Oh yes... I really hope Trumps house of cards is going to come crashing down. If there's one thing that always catches up notable villains in modern history its fraud and taxes.

I wish I could count all the ways people have said the walls are closing in and "his house will come crashing down".......well actually I can

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1ab6uxg908

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLEchPZm318

I have 0 sympathy from Trump, but this is an extremely sleazy behavior by his accounting firm. So after signing off his taxes for 9 years, suddenly and all of a sudden they realized they've been mistaken? Oh, and the prosecutor probe happening at the same time is just a mere coincidence.

I truly hope he is found guilty, but I also hope the SEC will take a deeper look at his accounting firm as they are either extremely incompetent or complicit.

We will just have to wait and see, certainly, Trump's accountants throwing him under the bus will help the Department of Justice.

In an unusual situation, Sarah Palin (who Trump once described as "hot") is pursuing a libel case against the New York Times, although the jury is out considering the legal stuff the judge has thrown the case out; saying the libel is not proven.

The Palin case was always going to be difficult as it's near impossible to sue a media organization unless they are blatantly egregious or inflame to put your life at risk. (i.e Covington case) It probably didn't help the case that the case was heard in Manhattan.

It was nonetheless a black eye for them as it dragged some of their editorial processes through the mud. The judge made the following remark at the end:

An accountant only reports what you tell him. There are many disclaimers in any tax form filed on behalf of a client by an accounting firm. No incompetence or complicity needed.

Do I understand correctly that they also audited the accounts? I say complicit, and now running for the hills.

That does kind of make some sense. I saw one article that stated the accountants have probably turned over hundreds of thousands of documents to the prosecutors. They now have a conflict of interest because in order to save their own A$$es they will be throwing the Trump Co under the bus.

This wasn't all just about taxes. The same accounting company is the company that has put together all of the financial statements for the last 10 years or so, and those are what the prosecutors are going after Trump with.

Yes, they would have taken the numbers Trump gave them to create the documents, but there should have been some checking into the validity of those numbers, in which case, they may now be complicit as well.

Not getting my point at all. I didn't say it's not the problem. I said that very many are capable of it but want to hear a different message. And talking about educating all those people is nonsense when many of them are financially struggling or insecure in the first place. It's a patronising and unrealistic non-solution.

They may have put together the financial statements, but it's going to be "he said, she said" when it comes to blame:

https://www.propublica.org/article/m...her-than-he-is

That's a rather bold claim. Arthur Anderson, the company that did Enron's accounting, went bankrupt for their facilitating role in the fraud. After ten years Mazars will have a trouble claiming innocence.

Even if that's not on the horizon, Mazars are basically saying they better not be trusted, and start their own demise by that. Especially now that they're on law enforcement's radar already. Clients will run as if they were the devil.

Would not be the first time that Trump's accountants were censured by the SEC, today, the CEO of Mazars USA is the same partner who was suspended by the SEC for four years for improper conduct.

However loyal they were to Trump I assume they decided that risking going with him to jail was a step too far. I would not be surprised to hear they have already done a deal with the Dept. of Justice to dump Trump and protect themselves.

Cartainly a strange decision by Palin knowing there was little chance of success.

I hope you are right, but so far all the characters involved have avoided serious consequences. I guess I've given up on seeing any.

I'm not saying there will be any, just that there were in other cases. Which of course requires illegalities in the first place, which (at least in theory) has nothing to do with party affiliation or political leaning or working for Republicans.

Yes, I'm aware of the whole Enron mess...in fact, I paid the price, in the form of $400/mo. electric bills. Prebble's "Enron" is a hell of a good read. What made my antennae stand up was the line in the Mazars letter saying they had prepared statements based on information provided by (the Trump camp) in "accordance with professional standards." Looks to me like they will try to claim they took the Trump camp's numbers as gospel. There have been articles outlining NY's challenges in verifying real estate values, for example...lotta wiggle room there, methinks. Wonder if they've bargained lower penalties in exchange for those 500,000+ pages of documents?

I think it’s a case of win-win

1) She wins, it would really force media to tighten up on their editing policy
2) The case was strong enough to at least force discovery and depositions. There were quite a few embarrassing things to come out of this and who knows if NYT said something under oath that can later be disproven. It’s also expensive to defend such a case and I saw no mention of Palin having to pay their expenses.
3) She has the time to sue, she’s not doing anything currently and this case gets her in the spotlight again and a launching pad to other stuff.

Sometimes you lose a battle but win the war

I seem to remember that those penalties are part of a public register. Either way their "irreconcilable conflicts of interests" imply they're willing to throw the Trump clan under the bus in order to protect themselves.

They won't go to jail with Trump because he's not going to jail. Everyone around him could wind up there, but it's almost certain he never would unless Congress intervened in some way to change the law. See the Former Presidents Act.

Agree with kiwiguy on Palin. She still wants to be relevant and who knows, maybe she will run in 2024!

Thank you but I do not see the relevance of this Act?
I am sure the Secret Service would do a great job of protecting Trump in jail.

According to court filings when Paul Manafort was in jail he did not wear an orange jumpsuit or any other prison uniform, he had a cell with a private toilet and shower.

California has luxury "pay to stay" jails.

I am sure they can find a solution for Trump.