The five independent investigators who are probing Donald Trump
- The elected officials are from Georgia to New York to Washington
- While most are Democrats, one probe was launched by a Georgia Republican
- The investigators only have their constituents to answer to
Former president Donald Trump is facing probes from five independently elected investigators, adding to his already piled up legal woes.
The elected officials are from Georgia to New York to Washington, who only have their constituents to answer to.
While most of them are Democrats, one key investigation was launched by a Georgia Republican who came in the line of Trump’s scathing attack since the election.
Find out who are the five officials:
New York – Cyrus Vance
In Manhattan, it is District Attorney Cyrus Vance who has been investigating Trump’s finances for two years.
Not expected to run for reelection, the Democrat has just 10 months left in his term and will be looking to wrap up his investigation as soon as possible.
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Along with interviewing witnesses, subpoenaing documents from lenders, prosecutors received the record of Trump’s tax returns, financial statements, and communications between the former president’s Organization and Mazars, Trump’s long-time accountant.
Vance, the son of a former US secretary of state and Washington insider, spent the better part of his legal career as a white-collar criminal defense lawyer.
He ran for district attorney and was sworn into office in 2010 after a more than 30-year run by his predecessor Robert Morgenthau.
On the Trump investigation, he said, Vance will not be political.
New York – Letitia James
New York Attorney General Letitia James has always been determined to investigate and challenge Trump’s ever policy and finances.
“I’m running for attorney general because I will never be afraid to challenge this illegitimate president when our fundamental rights are at stake,” James said at the time.
Since then she challenged the Trump administration’s addition of a citizen question to the US census, pushed for the passage of a law to close a presidential pardon loophole, and wrapped up a lawsuit left by her predecessor leading to the dissolution of the Trump Foundation.
Now her office is digging into Trump’s business and personal finances, trying to gauge whether assets were improperly valued and if banks or tax authorities were defrauded.
Meanwhile, James is likely to have hands full as she is supposed to select an independent law firm to investigate the sexual allegations made against Governor Andrew Cuomo by three separate women.
Earlier, Trump had seized on James’ past comments, alleging her actions against him are politically motivated.
Georgia – Brad Raffensperger
Meanwhile, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office is also investigating Trump, for his attempts to overturn the state’s election results.
After Trump lost the presidential election, he pushed Raffensperger to “find” votes to overturn the results in a January phone call.
Initially, Georgia’s top election official said he had supported Trump and publicly stated multiple times that he wished Trump had won.
Since the rioting at the US Capitol on January 6, Raffensperger has offered a more critical take on Trump’s actions. “Many of the actions that he’s taken since then are not what you would expect from a president,” Raffensperger told CNN in January.
According to reports from CNN, the Georgia secretary of state’s investigation confirmed officials are looking at two calls. One is the aforementioned January phone call.
The other involves a call Trump made on December 23, to a Georgia election investigator in the secretary of state’s office who was leading a probe into allegations of ballot fraud in Cobb County.
Trump is heard asking the chief investigator with Raffensperger’s office to “find the fraud,” saying the official would be a “national hero.”
Georgia – Fani Willis
Georgia hasn’t been the kindest to Donald Trump over the last few months. In addition to the probe launched by Raffensperger’s office, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is also looking into Trump’s call to the secretary of state.
When that call took place on January 2, it had been only been a day since Willis was inducted into the office.
By early February, her office began firing off letters to Georgia officials asking them to preserve documents related to attempts to influence the state’s election.
According to reports, none of the Georgia officials are targets of the investigation.
Willis, a Democrat and a longtime prosecutor, became the county’s first female district attorney in January.
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Meanwhile, Willis has informed Trump investigation will stretch beyond his call to Raffensperger to include any efforts to influence the election in Georgia. She has said in interviews she may begin requesting subpoenas from a grand jury as early as March.
Washington DC – Karl Racine
Karl Racine became Washington DC’s first elected attorney general when he took office in 2015.
Previously, Racine slapped a lawsuit on Trump alleging conflicts between the then president’s business interests and his oath of office.
However, when Trump left office, the lawsuit was rendered moot.
Meanwhile, in Racine’s latest probe, prosecutors will investigate whether the former President’s alleged role in the Capitol attack violated the city’s incitement of violence law.
Although Racine has said he is focused on the incitement of violence charge available to him under the DC code, the charge only carries a maximum of six months in prison, and experts opined Racine wouldn’t have the authority to force the former president back to Washington to appear in front of the court.
Racine did reveal in January that his office was “collaborating at a high level with federal prosecutors,” CNN reported.
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