Details are a little thin here, but I really want to know more about the death threat against a New York City official.Documents offering a glimpse of attention paid to Donald Trump’s real estate company by the FBI over the past four decades were published by the bureau on Tuesday, following years of resistance.
A pair of subpoenas for testimony to a federal grand jury in Manhattan, which were accepted by attorneys who worked for the Trump Organization, were among the files released under freedom of information (Foia) laws.
But the name of the people called as witnesses and the federal crimes alleged to have been broken in the November 1985 case were redacted, along with hundreds of other details across 149 pages that were published following requests by reporters.
Also among the released files was an FBI report on a threat made against the life of a New York City official who was refusing to give Trump a tax break. Trump denied any involvement in the threat and later gave the official a job.
Trump has denied involvement in any wrongdoing.
Reports involving Trump’s company were produced over the years by special agents in FBI offices including New York, Philadelphia and Newark. At least one incident, involving harassing phone calls, named the Trump company as a victim.
One file produced in October 1987 and sent to the FBI director appeared to concern apartments possibly purchased by powerful South Koreans. The report said that “after several attempts”, agents in New York managed to interview someone apparently from the Trump Organization. The name was redacted.
This interviewee told agents he “did not know the name of the South Korean president and would not even be able to locate Korea on a map” and refused to give agents the names of condominium buyers. But, he said, he was “totally unaware” of any purchases by Koreans.
Another memo, produced for the acting FBI chief in Newark, related to allegations that Trump’s Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City had somehow avoided requirements for traffic around its parking lot.
The files were released by the FBI following the conclusion of legal action to dislodge them brought by the Foia specialists Jason Leopold of BuzzFeed News and Ryan Shapiro of Property Of The People.
They were published on the FBI’s website four days after the special counsel, Robert Mueller, concluded his investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. According to William Barr, the US attorney general, Mueller did not establish that Trump aides were involved in a conspiracy with Russian operatives. Mueller’s report has not been released.
Remember, Trump could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and not lose a single vote...
