THE TIGHTENING NOOSE:

For months, some of Donald Trump's top advisers have assured him that he has virtually nothing to fear from the Manhattan district attorney's tax investigation, which they view as merely "fishing" for information. But investigators with the D.A.'s office have been expanding their criminal probe into Trump's business empire, asking questions and grilling witnesses--as recently as in the past few days--not only about Trump but particularly about his eldest son, Don Jr., and Allen Weisselberg, one of the former president's most trusted officers, The Daily Beast has learned.

This latest round of interest in Trump Jr. and Weisselberg's activities, as well as other new developments, underscore the resources and the gravity that New York prosecutors are devoting to the investigation, just as Trump continues to publicly decry the probe as another example of Democrats picking on him. [...]

Trump Jr.'s prominent role in the Trump Organization has attracted interest from another jurisdiction, as well. Early last year, the Washington, D.C., attorney general sued the Trump inaugural committee, as well as the Trump Organization, charging that they had misused over $1 million in fundraising when the committee "grossly overpay[ed]" in booking part of the Trump International Hotel in D.C. during inauguration festivities in 2017. Last month, the D.C attorney general's spokesperson said that the office had alerted Trump Jr. that it sought to interview him as part of the ongoing investigation.

"He's asked about it a few times [in recent weeks], and I have told him, as I think he already believes, that it's a lot of political grandstanding."

And in their separate inquiry into Trump and his company, Manhattan prosecutors have also broadened the range of investigation into the Trump family's assets, and have recruited some extra manpower. On Thursday, The New York Times reported that the Manhattan district attorney's office had brought on Mark Pomerantz, a well-known former federal prosecutor, to aid in its investigation of Trump and his real-estate company. According to The Wall Street Journal, prosecutors are now taking a look at loans that Trump had taken out on multiple buildings, including the marquee title of the ex-president and former reality-TV star's brand name, Trump Tower in Manhattan.

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