A second benefit the Trumps got from their All County money-laundering operation was to use the inflated invoices to justify larger rent increases on rent-controlled apartments. That means the Trumps defrauded literally hundreds of their tenants out of the inflated amount of their rents. I’m pretty sure that allows the State to take an interest on behalf of their clients, the renters. The State of New York could sue, the individual tenants could sue, or they could bring a class action.

So it ain’t over yet. The Times didn’t just spend weeks on this investigation for the sheer pleasure of it.

If they are getting Weisselberg’s cooperation by using his crimes against him, then Trump’s ability to pardon him for state crimes becomes very pertinent…

But it makes me think about impeachment. The Founders may simply have assumed that, because nobody is above the law, actual crimes by a President could be prosecuted the usual way; and they added impeachment to deal with failings of character, honesty, integrity, running out the clock on the statute of limitations, and generally dealing in bad faith.

A President can be impeached for being a slimeball, and in that regard, the Times article is the cherry atop the shit sundae we already knew about. Trump’s term in office so far has been one long impeachable offense.

Consider that Trump is executive over the IRS. Just taking the job of President knowing he’d cheated “his own” IRS out of hundreds of millions of bucks…now that’s world-class bad faith, and a conflict of interest you could tow a planet through.

(Sorry, I watched this DrWho episode last night that involved the TARDIS towing the Earth across the galaxy, which was magnificently absurd, and the image just popped into my head.)