2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Here is the Newsweek story we have been waiting for [View all]lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Here's a small excerpt from the Newsweek article:
Over the course of decades, Donald Trumps companies have systematically destroyed or hidden thousands of emails, digital records and paper documents demanded in official proceedings, often in defiance of court orders. These tacticsexposed by a Newsweek review of thousands of pages of court filings, judicial orders and affidavits from an array of court caseshave enraged judges, prosecutors, opposing lawyers and the many ordinary citizens entangled in litigation with Trump. In each instance, Trump and entities he controlled also erected numerous hurdles that made lawsuits drag on for years, forcing courtroom opponents to spend huge sums of money in legal fees as they struggledsometimes in vainto obtain records.
This behavior is of particular import given Trumps frequent condemnations of Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent, for having deleted more than 30,000 emails from a server she used during her time as secretary of state. While Clinton and her lawyers have said all of those emails were personal, Trump has suggested repeatedly on the campaign trail that they were government documents Clinton was trying to hide and that destroying them constituted a crime. The allegationwhich the FBI concluded was not supported by any evidenceis a crowd-pleaser at Trump rallies, often greeted by supporters chanting, Lock her up!
TRUMPS USE OF DECEPTION and untruthful affidavits, as well as the hiding or improper destruction of documents, dates back to at least 1973, when the Republican nominee, his father and their real estate company battled the federal government over civil charges that they refused to rent apartments to African-Americans. The Trump strategy was simple: deny, impede and delay, while destroying documents the court had ordered them to hand over. Shortly after the government filed its case in October, Trump attacked: He falsely declared to reporters that the feds had no evidence he and his father discriminated against minorities, but instead were attempting to force them to lease to welfare recipients who couldnt pay their rent.
The familys attempts to slow down the federal case were at times nonsensical. Trump submitted an affidavit contending that the government had engaged in some unspecified wrongdoing by releasing statements to the press on the day it brought the case without first having any formal communications with him; he contended that hed learned of the complaint only while listening to his car radio that morning. But Trumps sworn statement was a lie. Court records show that the government had filed its complaint at 10 a.m. and phoned him almost immediately afterward. The government later notified the media with a press release.
More here: http://www.newsweek.com/2016/11/11/donald-trump-companies-destroyed-emails-documents-515120.html