TRUMP SWAMP Trump's Cloud Of Legal Woes Will Hang Over Midterm Elections
By Allegra Kirkland | June 29, 2018 6:00 am
An unusual scheduling request was made at a court appearance this week involving the New York attorney generals lawsuit against the Donald J. Trump Foundation. Foundation lawyer Alan Futerfas asked that a hearing related to the complaint, which accuses Trump of using the charitys funds as a personal piggy bank, be postponed until after Nov. 6. That date, perhaps not coincidentally, is the day of the midterm elections.
Acknowledging that people are busy, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Saliann Scarpulla denied the request, saying she had cleared her calendar to handle the Trump Foundation case. Scarpulla set the next conference in the case for Oct. 11, ensuring fresh headlines about the alleged violation of state and federal law by the President and his three eldest children in the weeks before voters go to the polls.
This is only one of several serious legal matters hanging over Trump. There are also defamation suits from two women whom the President denied having sexual contact with: former Apprentice star Summer Zervos, who says Trump groped her without consent, and former adult film star Stormy Daniels, who claims they carried on a months-long affair. Trumps longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen is under federal criminal investigation for his business dealings. Then theres the biggie: special counsel Robert Muellers sprawling investigation into whether Trumps 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to win the White House, which touches
Legal experts tell TPM theres no practical reason for any of those matters to be resolved before the midterms.
It would be an extreme reach to suggest that an otherwise proper legal case, civil or criminal, should be delayed simply because a political party associated with one of the named parties has an election coming up, Pat Cotter, a former federal prosecutor and white-collar defense attorney, said.
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