(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty)
The biggest “miss” of my little career was undoubtedly this piece, where I argued that Donald Trump wasn’t really trying to run for president. I wrote that on June 16th, 2015, and my theory was that Donald Trump would not seriously submit himself to the financial disclosures required by the Federal Election Commissions.
Well, he did submit… something. And it turns out the public didn’t punish Trump for playing fast and loose with his financial disclosures.
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But was Trump’s FEC filing legal? One lawyer is challenging Trump’s only official financial disclosure. From Politico:
Attorney Jeffrey Lovitky filed the case in federal court in Washington this week, claiming that Trump’s May 2016 disclosure intermingles his personal indebtedness and loans made to businesses or development projects Trump is affiliated with…
All Trump’s debts are covered on a single page of his 104-page disclosure. The listed loans exceed $300 million in total, according to the report. The total amount of the loans is known to be much larger based on other data, but the disclosure form does not require details above $50 million for each loan that exceeds that amount.
This is an interesting tact: instead of bitching about what Trump hasn’t shown us, let’s focus on the incompleteness of what he has.
What’s objectively true is that Trump has not told the American public about his finances. What’s also clear is that a lack of transparency is not illegal.
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But if Trump misled people on his official disclosures, maybe that’s a way in. It’s worth a try. Everything is worth a try.
I never thought Trump would be president because I never thought he could survive a serious investigation into his finances. I didn’t know that he’d never have to.
Trump sued over disclosure of personal debts [Politico]
Earlier: Donald Trump Isn’t Running For A Goddamn Thing
Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.