Did Trump Mislead His Own Accountants?

“As prosecutors in Manhattan weigh whether to charge Donald Trump with fraud, they have zeroed in on financial documents that he used to obtain loans and boast about his wealth,” the New York Times reports.

“The documents, compiled by Mr. Trump’s longtime accountants and known as annual statements of financial condition, could help answer a question at the heart of the long-running criminal investigation into the former president: Did he inflate the value of his assets to defraud his lenders?”

“If the prosecutors seek an indictment, the case’s outcome could hinge on whether they can use the documents to prove that a defining feature of Mr. Trump’s public persona — his penchant for hyperbole — was so extreme and intentional when dealing with his lenders that it crossed the line into fraud.”