Heres how it came to be. In may of this year, may 22nd, the New York Times had a scoop that they probably only got because they are specifically the New York Times. They sent crack reporters to an otherwise sleepy courthouse in albany, new york, not a Federal Courthouse, a state court, because that day in that state court in new york, a longtime Business Partner of Michael Cohens, A Taxicab Mogul Named Gene Friedman Who everybody called the taxi king, he was in court. He had been facing really serious charges in new york, Tax Evasion Charges in new york more than 5 million and four criminal counts of tax fraud and facing a charge of grand larceny. A big stack of charges involving a large amount of money and potentially a large amount of jail time. The story they uncovered at the courthouse that day, for some reason, friedman had gotten this huge Criminal Liability he was facing winnowed down to almost
nothing. He was able to work out some sort of deal where all of that prison time and
Rachel Maddow takes a look at the days top political news stories. Charge of grand larceny, a big stack of charges involving a large amount of money and potentially a large amount of jail time. The story they uncovered at the courthouse that day, for some reason, friedman had gotten this huge Criminal Liability he was facing winnowed down to almost nothing. All the prison time and felonies evaporated. Instead of being tried for evading 5 million in taxes, prosecutors let him plead guilty to one count of evaluating 50,000 worth of taxes. Not 5 million, 50,000. Instead of decades in potential prison time the deal he cut with prosecutors got him zero prison time. People do plea deals all the time they offer their testimony for prosecutors letting them off the hook and going easier on
them. This was like the mother of all plea deals. The amount he offered must have been very very valuable to the government given how sweet the deal was he got from them in return. That happened in late may.
may drochl some of it may be federal. some may not the new york state attorney general has asked for a state criminal referral of michael conon state tax charges in addition to the federal tax charges he s already pled guilty to. we learned at the same time that we learned at the same time of that revelation from the new york state attorney general that cohen also has already been suspended by new york state authorities to testify about the trump foundation. new york attorney general has brought a civil lawsuit against the trump foundation. the new york district attorney is reportedly considering criminal charges against the trump organization, which is president trump s business. that criminal investigation reportedly derives from the trump organization s role in the felony charges to which michael cohen already pled guilty in federal court. you know it does seem like the doors are starting to rattle on the business, over at the trump organization. cnn reporting today that a
i mean, part of it is settled. the day he was first convicted in federal court, michael cohen pled guilty in a different cun federal court to eight federal felony charges. that wasn t the ends with michael cohen. it now seems like other shoes may drop and some of it may be federal, some of it may not. the new york state attorney general has asked for a state criminal referral of michael cohen on state tax charges in addition to the federal tax charges he s already pled guilty to. we learned at the same time that we learned at the same time of that revelation from the new york state attorney general that cohen also has already been subpoenaed by new york state authorities to testify about the trump foundation. new york attorney general has brought a civil lawsuit against the trump foundation. the new york district attorney is also reportedly considering criminal charges against the trump organization which is president trump s business. that criminal investigation reportedly derives fro
with is flagpole. when that got settled, and trump had to pay money to settle that lawsuit, trump said pay that out of the charity funds. that s not coming out of my pocket. you cannot use your charity for that. barbara underwood caught him doing it and filed this blistering lawsuit with lots of evidence including literally embedded in the text of the lawsuit, a civil lawsuit she brings in new york state but she forwards all this evidence she gathered to the irs for them to investigate as potential criminal tax matter and to the federal election commission for them to investigate it as a potential set of criminal campaign finance violations. she ccs it to the public integrity division at the u.s. justice department. and within new york state, the state tax department starts investigating that evidence as well as laid out by barbara underwood to see if in addition to the civil lawsuit there should be a state criminal referral against the trump