PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s quotable soundbites during the 2016 U.S. presidential elections campaign trail as compiled by TIME:
“She’s likely to be under investigation for criminality for a very, very long time to come,” Trump said during an Oct. 31, 2016 speech in Warren, Michigan.
“We’re going to be tied up in court for the rest of our lives with this deal,” he added, referring to if Clinton were elected. “She’s not going to win the election, but I’m just saying. If Hillary is elected, she will be under protracted criminal investigation likely followed by the trial of a sitting president. This is just what we need.”
Two days ahead of the election on Nov. 5, 2016, Trump said Clinton’s “current scandals and controversies will continue throughout her presidency” and it would be “impossible for her to govern.”
FAST FORWARD to the present time. These are the FACTS:
President Donald Trump is now embroiled in several investigations and lawsuits and all of these stem from his lies and cover-ups to the American people and institutions, his attack on the rule of law, and his sleeping with the enemies of the United States, as he projects all of these transgressions to his political opponents and democratic institutions, including the news media, the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI, CIA, and other members of the U.S. intelligence community.
Last week, the results of independent investigations have proven that from his denials and lack of knowledge about his affairs, testimonies under oath and corroborating evidence point out Trump actually had knowledge of and directed the payment of hush money to cover up his affairs just before the 2016 election.
Furthermore, from the denials of his campaign’s communication and business ties with Russia, the Mueller probe has now proven that at least 16 of his team had in fact been in correspondence, meetings and even, deals with Russia.
After Mueller’s 18-month-old airtight and methodical investigation — which has led to charges against 32 people including 26 Russians, with four aides to Trump have pleaded guilty to various charges — the Special Counsel this week has released three important filings, sentencing three of these people in the Trump orbit — Trump’s ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn, Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort, and Trump’s former attorney and fixer Michale Cohen.
The Mueller probe that investigates on the alleged conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign to help Trump win is far from over, contrary to Trump’s incessant chanting of “No collusion.”
THIS WEEK, just on Tuesday, December 18, CNN and all other news media reported that the Donald J. Trump Foundation has agreed to dissolve under judicial supervision amid an ongoing lawsuit concerning its finances, according to a document filed Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court by the New York state Attorney General’s office.”
The dissolution of Trump’s charitable foundation resolves one element of the attorney general’s civil lawsuit against the foundation, and as CNN reported, this includes claims that the president and his three eldest children — Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric — all violated campaign-finance laws and abused its tax-exempt status.
Rather than operating it as a genuine charity as it pretends to be, the lawsuit alleges that Trump and his family allowed it to be used “as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political interests.”
This agreement to dissolve also allows the attorney general’s office to review the recipients of the charity’s assets. The foundation’s most recent tax return listed its net assets at slightly more than $1.7 million.
The closure of Trump’s “charitable foundation” is but part of the growing web of criminal and other investigations touching almost every nooks and crannies of Trump’s business and political operations, including but not limited to his presidential campaign, his inauguration committee and his family real estate business.
As this reality show drama unfolds starring the President of the United States, will you continue to wear your MAGA spectacles that allows you to view the universe only according to Trump’s narrative?
Are you just going to beca spectator, grab a bag of popcorn and view this as an entertainment show?
OR, will you now be part of the enlightened citizenry that should now be demanding accountability from our elected officials, especially from the 45th President of the United States and his cohorts?
We deserve the government that we elect, tolerate, and condone.
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
