How a 'wire fraud' investigation could create even more problems for Trump: legal analyst

14 April 2023

Countless pundits, discussing the 2024 presidential election and former President Donald Trump’s legal problems, have argued that the United States finds itself in "uncharted territory." Never before in the U.S. history has a former president been indicted on 34 criminal counts, arrested and arraigned while running for president again and facing multiple criminal and civil investigations.

The 34-count prosecution from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr. is separate from the two federal criminal investigations that Trump is facing from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and special counsel Jack Smith and the state criminal investigation being conducted by Fulton County, Georgia DA Fani Willis. Meanwhile, New York State Attorney General Letitia James has been conducting a civil probe of the Trump Organization's financial activities.

In an opinion column published by MSNBC's website on April 14, legal analyst Jordan Rubin zeros in on one aspect of Smith's investigation of Trump and the January 6, 2021 insurrection: wire fraud.

"As if Donald Trump and his allies didn't have enough to worry about," Rubin comments, "new reporting suggests the former president could have additional criminal concerns — namely, wire fraud. Because we have to specify which investigation into the 2024 Republican presidential candidate we're talking about, this one comes in Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith's January 6 probe. The Washington Post reported Wednesday, (April 12), citing eight anonymous sources, that federal prosecutors have recently 'sought a wide range of documents related to fundraising after the 2020 election, looking to determine if former President Donald Trump or his advisers scammed donors by using false claims about voter fraud to raise money.'"

The April 12 article that Rubin is referring to was written by four Washington Post reporters: Josh Dawsey, Devlin Barrett, Rosalind S. Helderman and Jacqueline Alemany, who examine the possibility that fundraising based on bogus, debunked election fraud claims could become the basis for a wire fraud case.

Rubin explains, "Smith's team is ‘interested in whether anyone associated with the fundraising operation violated wire fraud laws, which make it illegal to make false representations over e-mail to swindle people out of money,' the Post reported…. This follows the House January 6 Committee’s finding noted in December that 'Trump and his campaign ripped off supporters by raising more than $250 million by claiming they wanted to fight fraud they knew did not exist and to challenge an election they knew he lost.'"

So far, the only actual criminal indictment Trump has faced is the one connected to Bragg's investigation. And Smith has the option of either indicting Trump or not indicting him.

"Whether Smith's prosecutors bring wire fraud, or any, charges against the former president or his allies remains to be seen," Rubin notes. "But add this mundane yet powerful charge to the list of others Trump may face in just one of his two federal investigations. Of course, those investigations are on top of his indictment in New York and potential indictment in Georgia, neither of which a president could pardon."

Read Jordan Rubin’s full MSNBC opinion column at this link.

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