of Representatives voted to recommend four criminal charges against TFG (the former Guy) for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 elections. The charges include:
Obstruction of an Official Proceeding
Conspiracy to Defraud the United States
Conspiracy to Make a False Statement
Incite, Assist, or Aid and Comfort an Insurrection
Although these referrals are merely recommendations to the Department of Justice, they put additional pressure on the department to act, and lawmakers are expected to unveil new evidence in their final report (due out on Thursday of this week).
Then the next day — Tuesday, December 20 — the House Ways and Means Committee (the tax-law writing committee in the House) voted to release TFG’s tax returns to the public. These were the returns that TFG resisted turning over for more than six years, claiming – falsely, as it turned out – that he was under audit. So far we have been able to see only two reports about these tax filings – one by the House Ways and Means Committee and a second report by the Joint Tax Committee of Congress. The Joint Tax Committee is full of high-powered and experienced tax lawyers who understand the tax code better than pretty much anyone in Washington.
So far we have only read tidbits about what the tax returns tell us.
Not only was he not under audit as he claimed — a routine mandatory IRS tax audit applied to every President since Richard Nixon was not performed while TFG was President. We don’t know yet whether this was incompetence, short staffing, or a direct order from the guy who appointed the head of the IRS – TFG himself. But I have a guess, don’t you?
His income varied wildly from one year to the next, and there was little supporting information to bolster his filing. He claimed income and expenses without providing any back-up material.
He actually claim losses for several years, based on reported business expenses that were not supported by evidence
He “loaned” a lot of money to his children; these loans were likely disguised gifts, which allowed him to avoid paying a gift tax on them
Much of his income came from foreign sources, although the entities are not described in detail in the tax filing. It should make us wonder how much of his foreign-policy decision-making was based on how the decision would impact his investments.
I’m not a tax lawyer or a CPA, so I’m depending on those folks telling me what’s important about all of this. But I remember in TFG’s 2016 presidential debate against Hillary Clinton; when the question of his taxes was raised, he defended paying little in taxes by saying that he was smarter than the people who paid high taxes and that basically only dopes pay taxes. What he didn’t say was that he accomplished this by cheating on a massive scale. But why should anyone be surprised that he cheated on his taxes? He publicly cheated on his wives and he famously cheats at golf. He lies and he cheats because he has always gotten away with it. Rules exist to be broken, in his mind.
Meanwhile, Jack Smith (the special prosecutor appointed to focus on two cases relating to TFG – the efforts to undo the 2020 election and the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago) is gathering information, convening a new grand jury, and interviewing witnesses in these two cases. Not much is leaking from Smith’s work, but people who are on the receiving end of his subpoenas or other requests for information are talking. The J6 Committee is giving all of its information – including millions of pages of documents and interview transcripts as well as video – to DOJ, which means to Jack Smith. TFG can only sit – and sweat – at Mar-a-Lago.
TFG has never been held accountable for anything in his life. Now he is threatened with new criminal investigations from DOJ and possible criminal charges for tax fraud – while he is still facing state charges in New York and in Atlanta. He is raving over on his little Truth Social platform, while his political support within the GOP is waning. He voter base is still with him, but even they won’t abide the crazy for too long.
And you solicited my comment! Thanks
And you solicited my comment. Thanks