NY prosecutors set Monday deadline for Trump Organization lawyers

Prosecutors in New York have given former President Trump‘s attorneys until Monday afternoon to argue why the Trump Organization should not face criminal charges, The Washington Post reported.

Last week, it was reported that the Manhattan district attorney’s office was considering charging the Trump Organization and executive Allen Weisselberg with crimes. According to the New York Times, Trump’s attorneys have asked prosecutors from the district attorney’s office not to file charges against the corporation.

The Trump Organization’s attorneys now have until Monday to make a case for why the charges should not be filed, according to two sources close to the situation.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office is looking into the company’s financial dealings and whether it inflated the value of some assets in order to deceive lenders and insurers. The charges against Weisselberg are said to be related to tax evasion.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. (D) and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) are working together on the investigation. No charges have been filed yet.

HOW DID TRUMP TAKE THE NEWS?

On May 19th, Trump called a criminal investigation that was confirmed by the New York Attorney General’s office into the Trump Organization a “political witch hunt.”

Trump said that “there is nothing more corrupt than an investigation that is in desperate search of a crime.”

“But, make no mistake, that is exactly what is happening here,” he said of the investigation. “The attorney general of New York literally campaigned on prosecuting Donald Trump even before she knew anything about me.”

The former president noted that James, a Democrat, said during her campaign that she would use her office to investigate Trump’s real estate business.

According to Trump, James said in clips: “Just wait until I’m in the attorney general’s office,” as well as, ”I’ve got my eyes on Trump Tower.”

Describing the scenario as something that “happens in failed third-world countries,” Trump argued that James “made each of these statements, not after having had an opportunity to actually look at the facts, but BEFORE she was even elected, BEFORE she had seen even a shred of evidence.”

Additionally, Trump said that Democratic district attorneys and prosecutors are focusing on him, instead of trying to deal with a surge in violent crime in recent months.

“These Democrat offices are consumed with this political and partisan Witch Hunt, at a time when crime is up big in New York City, shootings are up 97 percent, murders are up 45 percent, a rate not seen in 40 years,” the former president said.