President Trump is reportedly concerned about future legal battles he’ll face if he loses the 2020 election.
Over the last few weeks, the president has spoken with close advisers about “intensifying scrutiny from prosecutors if he loses” the election against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, according to the New York Times. Trump is not only concerned about investigations in New York, but reportedly believes there may be new federal investigations into him should he lose.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the White House for comment.
Richard Grenell, a U.S. diplomat and Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence, disputed this section of the report.
“This is the kind of reckless reporting former bloggers from Politico do,” he tweeted on Monday. “This is made up. No one on the inside said this. Someone in her newsroom said this.”
The report comes on the eve of a competitive election between Biden and Trump, with more than 97.8 million casting their votes before Election Day. According to RealClearPolitics, Biden holds a 6.7-point national lead ahead of Trump, though Trump’s victory in 2016 against Hillary Clinton was perceived as an unforeseen political upset that may occur once again.
[PREDICT TUESDAY’S WINNER WITH THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER’S INTERACTIVE ELECTORAL MAP]
Trump is involved in multiple investigations pertaining to his tax returns, a case which escalated to the Supreme Court, and business practices.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is investigating the Trump Organization to determine whether it inflated the value of its assets to mislead lenders, a civil investigation that requires the president’s son Eric Trump to cooperate with a subpoena and provide financial documents.
In early August, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office issued a court filing that appears to show that it is investigating potential bank and insurance fraud in the Trump Organization. Prosecutors did not explicitly identify the focus of their investigation, but they did say that “undisputed” news reports about the organization’s business conduct provide a legitimate basis for their subpoena seeking the president’s financial records. Those reports claim that Trump inflated his net worth and the values of his properties to lenders and insurers. The president’s legal team asserts that he did nothing wrong.
In some cases, Trump has earned legal victories. Last month, the Supreme Court refused to grant petitioners in Blumenthal v. Trump a writ of certiorari, or review of the case, that relates to the Constitution’s emoluments clause. A federal appeals court previously determined that the case, which involves hundreds of Democratic lawmakers accusing Trump of unconstitutionally profiting off his businesses while in office, ought to be thrown out.
In February, a panel of judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals found the dispute was political in nature and did not belong in a courtroom.
