It’s being called a “rare bit of good legal news” for Donald Trump, who’s facing several other criminal investigations and trials.
A two-year old investigation by the Westchester County, New York District Attorney has officially been closed, according to Business Insider the first to report. The case involved accusations Trump had reported the value of his property as tremendously less than its actual value, for tax purposes. The District Attorney, a well-known Democrat, announced the investigation had been closed.
“Part of why I’m saying anything at all is that I think it’s really important, more important than ever in our country, to make sure that people understand that we have independent prosecutors, we have a justice system that operates independent of politics,” District Attorney Mimi Rocah, told CBS News. Rocah, a former federal prosecutor, was an MSNBC/NBC News legal analyst and frequent commentator before running for elected office. “I can stand here and proudly say that I’m one of those prosecutors, and I look at every subject of any investigation, every organization that’s a subject of an investigation, the same way.”
The details of the case are intricate.
“The company and town were for years at odds over its annual tax bill,” CBS News reports. “The club claimed its property was worth as much as 90% less than the town’s valuation. In July 2021, the town and the company agreed to a compromise in which Ossining refunded the club about $875,000 and cut the property assessment by close to 30%.”
No reason was reported for why the town decided to compromise in Trump’s favor.
“At Mr. Trump’s golf course in Westchester, the valuation for 2011 assumed new members would pay an initiation fee of nearly $200,000 for each of the 67 unsold memberships, even though many new members in that year paid no initiation fee at all,” Insider reports the lawsuit stated. “In some instances, Mr. Trump specifically directed club employees to reduce or eliminate the initiation fees to boost membership numbers.”
The case buttresses an ongoing criminal case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
But on Thursday, instead of celebrating, Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform and lashed out in an all-caps rant (transcribed below).
“After going through a criminal investigation for two years by the District Attorneys office in Westchester County, New York, it was just announced that the case has been dropped, and no charges will be filed,” Trump wrote. “This was the honorable thing to do in that I did nothing wrong, but where and when do I get my reputation back? When will the other fake cases against me be dropped? Election interference!!!”