Judge Rules Trump, Eldest Children Must Testify in Fraud Case

washington — 

A New York State Supreme Court judge on Thursday ruled that former President Donald Trump and his two oldest children will have to submit to questioning by the state’s attorney general in a civil investigation into potential fraud at the Trump Organization.

Attorneys representing Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr. and his daughter Ivanka Trump had moved to have subpoenas for their testimony canceled. They contended that it was improper for New York Attorney General Letitia James to be pursuing both a civil and a criminal investigation at the same time. James is cooperating in a criminal case that was brought by the district attorney of Manhattan.

Judge Arthur Engoron said that the Trumps’ legal argument “completely misses the mark” and that the attorney general was within her rights to demand testimony from Trump and his children.

However, while the name of the court on which Engoron sits, the Supreme Court of the state of New York, seems to suggest the ruling’s finality, the outcome is not so certain. The state of New York has two levels of judicial review that are above the Supreme Court — first the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, and finally the Court of Appeals.

This means that the Trumps have the right to appeal Engoron’s ruling, something their attorneys signaled Thursday that they planned to do.

FILE – Michael Cohen, a former attorney to President Donald Trump is seen outside his apartment building, in New York, May 6, 2019.

Case background

The case James is pursuing against Trump has its roots in revelations dating to the closing days of the Trump presidency, when Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, testified before Congress that he was aware of financial irregularities in the Trump Organization’s bookkeeping.

Specifically, Cohen alleged that Trump and Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, systematically under-reported the value of the company’s assets when disclosing them for tax purposes, in order to minimize the firm’s tax liability. Additionally, Cohen said, they would overstate the value of the same assets when pledging them as collateral for bank loans and other financial transactions.

Last month, James submitted a filing to the court listing multiple instances in which the Trump Organization had provided information to different parties in different transactions that was contradicted elsewhere.

In the same filing, James referred to testimony from Weisselberg indicating that Trump kept paper records of his financial transactions, but despite requests from her office, none of those records had been disclosed to investigators.

A raucous hearing

The judge’s ruling on Thursday followed a hearing Wednesday in which the attorney representing Donald Trump, Alina Habba, complained that the investigation was political in nature and ought to be shut down.

More than once, Habba had to be warned to stop interrupting Engoron when he was speaking, and she was also criticized for directly addressing Kevin Wallace, an attorney working for James’ office, a breach of courtroom protocol.

“I want to know, Mr. Wallace, Ms. James, are you going to go after Hillary Clinton for what she’s doing to my client?” Habba demanded at one point. “That she spied at Trump Tower in your state? Are you going to look into her business dealings?”

Habba was referring to a debunked claim that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had somehow conspired to spy on Trump while he was president.

FILE – New York Attorney General Letitia James acknowledges questions from journalists at a news conference, in New York, May 21, 2021.

Unsparing ruling

The claims from Trump’s attorney that James’ investigation has a political taint are based pledges she made as a candidate running for attorney general. James regularly promised to investigate Trump’s business dealings.

In his ruling, Engoron acknowledged that fact, but said that in his view, the significant evidence suggesting potential wrongdoing by the Trump Organization meant that failing to mount an investigation “would have been a blatant dereliction of duty” on James’ part.

“Indeed, the impetus for the investigation was not personal animus, not racial or ethnic or other discrimination, not campaign promises, but was sworn congressional testimony by former Trump associate Michael Cohen that respondents were ‘cooking the books’” he wrote.

Engoron also dismissed the claim by attorneys representing the Trumps that, by forcing them to testify in a civil case, the attorney general would be collecting statements that could be used against them in the criminal probe.

Engoron noted that the Trumps would retain their “absolute right” under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to refuse to answer any questions that they feel might incriminate them. He reminded them that a third Trump child, Eric Trump, had invoked his right more than 500 times in testimony provided in the same case.

Trump, James respond

After the ruling was issued Thursday, Trump issued a rambling statement that repeated the claim that Clinton had spied on him while he was in the White House, attacked James for comments she made about him during her run for office, and insisted there was no basis for either her civil case or the criminal case being pursued by the Manhattan district attorney.

“It is a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in history—and remember, I can’t get a fair hearing in New York because of the hatred of me by Judges and the judiciary. It is not possible!” Trump wrote.

“Today, justice prevailed,” James said in a statement released by her office.

It continued, “No one will be permitted to stand in the way of the pursuit of justice, no matter how powerful they are. No one is above the law.”

Tribunal del Valle rules in favor of the Mayor's Office of Cali for acting unemployed - Cali - Colombia

The claims of the authors of a Popular Action against various State entities for their role in the 2021 national strike were denied, in the first instance, in the Administrative Court of Valle del Cauca “due to the current lack of an object by fact overcome”.

(You can read: They activate protection for a family that asked to stop the death of children in Cali)

The plaintiffs requested the use of public force, militarization and the use of weapons to end the protests of the social outbreak.

The defendant entities, the Presidency of the Republic, the Department of Valle del Cauca, the National Protection Unit, the Ministry of the Interior, the Municipalities of Candelaria, Palmira, Jamundí and the District of Cali, presented their arguments in the response to demand, pointing out the importance of dialogue and agreement, as well as the measures that were taken to lift the blockades.

It should be remembered that the national strike began because of the tax reform proposal presented by the National Government, which generated widespread rejection.

(You may be interested in: Video: motorcyclist breaks glass of MIO bus in Cali)

The director of the Administrative Department of Public Legal Management of the Cali Mayor’s Office, María del Pilar Cano Sterling, pointed out that Cali is a pioneer in building agreements, as happened on May 31, 2021 when Mayor Jorge Iván Ospina signed Decree 0304 of 2021 .

Cano stressed that the essence of Decree 0304 of 2021 was to build trust between the administration and the community in the understanding that dialogue is the way forward, a process that was accompanied by the Archdiocese of Cali and international organizations such as the UN – High Commissioner for Rights Humans, OEA-MAPP, who became guarantors of the processtogether with the Ombudsman, because the priority was to safeguard the lives of citizens.

“Legitimate solutions were sought to strengthen trust in the institutions because dialogue was not being held with groups outside the law, but with young people, some university students who have not been able to continue their studies, high school graduates, unemployed youth, who have not had access to education or a formal job and they had a lot to say”, explained the Legal Director.

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Trump Must Testify in New York Investigation, Judge Rules

NEW YORK — 

A judge ruled Thursday that former President Donald Trump must answer questions under oath in New York state’s civil investigation into his business practices.

Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump and his two eldest children, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., to comply with subpoenas issued in December by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Trump and his two children must sit for a deposition within 21 days, Engoron said.

Engoron issued the ruling after a two-hour hearing with lawyers for the Trumps and James’ office.

“In the final analysis, a State Attorney General commences investigating a business entity, uncovers copious evidence of possible financial fraud, and wants to question, under oath, several of the entities’ principals, including its namesake. She has the clear right to do so,” Engoron wrote in his decision.

FILE – Ivanka Trump, left, and Donald Trump Jr. arrive on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2017.

Spokespeople for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling, which is likely to be appealed.

James, a Democrat, said her investigation has uncovered evidence Trump’s company used “fraudulent or misleading” valuations of assets like golf courses and skyscrapers to get loans and tax benefits.

Trump’s lawyers told Engoron during the hearing that having him sit for a civil deposition now, while his company is also the subject of a parallel criminal investigation, is an improper attempt to get around a state law barring prosecutors from calling someone to testify before a criminal grand jury without giving them immunity.

“If she wants sworn testimony from my client, he’s entitled to immunity. He gets immunity for what he says, or he says nothing,” Trump’s criminal defense lawyer, Ronald Fischetti, said in the hearing, which was conducted by video conference.

If Trump were to testify in the civil probe, anything he says could be used against him in the criminal investigation being overseen by the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

Trump could invoke his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent in a deposition — something he’s criticized others for doing in the past.

A lawyer for the attorney general’s office, Kevin Wallace, told the judge that it wasn’t unusual to have civil and criminal investigations proceeding at the same time.

“Mr. Trump is a high-profile individual, yes. That’s unique,” Wallace said. “It’s unique that so many people are paying attention to a rather dry hearing about subpoena enforcement. But the legal issues that we’re dealing with here are pretty standard.”

Another Trump son, Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization’s finance chief Allen Weisselberg, have previously sat for depositions in the civil investigation — and invoked their Fifth Amendment rights hundreds of times when they were questioned by investigators in 2020.

Alan Futerfas, a lawyer for Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., both of whom have been executives in their family’s Trump Organization, said during the court hearing that so far he had no reason to believe either is a target of the district attorney’s criminal investigation.

In a statement Tuesday, Trump railed against what he called a “sham investigation of a great company that has done a spectacular job for New York and beyond” and a racially motivated “continuation of a Witch Hunt the likes of which has never been seen in this Country before.”

Wallace noted the state attorney general’s office was investigating Trump-related matters as far back as 2013, including probes into his charitable foundation and a Trump University real estate training program that started long before James was elected.

In a court filing this week, James included a letter from Trump’s longtime accounting firm advising him to no longer rely on years of financial statements it prepared based on his company’s valuations, given the questions about their accuracy.

Former US Interior Department Secretary Found to Have Violated Ethics Rules

The inspector general for the U.S. Interior Department released a report Wednesday saying the former department secretary, Ryan Zinke, violated ethics obligations and misused his position while in office through his involvement in a land development deal.

The report, released on the department’s website, details how the Inspector General’s office investigated allegations that Zinke had remained involved in a development project in his home state of Montana after he had taken office. Zinke had been a congressman from Montana before accepting former President Donald Trump’s appointment as interior secretary.

The allegations indicate Zinke and his wife were in negotiations with private developers regarding a commercial development project known as 95 Karrow. One of the developers and primary investors in the 95 Karrow project was a senior executive of the Halliburton Company, who allegedly stood to benefit from official actions Zinke could make as secretary of the Interior.

The report says the Zinkes and the developers all declined to be interviewed for the investigation, but the inspector general’s office subpoenaed the developer for all emails and text messages related to the project. Those communications confirmed the allegations that he had remained involved, even after committing in required documentation to federal officials that he would no longer do so.

In addition, the investigation found Zinke misused his official position in violation of federal regulations by directing his subordinates to assist him with matters related to the project.

The office of the Inspector General said the findings of the report were released last year to the U.S. Justice Department, which declined to prosecute. The office said the report was provided to the current secretary of the Interior “for any action deemed appropriate.”

Zinke is currently a candidate for an open Congressional seat in Montana.

Some information for this report came from the Associated Press.

Hong Kong Rules Out Citywide Lockdown as Cases Continue to Surge

HONG KONG — 

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Tuesday ruled out a citywide lockdown to fight COVID-19, but a surge of infections meant she could not “preclude” the possibility of postponing next month’s chief executive election.

Lam, who has not confirmed whether she will seek another five-year term as head of the Chinese-ruled city, said her government’s response to the outbreak had not been satisfactory, with hospitals and medical staff overwhelmed.

Daily infections have surged by about 20 times over the past two weeks. Health authorities reported 1,619 infections on Tuesday, a new daily record with around 5,400 preliminary positive cases.

“There are no plans for a widespread city lockdown,” Lam told a news conference.

“We cannot surrender to the virus. This is not an option,” she said, doubling down on her ‘dynamic zero’ coronavirus strategy, similar to mainland China which seeks to curb outbreaks as soon as they occur.

People wearing face masks cross a street during the COVID-19 outbreak, in Hong Kong, China, Feb. 15, 2022.

Asked whether Hong Kong’s chief executive election, set for March 27, would go ahead, Lam said that the plans were unchanged, but given “the severity and speed of this latest wave” the situation would be continuously reviewed.

“So, I cannot preclude any possibilities at this moment,” she said.

A committee of 1,500 members, all vetted by authorities for their “patriotism” and loyalty to Beijing, participate in electing the next leader. The chief executive election has never been postponed since the city’s handover from Britain to China in 1997.

Two years ago, authorities cited the coronavirus to postpone legislative elections, in which some seats are assigned via public vote. Those elections were held in December 2021 under new “patriots only” rules imposed by Beijing.

Restrictions on social and public gatherings, imposed after the pandemic first struck, helped Hong Kong’s authorities stifle a pro-democracy movement whose mass protests had rocked the city in 2019, and a national security law imposed by Beijing in June 2020 effectively ended the unrest.

Max capacity

Health authorities said several hospitals were operating at over 100% capacity. At Caritas Medical Center, located on the city’s teeming Kowloon peninsula, dozens of patients lay in numbered beds outside the hospital. Makeshift tents had been set up alongside to treat the patients.

As infections multiplied, Lam said authorities were unable to keep pace with their testing and isolation mandate.

People wearing face masks wait for their swab samples to be collected at a makeshift testing site for COVID-19, in Hong Kong, China, Feb. 15, 2022.

China has said it would help the city boost its testing, treatment and quarantine capacity, and secure resources from rapid antigen kits and protective gear to fresh vegetables.

Lam said the central government would deliver over 100 million testing kits to the territory.

Despite the latest surge, deaths remain far less than in similar-sized cities since the pandemic erupted two years ago.

Hong Kong’s total caseload since the pandemic first erupted is around 26,000 infections, including a little over 200 deaths.

But, with the health care system already cracking, medical experts warn the city could see 28,000 daily infections by the end of March, and there were worries about the large numbers of elderly people who have hesitated to get vaccinated.

Anticipating the need for more isolation facilities, Lam said around 3,000 public housing units and around 10,000 hotel rooms would be converted.

Pandemic fatigue

For Hong Kong residents, the surge in cases comes amid rising pandemic fatigue. Strict restrictions have effectively sealed the city’s borders for around two years and turned the once global hub into one of the world’s most isolated major cities.

Venues from churches, pubs, schools and gyms remain shut, with public gatherings of more than two people banned. Dining in restaurants is not allowed after 6 p.m., while most people are working from home.

Hong Kong will introduce a vaccine pass starting February 24 where residents will have to show proof of vaccination before entering restaurants, supermarkets and shopping malls.

Barranquilla: mobile political advertising rules 2022 - Barranquilla - Colombia

Before the election day that is approaching (March 13) for the Congress of the Republic, the Mayor’s Office of Barranquilla regulated mobile political advertising or vehicle policy guideline.

(Also read: ‘Aida Merlano will be sued for false testimony’: Álex Char’s lawyer)

In accordance with the legal provision, this type of advertising must occupy an area less than or equal to 70 percent of the surface of the side where the advertising material is installed.

The size of the guideline is what determines if the driver has to pay a monthly amount of up to 233,000 pesos in white plate cars or 100,000 pesos if it is yellow plate.

Another modality is micro-perforated advertising, which does not hinder the driver’s visibility and is located on the rear window of the vehicle.

This modality is exempt from the procedure, that is, it does not need to be legalized, as reported by the District.

He also indicated that it is appropriate for citizens supporters of a candidateparty, political movement, social movement or significant group of citizens only within the electoral calendar for the Congress of the Republic.

In this sense, those in charge of ensuring compliance with this regulation through controls and operations will be the Secretariat of Urban Control and Public Space and the Secretariat of Traffic and Road Safety.

(You may be interested: Barranquilla registers a decrease in covid-19 pandemic indicators)

These are the penalties

Expand the opportunities for said parties and movements to use these spaces

The Mayor explained that apply offense B11consisting of driving a vehicle with propaganda, advertising or stickers on its windows that hinder visibility.

This corresponds to a sanction with eight current monthly legal minimum wages (SMLMV), which is equivalent to 249,686 pesos.

Actions taken by the District are reported to the National Electoral Council and forwarded to the urban process area so that they initiate the pertinent actions according to their competence.

This procedural action can generate fines that range from one and a half to 40 current monthly legal minimum wages.

“With reference to this provision on mobile advertising, it is to expand the opportunities for said parties and movements to use these spaces to place their advertising without any formality before our secretariat,” said the Secretary of Urban Control and Public Space, Ángelo Cianci .

BARRANQUILLA

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Sánchez asks the EU partners not to create blocs in the face of fiscal rules | Economy

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, asked the EU partners this Wednesday not to form blocs in the face of the debate on the future of fiscal rules and that, together, they share opinions on how to reconcile fiscal sustainability and investments for economic transformation.

Sánchez has advocated that formula when addressing the reestablishment of the EU fiscal rules that are currently on hold at the press conference he has offered together with the Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin.