After controversy over how he handled two prominent investigations, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said he would no longer take campaign donations from defense attorneys with cases before him.
Vance said his campaign will no longer accept contributions in any amount from such lawyers and will cap donations from their law partners. Vance was re-elected in November to a four-year term.
The district attorney also will not solicit contributions personally and will have his campaign shield him from the identities of his donors. Candidates for judgeships in New York state follow similar guidelines.
In October, ProPublica, WNYC and The New Yorker reported that Vance had overruled prosecutors who wanted to bring felony fraud charges against two of the president’s children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. The office had been investigating the two for making misleading statements as their father’s company attempted to sell apartments in a struggling condominium and hotel in downtown Manhattan called the Trump SoHo.
During the investigation, in 2012, Vance met with Donald Trump’s lawyer Marc Kasowitz. Kasowitz had donated $25,000 to Vance for his first re-election campaign. Vance returned the donation before the meeting. Then he declined to prosecute anyone in connection with the investigation. A few months later, Vance accepted more than $50,000 from Kasowitz and lawyers at his New York firm, Kasowitz Benson. Vance, in comments to ProPublica at the time, denied that Kasowitz influenced his decisions, but announced that he would return the second donation from the lawyer.
In a second report, The New Yorker wrote that Vance’s office had declined to bring charges against Harvey Weinstein, after an Italian model went to the police with an allegation that the film producer had groped her. Attorneys associated with that case also donated to Vance.
In response to the furor, Vance announced in an Oct. 16 Daily News op-ed that he was requesting a Columbia University review of his donation practices. The university issued its report yesterday, with seven recommendations.
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Junior needs a thorough investigation. He’s shadier than a mob lawyer.
Vance knows that if he messes with Drumpf (or his evil spawn), Putin will take him out. Mess with Drumpf and you’re messing with Vlad the Impaler.
Vance said his campaign will no longer accept contributions in any amount from such lawyers and will cap donations from their law partners.
Gee, mighty white of him. No mention about giving that money back or donating it to charity though. So fuck Vance.
This is one more window into how NY in general let a freak like tRump and his spawn get away with massive amounts of shit that no other state in the country would have dared to allow, with the exception of New Jersey perhaps…and they’ve done it for decades. Now we’re all stuck with this evil ponzi, pyramid scheming, money-laundering criminal family enterprise running our government. This is what happens when lies are compounded annually and the return on their investment is being able to avoid doing real time behind bars. Madoff must be saying to himself, “oh, that lucky dog. What did I miss”?