Donald Trump Jr has spoken out against the investigations into his family’s business dealings that are costing his father a fortune.

Trump Jr spoke to Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Tuesday – weeks after New York Attorney General Letitia James announced last month that her civil probe into the Trump Organization’s business dealings had turned into a criminal one.

‘Even if they don’t get anything, they get you to spend millions of dollars and that’s sort of a win in of itself. And its tens of millions of dollars,’ Trump Jr said. 

During the segment, Trump Jr railed against James for ‘political persecution’ – while revealing his father’s potential defense strategy if he is indicted on criminal charges by targeting James for campaigning on promises to investigate Donald Trump. 

‘It’s a political persecution. I know that because she literally campaigned on it. She was going to investigate the crimes,’ Trump Jr said.

‘The problem is it wasn’t as if she was a part of this office – she had no idea – but, in New York, it’s okay to try to persecute your political enemies, to target them, to try to hurt them and they have been doing that for years.’

Donald Trump Jr spoke out against the investigations into his family’s business dealings that are costing his father a fortune

During the segment, Trump Jr railed against James for ‘political persecution’

Trump is facing two investigations into his business practices in New York, the investigation by James and an investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.

He added that ‘there’s plenty of video’ of James making her campaign promises ‘based on no information, based on no actual knowledge.’

Trump Jr also denied that his father had committed any crimes and accused prosecutors of ‘trying to investigate to create a crime.’ 

He then appeared to say that if his father is found guilty of criminal charges ‘there’s nowhere you can go, there’s no one you can appeal to because then you end up with another leftist judge making the decision.’

‘The Trump Derangement Syndrome has brought out the worst in all of the other side but it is unprecedented, and it’s going on in America today,’ Trump Jr said.

The former president’s son, an executive vice president at the Trump Organization, then rattled off a series of points claiming that normal citizens can face the same level of so-called persecution.

‘If you can go after a former president target them for years, imagine what they could do to the regular person,’ he said.

Trump Jr then made a reference to ‘corruption’ at the FBI, an apparent reference to Republican allegations that former acting director Andrew G. McCabe and other top officials acted with political bias against Donald Trump.

‘We’ve seen sort of the corruption at the highest levels of the FBI over the last few years,’ Trump Jr said. 

Letitia James addresses a news conference at her office in New York on May 21 in which she said that she has assigned two lawyers to work with Vance’s office

Trump is also facing an investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr, pictured

He also appeared to defend Capitol rioters, alleging that the FBI has been targeting ‘anyone remotely anywhere near the East Coast on January 6’ while allegedly neglecting to charge Black Lives Matter protesters for months of demonstrations last year that, at times, turned violent in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

‘People who have burned down buildings, who have taken over buildings, who have looted, who have committed arson, committed murder for the 12 months prior, total pass. They’re not interested,’ Trump Jr said. 

‘This is what’s going on, the entire system has been corrupted and what’s worse is that there’s no way to stop the nonsense.’

He also told New York prosecutors to concentrate their efforts on lowering New York City’s crime rates – which have risen dramatically over the last year. 

‘In New York, crime is going through the roof. Taxes are going to go through the roof. Property values are going down. Murder rates are skyrocketing,’ Trump Jr said.

‘Rather than using taxpayer dollars to go and solve those issues to prevent the degeneration of New York even further, they’re going to continue to spend those taxpayer dollars targeting their enemies and that’s pretty disgusting.’

Trump is facing two investigations into his business practices in New York, the investigation by James and an investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.

James recently announced that her office would also working alongside Vance’s probe as she said she has assigned two lawyers to work with the his office on a criminal investigation into Trump’s business dealings.

James, a Democrat, said her office is also continuing its ongoing civil investigation into the the Republican ex-president and the Trump Organization.

‘Two of our assistant attorney generals have been cross designated as district attorneys,’ James said at a news conference on an unrelated topic.

The investigations by James and Vance both seem to have started because of Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen who turned on his longtime friend after pleading guilty to lying to Congress and making hush-money payments for him.

Vance started his criminal investigation in 2018 after Cohen pleaded guilty and quickly expanded as he sought out Trump’s tax records.

Prosecutors finally obtained his tax records in March, after a protracted legal battle that ended when the Supreme Court ruled Trump had to hand them over.

Vance is leaving office at the end of the year meaning there’s a good chance he’ll pass the two-year probe to his successor.

New York prosecutors are reportedly focusing their criminal probe on former President Donald Trump’s Seven Springs compound, pictured 

Prosecutors are analyzing the documents obtained through the subpoena while investigating if Trump inflated the value of the property

He had hoped to turn the 212-acre estate into a luxury golf course but faced local opposition

The front page of one of the subpoenas demanding documents related to the property is pictured

It was also recently revealed by the Washington Post that Manhattan prosecutors have convened the grand jury that will weigh criminal charges against Donald Trump.

The grand jury will also consider whether other Trump Organization executives or the business itself will be prosecuted, the Washington Post reported.

The Post reported that the panel will sit for three days a week for roughly six months.

The members on the panel will hear a number of cases, which is traditional with New York State grand juries. They aren’t convened on a case-by-case basis.

Both investigations into Trump are said to have started with his former friend and attorney Michael Cohen, pictured 

The convening of the grand jury is the latest development in Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s case against the former president which has picked up steam. It also indicates Vance may have evidence of criminality against Trump. 

New York prosecutors are reportedly focusing their criminal probe on former President Donald Trump’s Seven Springs compound to investigate whether the value of was inflated for tax breaks, it has been reported.

Prosecutors have obtained dozens of land deal records relating to the 60-room sandstone chateau in Bedford, downstate New York, while investigating if the former president inflated the value of the sprawling property.

The estate, which has a forecourt and fountain, also boasts three pools, carriage houses and even a suspected bat population on the grounds, the Daily Beast reported.

The outlet obtained copies of subpoenas James and Vance have filed since 2019 seeking documents related to the estate.

Trump bought the property for only $7.5 million in 1996, hoping to turn the 212-acre estate into a luxury golf course but facing local opposition.

In 2012, he valued the property at $291 million but local agents estimated the property would trade for around $50 million or less.

When plans for a golf course fell through, he gave away his land rights to a conservation group – allowing him to take a $21.1 million tax deduction in 2015.

Trump granted a conservation easement of about 158 acres to the North American Land Trust. The land rights donation would leave a portion of the property untouched and completely undeveloped from which a tax break could be earned.

The higher the valuation of the property, the larger the tax deduction allowed. 

The Daily Beast revealed that three New York towns turned over dozens of documents relating to the failed development of the luxury Westchester County golf course. 

The two investigations have now overlapped with both investigative teams concentrating their efforts on the property, the Daily Beast reported.

Trump, whose business was hammered by the COVID-19 pandemic, faces a $1.1 billion mountain of debt wrapped up in his skyscrapers and golf courses. PICTURED: Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C.

Michael Cohen has praised the revelation of a grand jury in a tweet

Vance has also reportedly been investigating the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., the Wall Street Journal reported last week. 

It remains unknown what role the hotel may play in Vance’s investigation or a concurrent one by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The Trump Organization has put the lease of the Pennsylvania Avenue hotel in up for sale in a second attempt to dump the property, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

Trump’s company, which does not own the building, leases it from the General Services Administration and has hired the Newmark Group to sell the lease, sources told the outlet. 

Bank records for longtime Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg were subpoenaed in March, people familiar with the matter revealed as questions emerged over gifts he received from the former president.

Manhattan prosecutors investigating the Trump Organization issued the subpoena as they turned their attention to the man who oversaw Trump Organization finances for decades, the sources told The New York Times.

It’s unclear if Weisselberg, who has not been accused of wrongdoing, will cooperate with the investigation.

Weisselberg’s former daughter-in-law Jennifer said earlier in March he will ‘turn on’ Donald Trump and revealed she has also given documents to prosecutors investigating the former president.

People familiar with the situation told the Times that prosecutors working for Vance have also subpoenaed records from several banks where Trump or his company hold accounts – including JPMorgan Chase and Capital One.

They are also separately seeking a new round of general ledgers and other internal documents from the Trump Organization.

Jennifer Weisselberg said she thinks Allen Weisselberg will turn on Donald Trump to protect his own kids from liability

Jack Weisselberg, Allen Weisselberg, and Barry Weisselberg are pictured together

Allen Weisselberg may prove to be critical in federal proves into the Trump Organization’s finances

Jennifer Weisselberg, who was married to Allen’s son Barry from 2004 to 2018, told CNN host Chris Cuomo that her former father-in-law will flip on Trump to protect his own kids from liability.

Both of Allen’s sons were personally involved with the Trump Organization, including Barry – who has managed an ice skating rink in Central Park on behalf of the company for years.

‘I think that he’ll turn on him,’ Jennifer said of Trump’s CFO. ‘I think that his sons have too much liability.’

Weisselberg has spoken candidly about his role in the Trump Organization during a June 2015 deposition tied to lawsuits over Trump University, the New York Daily News reported last month.

The outlet obtained deposition documents that appear to show that Weisselberg brushed aside interest in or knowledge of the legalities of the company’s operations.

‘That’s not my thing,’ Weisselberg said during the 2015 deposition, according to the New York Daily News. 

In the newly revealed depositions, Weisselberg acknowledged that he eavesdropped on a discussion between Trump lawyers about the legalities of branding the now-defunct Trump University as a university.

Trump University was a real estate training program that ran from 2005 until 2010, and was not an accredited college or university.

Weisselberg admitted in the deposition that he didn’t look further into the discussion and the legalities.

The money man admitted during the deposition to asking other executives in a 2005 email if the Trump Organization planned to ‘just set up a fictitious office in Illinois/Delaware’ as they dealt with alleged illegality of marketing it as a university.

However, Weisselberg claimed in the deposition that his email was specifically focused on costs.

‘I can’t help them with that role. That’s not my thing,’ he testified. ‘I was only concerned about the economic side of it. They were handling the legal side of it.’

Former President Donald Trump raged against Manhattan prosecutors for conducting a ‘purely political’ investigation in a statement made to his website

The Daily Beast reported on Saturday that Trump has been furious since news of the grand jury broke.

Trump’s advisers have reportedly worked to reassure the former president that they don’t think New York prosecutors will actually indict him, sources told the outlet.

‘I told him that he has nothing to worry about,’ one of the advisers said.

The sources said that the focus of Trump’s anger with the investigations is the financial cost – not any legal woes he faces.

Trump allegedly said recently that the legal bills are becoming ‘such a pain in the a**,’ the Daily Beast reported, and that he believes investigators could drag the investigation out for years.

Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen had praised the news of the grand jury just before his old boss released his statement on the revelations. 

 ‘I am not surprised by this at all and have been steadfast in saying the wheels of justice turn slowly but they nevertheless turn. No one is above the law!!!’ he tweeted.

Who’s who in New York criminal probe into Trump 

New York state has opened a criminal investigation into former US president Donald Trump (pictured November 2020)

A Democratic prosecutor nearing the end of his term, a loyal lieutenant of the Trump family and a lawyer determined to sink his former boss: AFP details some of the players in New York’s criminal probe into Donald Trump.

Cyrus Vance

The 66-year-old Democrat has been Manhattan District Attorney since 2010. He was the first to launch a criminal investigation into the Republican ex-president.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance (pictured May 2020) has doggedly pursued Donald Trump, winning a years-long battle to obtain his tax records and deploying significant human and financial resources to the politically sensitive investigation

Vance, whose father was US Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter, has sometimes been accused of a reluctance to prosecute the rich and powerful.

He delayed filing charges against disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein before securing a landmark conviction last year.

Vance has doggedly pursued Trump, though, first by winning a years-long battle to obtain his tax records and secondly by deploying significant human and financial resources to the politically sensitive investigation.

He has announced that he will not run for a fourth term when his current one expires in December, and many observers expect him to go out with a bang by filing what would be the first indictment against a former US president.

Letitia James

The Democrat became the first Black woman to become New York state attorney general in 2018.

Since then, the 62-year-old has forged a reputation as a combative and independent prosecutor, filing countless civil actions against large companies, particularly tech giants, and the National Rifle Association (NRA).

In addition to Donald Trump, Letitia James (pictured August 2020) is also investigating New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, over sexual harassment allegations and his response to the coronavirus pandemic

When Trump was in the White House, James launched dozens of civil actions against his government.

She is also investigating New York’s powerful Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, over sexual harassment allegations and his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

James has been cited as a possible successor to Cuomo, particularly if her investigation forces him to resign.

Allen Weisselberg

The 73-year-old is the Trump Organization’s long-serving chief financial officer and one of the family’s most loyal servants.

He began as an accountant for Trump’s father’s company before joining the Trump Organization as financial controller in the 1980s when Donald established himself as a Manhattan real estate mogul.

Allen Weisselberg, pictured standing behind former president Donald Trump and his son Donald Jr. in January 2017, has served as the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization since the 1980s

Weisselberg has been around for all of Trump’s entrepreneurial adventures, including when his Atlantic City casinos went bust.

According to Barbara Res, a former executive vice president at the Trump Organization, Weisselberg ‘thought Trump was a god,’ she told the Daily News.

Investigators believe Weisselberg knows all of the Trump family secrets and have been putting pressure on him for months to cooperate with their investigation.

Observers are closely watching whether Weisselberg will turn against his former boss.

Michael Cohen

Trump’s ex-personal lawyer was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 for tax evasion and violating campaign finance laws relating to Trump’s 2016 vote win.

Cohen was one of Trump’s closest henchmen for a decade, once proudly boasting that he was prepared to ‘take a bullet’ for the real estate mogul-turned-president.

Michael Cohen, pictured March 2021, openly rejoices in former boss Donald Trump’s legal troubles on Twitter and through his podcast

He turned against his former boss, though, deciding to collaborate with federal investigators in Manhattan.

During a Congressional hearing in February 2019, Cohen alleged — among other things — that Trump regularly undervalued or overvalued his assets, both with banks and insurance companies.

Cohen openly rejoices in Trump’s legal troubles on Twitter and through his podcast ‘Mea Culpa.’

Source: AFP