Explaining Birther Myth, Trump Says He Knows People On Wall Street Who Commit ?Fraud? And ?Change Documents?
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on April 1st, 2011 4:35 am by HL
Twice-bankrupted casino owner Donald Trump has made questioning Obama’s birthplace a “pivotal part” of his supposed presidential run, but because Trump’s concerns about Obama’s birth certificate have been asked and answered years ago, the reality TV boss has been forced to resort to increasingly bizzare justifications for his doubts. Last night, Trump told Fox News host Bill O’Reilly that he questions the veracity of Obama’s birth certificate because he knows plenty of people who can easily forge documents to commit fraud:
TRUMP: Bill, I grew up with Wall Street geniuses. What they do in terms of fraud, and how they change documents.
Watch it:
Of course, securities fraud is a federal criminal offense, punishable by up to 25 years in prison. This type of fraud is also a serious and pervasive problem. From Enron to WorldCom to the Bernie Maddoff scandal, “Wall Street geniuses” have defrauded Americans out of billions of dollars, causing economic havoc. More recently, banks have been implicated in the so-called “robo-singing” scandal, where bank employees didn’t even review mortgage documents they were signing, such as foreclosure orders.
But if Trump is aware that his friends were committing fraud or forgery, why didn’t he do anything about it? Did he witness fraud? Did he ever posses a forged document? (If so, that too could be a felony). Or did he let his friends defraud people?
Breaking: Wisconsin Judge Declares Anti-Worker Law Is Not In Effect
Nearly two weeks ago, Wisconsin state Judge Maryann Sumi issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) prohibiting Wisconsin’s Secretary of State from “publishing” Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) anti-union law. Because Wisconsin law requires the Secretary of State’s office to publish a law before the law may take effect, this TRO should have suspended the law for as long as Sumi’s order remains in effect. Nevertheless, the state’s Republican leadership asked a different government office to publish the law on its website, and the Walker Administration has already begun to implement the law in defiance of Sumi’s original order.
This morning, Judge Sumi issued a new order clarifying that any attempt to implement Walker’s assault on working families is lawless:
[I]t is hereby DECLARED that 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 has not been published…and is therefore not in effect.
In a third order, issued two days ago, Judge Sumi threatened sanctions against officials who act in defiance of her court orders. Under Wisconsin law, someone who intentionally defies a court order is in contempt of court, and can be fined up to $2,000 for each day that they disobey the court or imprisoned for up to six months.
One interesting twist in this entire debacle is that the sole basis of Sumi’s orders is a claim that Wisconsin Republicans violated the state’s open meetings law by passing the order without proper notice. Accordingly, Gov. Walker’s anti-union allies could eliminate this legal barrier simply by voting on the law again after providing the legally required notice. The fact that they have not yet done so suggests that they many no longer have the votes to ram Walker’s massively unpopular legislation through the legislature.
