- It's shaping up to be a rough week for former President Donald Trump. Today, House Democrats will likely vote to establish an independent panel to investigate the January 6 Capitol insurrection. More worrisome, New York’s probe into the Trump Organization is now a full-scale criminal inquiry, according to the office of state Attorney General Letitia James. [NPR / Jaclyn Diaz and Andrea Bernstein]
- The New York attorney general’s office has been looking into the Trump Organization since 2019. They’re working with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which has gone through millions of pages of financial documents relating to the Trump team, including the former president’s tax returns. [Slate / Elliot Hannon]
- At the core of the investigation: allegations that Trump unethically inflated and deflated assets to save money on tax returns, lied to lenders and insurance companies about property values, and improperly compensated employees. [CNN / Sonia Moghe and Kara Scannell]
- “We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature,” Fabien Levy, a spokesperson for New York AG Letitia James, said in a statement Wednesday. “We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA. We have no additional comment at this time.” [Mother Jones / Russ Choma]
- Wednesday’s House vote on the insurrection commission doesn’t have the same legal ramifications for Trump, but the political consequences for the Republican Party may be just as significant. [CNN / Annie Grayer]
- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy have each announced their opposition to the bill. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer cast their opposition as “beyond crazy, to be so far under the thumb of Donald J. Trump.” [CNN / Ali Zaslav]
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