The Democrats' bad faith effort to bring down the President

Byron York:

President Trump often complains that he is the victim of "presidential harassment" — or, as he sometimes puts it, "PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!"

"Presidential Harassment by 'crazed' Democrats at the highest level in the history of our Country," Trump tweeted on March 3. "After more than two years of Presidential Harassment, the only things that have been proven is that Democrats and others broke the law," he added later. "PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT! It should never be allowed to happen again!" he tweeted Feb. 7.

The president's adversaries of course dismiss his protests as self-interested whining. But the fact is, Trump has a point. He is the target of an extraordinary combination, not just of federal law enforcement and congressional probes, but a long list of less-discussed but potentially consequential investigations by state and local prosecutors and regulators.

Together, it adds up to a pile-on of unprecedented proportions, by and large the work of blue-state Democrats who stand to gain politically if their investigations succeed in crippling the president.

Recently, the New York State Department of Financial Services, the agency that regulates the insurance business, issued what the New York Times called an "expansive subpoena" to Aon, the insurance broker for the president's companies. The agency leaped into action after former Trump fixer Michael Cohen told the House that Trump had at some point inflated his assets to an insurance company. Cohen, who has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress and faces serious questions about the truthfulness of his latest testimony, supplied no details.

None were needed. "The subpoena that was served on Aon contains no indication that the company or any of its employees engaged in misconduct," the Times reported. "Nor does it specify any possible wrongdoing that is the focus of the inquiry by state regulators." The subpoena demanded "a broad range of materials" related to Trump's dealings with Aon going back a decade, the Times said.

Also in New York, the State Department of Taxation and Finance announced last October that it is investigating Trump's taxes going back at least 20 years.

New York state officials have also filed suit against the Trump Foundation, which has agreed to dissolve as part of the investigation.

Speaking of state law enforcement, the recent New York Attorney General race was virtually a contest to see which candidate could vow to go after Trump the most aggressively. In her victory speech, new Attorney General Letitia James said of Trump, "I will be shining a bright light into every dark corner of his real estate dealings, and every dealing, demanding truthfulness at every turn."

Outside of New York, the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia are suing Trump, accusing him of violating the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

Then, there is the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, based in Manhattan. Prosecutors there are said to be investigating the Trump Organization's finances; the funding of the Trump inauguration; and the funding of the Trump SuperPAC Rebuilding America Now.

The SDNY investigations hold a large place in the hopes of Trump opponents who fear Trump-Russia special counsel Robert Mueller might deliver an underwhelming report that does not make the case that Trump colluded with Russia to fix the 2016 election or that he obstructed justice in the aftermath. Indeed, a number of observers believe the SDNY probes pose a more serious threat to Trump than Mueller.
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Almost all of these are investigations not of a crime but in search of one to use as an excuse to bring down the President.  They are all bad faith efforts meant to harass and drive up legal fees and distract the time of the President.  Judges may be in on the scam or otherwise, they would be dismissing these investigations and threatening sanctions against these bad faith efforts.  They are all happening mainly in jurisdictions with liberal judges who apparently hate the President as much as the prosecutors do.