Former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday that the information in the New York Times report about President Donald Trump’s taxes indicated that Trump had committed tax fraud and that both Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump could go to jail if he loses the election.

Akerman, who also served as an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, investigated President Richard Nixon’s taxes as part of the Watergate administration, and said that compared to Trump, Nixon was a “rookie amateur.”

Akerman noted that Nixon had backdated just one document after Congress had eliminated a tax deduction, but in comparison, it looked like the president had “done a whole series of activities that could qualify as tax fraud, not tax avoidance. This is a very important distinction…there is a key difference with tax fraud. Tax avoidance is simply getting, taking the tax code and getting the most deductions you can get under the code — that’s perfectly legal.”

“Tax fraud, however,” he continued, “is lying about what your income was, lying about what your deductions are, and there’s a couple items that just stand out in that report from the New York Times that really appear to go beyond tax avoidance.”

The “most glaring” issue, Akerman said, was the “consulting fees” Trump paid to his daughter Ivanka, saying there “is no legitimate reason” for her to have been paid those fees since she was already an employee of the Trump Organization.

Burnett interrupted with a “blunt question,” asking Akerman, “Do you think Trump could end up going to jail if he is not re-elected because of anything in here?” referring of the information in the Times article.

“No question about it,” said Akerman, “and his daughter could go to jail, too. Tax evasion is a five-year felony. It’s a pretty serious crime and the more money that is stolen the longer you go to jail for.”

“So you’re saying if he loses, he, also Ivanka Trump, and others in his family, could be at risk?” asked Burnett.

“Sure, absolutely,” he replied. “I mean, the only thing saving him at this point is the Department of Justice’s guideline that says you can’t indict a sitting president. Once he is no longer a sitting president, he is subject to being indicted. I think any decent prosecutor looking at this evidence will be able to put together a pretty viable tax case.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/3cFFgsh