Report: Donald Trump has spent millions in possible witness tampering

Authored by nj.com and submitted by CrispyMiner

It pays to be a witness in a criminal trial against Donald Trump. Literally.

At least nine witnesses in the former president’s various legal cases received huge pay raises, generous severance packages, new job offers and other financial benefits from Trump’s campaign, according to an investigation by ProPublica.

The benefits have flowed from Trump’s businesses and campaign committees, according to a ProPublica analysis of public disclosures, court records and securities filings. One campaign aide had his average monthly pay double, from $26,000 to $53,500. Another employee got a $2 million severance package barring him from voluntarily cooperating with law enforcement. And one of the campaign’s top officials had her daughter hired onto the campaign staff, where she is now the fourth-highest-paid employee.

These pay increases and other benefits often came at delicate moments in the legal proceedings against Trump. One aide who was given a plum position on the board of Trump’s social media company, for example, got the seat after he was subpoenaed but before he testified.

Significant changes to a staffer’s work situation, such as bonuses, pay raises, firings or promotions, can be evidence of a crime if they come outside the normal course of business. To prove witness tampering, prosecutors would need to show that perks or punishments were intended to influence testimony.

ProPublica reported it would be difficult to prove the actions amount to witness tampering and that there was no evidence that Trump himself approved the benefits.

Trump became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes in May after a jury found him guilty of all 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex.

There are three other cases against him that are still pending.

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Matt Arco may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco.

novium258 on June 4th, 2024 at 00:44 UTC »

Link to propublica report: https://www.propublica.org/article/donald-trump-criminal-cases-witnesses-financial-benefits

spot-da-bot on June 4th, 2024 at 00:35 UTC »

This article is a rehash of the ProPublica article that came out this morning. Trump is trying to allegedly pay off witnesses in his top-secret documents trial.

I guess having a judge in your pocket is not enough.

According to records reviewed by ProPublica, monthly payments from Trump’s campaign to Trump lawyer Boris Epshteyn’s company—which appears to be just a one-man show—more than doubled after Trump was indicted—jumping from $26,000 a month to $53,500 a month. The Trump campaign told ProPublica the increase was due to Epshteyn’s workload increasing, even though Epshteyn has continued taking contracts for other campaigns and landed a job as a managing director at a financial securities firm elsewhere.

Susie Wiles, senior adviser to Trump’s 2024 campaign who allegedly witnessed Trump showing off classified documents, also saw a big bump in pay after being called to a grand jury and before Trump’s indictment in that case. Her pay jumped from $25,000 a month to $30,000 a month and her consulting firm received a hefty $75,000, according to ProPublica. Team Trump claims payments to the consulting firm were simply backpay and her raise was because she “redid her contract.” Her daughter Caroline was hired by the Trump campaign a few months later, receiving a salary of $222,000 and becoming the fourth-highest-paid campaign staffer. Caroline told ProPublica she got the job “because I earned it,” telling ProPublica, “I don’t think it has anything to do with Susie,” referring to her mother. Meanwhile, her mother stated she directly hired her nepobaby daughter and that Trump had no influence in that decision.

Dan Scavino, a political adviser and Trump’s former chief of staff, was given a seat on Truth Social’s board, Trump’s social media company. His appointment landed between him being subpoenaed and giving testimony to Congress about Trump’s role in the January 6 Capitol riot. Scavino also received a $600,000 retention bonus and “a $4 million ‘executive promissory note’ paid in shares” at some point, according to ProPublica. Conveniently, Scavino’s testimony around the Capitol riot produced no “significant new information,” according to ProPublica.

Allen Weisselberg, a retired Trump Organization chief financial officer who was recently convicted of lying for Trump, received a $2 million severance

ChanceryTheRapper on June 4th, 2024 at 00:17 UTC »

First question from the prosecution should then be, "Have you received any compensation from the defendant, one of his corporations, or someone representing him?"