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King County, which includes Seattle, on Friday officially declared the local monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency as infections continue to increase in the city and other parts of the state. “We are fortunate to have one of the best public health organizations in the nation right here in King County, and today’s action ensures they will have all the tools needed to take on the challenge of monkeypox,” King County Executive Dow Constantine said in a written statement. The local emergency proclamation will free up needed resources for Public Health — Seattle & King County, as well as give the department more flexibility with hiring and contracting protocols, according to the statement. The proclamation will support efforts to contain the virus, which can cause a rash, fever, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes and fatigue. Washington has reported 333 monkeypox infections, 275 of which were confirmed in King County, according to the state Department of Health. Two weeks ago, the state had confirmed 166 cases, The Seattle Times reported. Public health officials have recorded 21 cases in Pierce County, seven in Snohomish County, five in Spokane County, five in Clark County and four in Yakima County, state health officials said. The Washington State Department of Health reported the state’s first pediatric monkeypox case in a 17-year-old on Thursday, KING5 reported. Oregon identified its first pediatric monkeypox case on Wednesday. Also read: Monkeypox cases cross 35,000: WHO “It’s an important time for public health to have the flexibility it needs to be able to respond and reach the communities most impacted, including ensuring equitable access to vaccine,” Dennis Worsham, interim director of Public Health — Seattle & King County, said in the statement. Monkeypox vaccines have been scarce, and while Constantine’s proclamation won’t bring more doses to the state in the near term, it will help public health teams more quickly deliver vaccines when larger quantities become available, according to the executive’s office. Currently, those considered at highest risk and who are eligible for a monkeypox vaccine in King County include anyone who has had sexual or close, intimate contact with someone who has tested positive for monkeypox, among other criteria. San Francisco and New York City were the first cities in the country to declare a health emergency over the outbreak in late July. The federal government gave a similar announcement in early August and the World Health Organization issued a global health emergency in July.  

Six people have been killed and 20 others injured in a head-on collision between a tractor-trolley and a speeding truck in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, police said on Saturday. The accident occurred in the Sumirpor area of Pali district, nearly 300 kms from state capital Jaipur late on Friday night. "The tractor-trolley was carrying pilgrims from Jaisalmer district when the speeding truck coming from the opposite direction crashed into the vehicle at high speed," a police officer told the local media. While six of the pilgrims died on the spot in the impact of the collision, those injured have been admitted to a nearby hospital. "The condition of some of the injured is said to be serious," the officer said. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office tweeted to express his grief over the tragedy. "The accident in Pali, Rajasthan is saddening. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. I pray for a speedy recovery of those injured," Modi said. Also read: Five relatives of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput die in India accident "A probe has been ordered into the accident," the police officer said. Road accidents are common in India, with one taking place every four minutes. These accidents are often blamed on poor roads, rash driving and scant regard for traffic laws. The Indian government's implementation of stricter traffic laws in recent years has failed to rein in accidents, which claim over 100,000 lives every year.  

Federal prosecutors said Friday they have arrested the attorney general in Mexico’s previous administration on charges he committed abuses in the investigation of the 2014 disappearances of 43 students from a radical teacher college. Jesús Murillo Karam served as attorney general from 2012 to 2015, under then President Enrique Peña Nieto. The office of the current attorney general, Alejandro Gertz Manero, said Murillo Karam was charged with torture, official misconduct and forced disappearance. In 2020, Gertz Manero said Murillo Karam had been implicated in “orchestrating a massive media trick” and leading a “generalized cover-up” in the case. The arrest came a day after a commission set up to determine what happened said the army bore at least partial responsibility in the case. It said a soldier had infiltrated the student group involved and the army didn’t stop the abductions even though it knew what was happening. Corrupt local police, other security forces and members of a drug gang abducted the students in the city of Iguala in Guerrero state, although the motive remains unclear eight years later. Their bodies have never been found, though fragments of burned bone have been matched to three of the students. Murillo Karam, under pressure to quickly solve the case, announced in 2014 that the students had been killed and their bodies burned at a garbage dump by members of a drug gang. He called that hypothesis “the historic truth.” But the investigation included instances of torture, improper arrest and mishandling of evidence that has since allowed most of the directly implicated gang members to walk free. The incident occurred near a large army base, and independent investigations have found that members of the military were aware of what was occurring. The students’ families have long demanded that soldiers be included in the investigation. On Thursday, the truth commission looking into the case said one of the abducted students was a soldier who had infiltrated the radical teachers’ college, yet the army did not search for him even though it had real-time information that the abduction was occurring. It said the inaction violated army protocols for cases of missing soldiers. The defense ministry has not responded to a request for comment. The Institutional Revolutionary Party, which both Murillo Karam and Peña Nieto belonged to, wrote in its Twitter account that Murillo Karam’s arrest “is more a question of politics than justice. This action does not help the victims’ families get answers.” Mexican federal prosecutors previously issued arrest warrants for members of the military and federal police as well as Tomás Zeron, who at the time of the abduction headed the federal investigation agency, Mexico’s detective agency. Zeron is being sought on charges of torture and covering up forced disappearances. He fled to Israel, and Mexico has asked the Israeli government for help in his arrest. Gertz Manero said that in addition to Zeron’s alleged crimes connected to the case, he is alleged to have stolen more than $44 million from the Attorney General’s Office budget. Read: 4 dead after sheriff’s office helicopter crash in New Mexico The motive for the students’ abduction remains a subject of debate. On Sept. 26, 2014, local police from Iguala, members of organized crime and authorities abducted 43 students from buses. The students periodically commandeered buses for their transportation. Murillo Karam claimed the students were turned over to a drug gang who killed them, incinerated their bodies at a dump in nearby Cocula and tossed the burned bone fragments into a river. Later investigations by independent experts and the Attorney General’s Office, and corroborated by the truth commission, have dismissed the idea that the bodies were incinerated at the Cocula dump. There has been no evidence that any of the students could still be alive.

A federal judge has dismissed a complaint from a group of health care workers who said they were unfairly discriminated against by Maine’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement. The plaintiffs sued Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and other Maine officials along with a group of health care organizations in the state. The workers argued that the vaccine mandate violated their right to free exercise of religion because it did not provide an exemption for religious beliefs. Jon Levy, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine, wrote Thursday that the vaccine mandate was “rationally based” and that “no further analysis is required.” “Reducing the number of unvaccinated healthcare workers at designated healthcare facilities in Maine is rationally related to the government’s interests in limiting the spread of COVID-19, safeguarding Maine’s healthcare capacity, and protecting the lives and health of Maine people,” Levy wrote. Read: UNICEF finds Bangladesh as Covid-19 vaccine success story The workers had remained anonymous since filing the suit until July, when a federal appeals court in Boston said they must reveal their identities. The workers also argued it was their religious right to decline the vaccine over the belief that fetal stem cells from abortions are used to develop them. Liberty Counsel, a law firm representing the health care workers, said in a statement on Friday that it would appeal the dismissal. The firm said in a statement that Levy’s dismissal was “critically flawed” and “contrary to recent Supreme Court precedent involving COVID restrictions on places of worship and many other Supreme Court decisions.” The vaccine mandate went into effect in October. The plaintiffs hoped to take their case to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the court declined to hear arguments in the suit earlier this year. The high court did not explain its decision at the time. The lawsuit named some of the largest health care networks in the state as defendants. One of those networks, Northern Light Health, said in a statement on Friday that it had been validated by the court’s ruling. “Our health care organization continues to strive always to act in the best interests of our patients and our staff in these challenging times, and we’re gratified that the court completely validated our conduct in this matter,” the statement said.

A proposal circulated Friday by California Democratic legislators would reject Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to extend the lifespan of the state’s last operating nuclear power plant — and instead spend over $1 billion to speed up the development of renewable energy, new transmission lines and storage to maintain reliable power in the climate change era. The legislative plan obtained by The Associated Press reveals mounting tension between the Democratic governor and some members of his own party over a politically volatile issue. The rift was revealed one week after Newsom proposed giving plant operator Pacific Gas & Electric a forgivable loan up to $1.4 billion as part of a plan to keep the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant running beyond its scheduled closing by 2025. Newsom has argued that as hotter temperatures drive up the demand for power, the twin-domed reactors along the coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco would provide a necessary buffer against electrical blackouts, as the state transitions to power from solar, wind and other renewable energy sources. The legislative plan drops the idea of keeping the decades-old reactors running. Instead, it would funnel the $1.4 billion Newsom proposed for PG&E into speeding up other zero-carbon power and new transmission lines to get the electricity to customers. Read:Cold showers, no lights: Europe saves as Russian gas wanes The legislative plan included a series of related, but separate, proposals for investing over $1 billion to install install energy-efficient cooling and lighting for low-income Californians, at no cost to qualifying residents. It would also place $900 million in an “electric ratepayer relief fund” to provide bill credits to offset ratepayer costs. Another $900 million would got toward funding solar and storage systems for low-income households, among other programs. The conflict over Diablo Canyon reveals deep anxiety among some legislators that Newsom wants an abrupt, complex turnaround in state energy policy with less than two weeks left in the legislative session, which ends for the year at the end of August. Newsom’s proposal also came with many unanswered questions and concerns, including how ratepayers across the state might be impacted, the risk of sidestepping environmental rules and whether continued power from the reactors for years to come might crowd out wind and other renewables expected to start production in the future. It was not immediately clear how broadly the Democratic alternative was supported in the Legislature. Newsom’s proposal to reverse course restarted a decades-long fight over seismic safety — several earthquake faults are near the nuclear plant, with one fault running 650 yards (594 meters) from the reactors. Critics said Newsom’s plan for the plant guts environmental safeguards while providing a huge financial giveaway to the investor-owned utility. Newsom spokesperson Anthony York said the governor “wants California to go faster to meet our climate goals, while ensuring we can keep the lights on and safely transition to clean power.” York said the proposal came out of the state Assembly and “feels like fantasy and fairy dust, and reflects a lack of vision and a lack of understanding about the scope of the climate problem.” Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon’s office declined comment. The governor’s late-hour proposal amounts to an attempt to unspool a complex 2016 agreement among PG&E, environmentalists and plant worker unions to close the reactors by 2025, which Newsom supported at the time as lieutenant governor. The joint decision also was endorsed by California utility regulators, the Legislature and then-Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown. With the state’s legislative session ending for the year at the end of the month, there is little time to work out a compromise on a vastly complex issue. PG&E CEO Patricia “Patti” Poppe told investors in a call last month that state legislation would have to be signed by Newsom by September to open the way for the utility to reverse course. PG&E also would have to obtain a new operating license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to run the plant beyond 2025. The utility is following two tracks — assessing the possibility of a longer run, while simultaneously continuing to plan for closing and dismantling the plant, as scheduled.   In a statement, the utility said it was aware of continuing discussions to potentially extend Diablo Canyon’s lifespan and PG&E stands ready “should there be a change in state policy.”

Monkeypox infections continue to rise globally, with more than 35,000 cases across 92 countries and territories, and 12 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Almost 7,500 cases were reported last week, a 20 percent increase over the previous week, which was also 20 percent more than the week before, UN health agency chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday in Geneva. The majority of cases are being reported from Europe and the Americas, and mostly among men who have sex with men.    The primary focus for all countries must be to ensure they are ready for monkeypox and to stop transmission using effective public health tools, including enhanced disease surveillance, careful contact tracing, tailored risk communication and community engagement, and risk reduction measures, Tedros said. Currently, global supplies of monkeypox vaccines are limited, as is data about their effectiveness. The WHO is in contact with manufacturers, and with countries and organizations willing to share vaccine doses, Tedros said. "We remain concerned that the inequitable access to vaccines we saw during the Covid-19 pandemic will be repeated, and that the poorest will continue to be left behind," he added.  

New coronavirus cases reported globally dropped nearly a quarter in the last week while deaths fell 6% but were still higher in parts of Asia, according to a report Thursday on the pandemic by the World Health Organization. The U.N. health agency said there were 5.4 million new COVID-19 cases reported last week, a decline of 24% from the previous week. Infections fell everywhere in the world, including by nearly 40% in Africa and Europe and by a third in the Middle East. COVID deaths rose in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia by 31% and 12% respectively, but fell or remained stable everywhere else. At a press briefing Wednesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said reported coronavirus deaths over the past month have surged 35%, and noted there had been 15,000 deaths in the past week. “15,000 deaths a week is completely unacceptable, when we have all the tools to prevent infections and save lives,” Tedros said. He said the number of virus sequences shared every week has plummeted 90%, making it extremely difficult for scientists to monitor how COVID-19 might be mutating. Read: Covid-19 vaccine consignment for kids arrive in Dhaka “But none of us is helpless,” Tedros said. “Please get vaccinated if you are not, and if you need a booster, get one.” On Thursday, WHO’s vaccine advisory group recommended for the first time that people most vulnerable to COVID-19, including older people, those with underlying health conditions and health workers, get a second booster shot. Numerous other health agencies and countries made the same recommendation months ago. The expert group also said it had evaluated data from the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for younger people and said children and teenagers were in the lowest priority group for vaccination, since they are far less likely to get severe disease. Joachim Hombach, who sits on WHO’s vaccine expert group, said it was also uncertain whether the experts would endorse widespread boosters for the general population or new combination vaccines that target the omicron variant. “We need to see what the data will tell us and we need to see actually (what) will be the advantage of these vaccines that comprise an (omicron) strain,” he said. Dr. Alejandro Cravioto, the expert group’s chair, said that unless vaccines were proven to stop transmission, their widespread use would be “a waste of the vaccine and a waste of time.” Earlier this week, British authorities authorized an updated version of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine that targets omicron and the U.K. government announced it would be offered to people over 50 beginning next month.

The U.S. government plans talks with Taiwan on a wide-ranging trade treaty in a sign of support for the self-ruled island democracy claimed by China’s ruling Communist Party as part of its territory. The announcement Thursday comes after Beijing held military drills that included firing missiles into the sea to intimidate Taiwan following this month’s visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office made no mention of tension with Beijing but said the “formal negotiations” were meant to enhance trade and regulatory cooperation, which would entail closer official interaction. President Joe Biden’s coordinator for the Indo-Pacific region, Kurt Campbell, told reporters last week that trade talks would be part of efforts to “deepen our ties with Taiwan,” though he said U.S. policy wasn’t changing. Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war. The island never has been part of the People’s Republic of China, but the Communist Party says it is obliged to united politically with the mainland, by force if necessary. The United States has no official relations with Taiwan but maintains extensive ties through its unofficial embassy, the American Institute in Taiwan. Read: US Congress members meet Taiwan leader amid China anger Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government says official contact with Taiwan such as Pelosi’s Aug. 2 one-day visit might embolden the island to try to make its decade-old de facto independence permanent, a step Beijing says would lead to war. Washington says it takes no position on the status of China and Taiwan but wants their dispute settled peacefully. The U.S. government is obligated by federal law to see that the island has the means to defend itself. “We will continue to take calm and resolute steps to uphold peace and stability in the face of Beijing’s ongoing efforts to undermine it, and to support Taiwan,” Campbell said during a conference call last Friday. A second group of U.S. lawmakers led by Sen. Ed Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, arrived on Taiwan on Sunday and met with President Tsai Ing-wen. Beijing announced a second round of military drills following their arrival. Beijing had no immediate reaction to the trade talks announcement. The talks also will cover agriculture, labor, the environment, digital technology, the status of state-owned enterprises and “non-market policies,” the USTR said. It gave no indication which officials would be involved but said talks would be held under the auspices of the American Institute and Taiwan’s informal embassy, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States. U.S.-Chinese relations are their lowest level in decades amid disputes about security, technology, Beijing’s treatment of Muslim minorities and its crackdown in Hong Kong. They are are locked in a 3-year-old tariff war over disputes in many of the areas mentioned in Thursday’s announcement. They include China’s support for government companies that dominate many of its industries and complaints Beijing steals foreign technology and hampers foreign competitors in an array of fields in violation of its market-opening commitments. Then-President Donald Trump raised tariffs on Chinese goods in 2019 in response to complaints its technology development tactics violate its free-trade commitments and threaten U.S. industrial leadership. President Joe Biden has left most of those tariff hikes in place. Taiwan, with 24 million people, is the ninth-largest U.S. trading partner and the 10th-largest U.S. export market, according to the USTR. The State Department describes it as a “key U.S. partner in the Indo-Pacific.” Taiwan is the main global source of processor chips for smartphones, medical devices, autos and home appliances, as well as industrial components used by factories in China and other Asian countries..

Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday that he had “satisfied his obligation” after facing hours of questioning Wednesday before a special grand jury in Atlanta as a target of an investigation into attempts by former President Donald Trump and others to overturn his 2020 election defeat in Georgia. In an interview with The Associated Press, Giuliani said Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis ended his appearance by saying he had “satisfied his obligation under the subpoena.” “So I was very happy that I satisfied my obligation,” he said. Speaking upon his return to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, Giuliani didn’t provide any additional details about his appearance or testimony, including the type of questions he was asked. He was pushed through the terminal in a wheelchair alongside his lawyer, Bob Costello. Giuliani’s attorneys tried to delay his appearance before the special grand jury, saying he was unable to fly due to heart stent surgery in early July. On Wednesday, Giuliani said “my plane ride was OK,” noting that it was his first since the procedure. Costello said the session, which lasted from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a half-hour lunch, “went very well. No disputes.” Costello did not immediately address whether Giuliani answered questions or declined.  “Everyone was a lady or gentleman. Professional,” he wrote in a text message, adding that Willis came out to greet Giuliani and his lawyers at the end. The investigation by the Democratic prosecutor has brought heightened scrutiny to the desperate and ultimately failed efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election win. It’s one of several investigations into Trump’s actions in office as he lays the groundwork for another run at the White House in 2024. Willis opened her investigation after the disclosure of a remarkable Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger. On the call, Trump suggested that Raffensperger could “find” the exact number of votes that would be needed to flip the election results in Georgia. Trump has denied any wrongdoing. He has described the call as “perfect.” Willis last month filed petitions to compel testimony from seven Trump associates and advisers. She has also said she’s considering calling Trump himself to testify, and the former president has hired a legal team in Atlanta that includes a prominent criminal defense attorney. Other Trump allies swept up in the inquiry include U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. His attorneys filed a legal motion Wednesday asking a federal judge to put Graham’s special grand jury appearance set for Aug. 23 on hold while he appeals an order compelling him to testify. Prosecutors want to ask Graham about phone calls they say he made to Raffensperger and his staff in the weeks following the vote. Graham’s lawyers, including former Trump White House counsel Don McGahn, are fighting the subpoena in federal court. They argue Graham’s position in Congress protects him from having to appear before the grand jury. A federal judge rejected that notion and ordered the senator to testify. Graham has said he plans to appeal. Also Wednesday, lawyers for Republican Gov. Brian Kemp asked the judge overseeing the special grand jury to quash a subpoena for him to testify Thursday. Kemp had been scheduled to sit for a video recorded voluntary interview with the district attorney’s office on July 25, but Willis’ team canceled that and issued a subpoena after Kemp’s attorneys asked about the scope of the interview, Kemp’s motion says. Kemp’s lawyers accused Willis’ team of using “delay and artificial deadlines” to cause the governor’s “interaction with the investigation to reach a crescendo in the middle of an election cycle.” They say it was issued “for political, rather than investigative, reasons.” Kemp faces a rematch with Democrat Stacey Abrams in the November general election. Kemp’s lawyers argue that “sovereign immunity” shields a governor from having to testify about his official duties and they also cited executive privilege and attorney-client privilege. If the judge doesn’t quash the subpoena, they said the judge should establish guidelines regarding what can be asked. Willis’ office declined comment, but Willis was direct in a July letter to Kemp attorney Brian McEvoy that he filed with the court: “You repeatedly referring to it as a politically motivated investigation, does not make it so. In fact, you repeating it so many times only proves you have become very comfortable being dishonest.” Also read: Prosecutors: Ex-fed judge favored in Giuliani raid review In seeking Giuliani’s testimony, Willis noted that he was both a personal lawyer for Trump and a lead attorney for his 2020 campaign. She recalled in a petition how Giuliani and others appeared at a state Senate committee meeting in late 2020 and presented a video that Giuliani said showed election workers producing “suitcases” of unlawful ballots from unknown sources, outside the view of election poll watchers. The claims of fraud were debunked by Georgia election officials within 24 hours. Yet Giuliani continued to make statements to the public and in subsequent legislative hearings claiming widespread election fraud using the debunked video, Willis noted in her filing. Two of the election workers seen in the video, Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, said they faced relentless harassment online and in person after it was shown at the Dec. 3 legislative hearing in which Giuliani appeared. At another hearing a week later, Giuliani said the footage showed the women “surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they are vials of heroin or cocaine.” They actually were passing a piece of candy. Willis wrote in the court filing that Giuliani’s hearing appearance and testimony were “part of a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.” Willis also wrote in a petition seeking the testimony of attorney Kenneth Chesebro that he worked with Giuliani to coordinate and carry out a plan to have Georgia Republicans serve as fake electors. Those 16 people signed a certificate declaring falsely that Trump had won the 2020 presidential election and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors even though Biden had won the state and a slate of Democratic electors was certified

Donald Trump’s chief financial officer is expected to plead guilty to tax violations Thursday in a deal that would require him to testify about illicit business practices at the former president’s company, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. Allen Weisselberg is charged with taking more than $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation from the Trump Organization over several years, including untaxed perks like rent, car payments and school tuition. The plea deal would require Weisselberg to speak in court Thursday about the company’s role in the alleged compensation arrangement and possibly serve as a witness when the Trump Organization goes on trial in October on related charges, the people said. The two people were not authorized to speak publicly about the case and did so on condition of anonymity. Also read: Trump’s bond with GOP deepens after primary wins, FBI search Weisselberg, 75, is likely to receive a sentence of five months in jail, to be served at New York City’s notorious Rikers Island complex, and he could be required to pay about $2 million in restitution, including taxes, penalties and interest, the people said. If that punishment holds, Weisselberg would be eligible for release after about 100 days. Messages seeking comment were left with the Manhattan district attorney’s office and lawyers for Weisselberg and the Trump Organization. Weisselberg is the only person to face criminal charges so far in the Manhattan district attorney’s long-running investigation of the company’s business practices. Seen as one of Trump’s most loyal business associates, Weisselberg was arrested in July 2021. His lawyers have argued the Democrat-led district attorney’s office was punishing him because he wouldn’t offer information that would damage Trump. The district attorney has also been investigating whether Trump or his company lied to banks or the government about the value of its properties to obtain loans or reduce tax bills. Former District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who started the investigation, last year directed his deputies to present evidence to a grand jury and seek an indictment of Trump, according to former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, who previously led the probe. But after Vance left office, his successor, Alvin Bragg, allowed the grand jury to disband without charges. Both prosecutors are Democrats. Bragg has said the investigation is continuing. The Trump Organization is not involved in Weisselberg’s expected guilty plea Thursday and is scheduled to be tried in the alleged compensation scheme in October. Prosecutors alleged that the company gave untaxed fringe benefits to senior executives, including Weisselberg, for 15 years. Weisselberg alone was accused of defrauding the federal government, state and city out of more than $900,000 in unpaid taxes and undeserved tax refunds. Under state law, punishment for the most serious charge against Weisselberg, grand larceny, could carry a penalty as high as 15 years in prison. But the charge carries no mandatory minimum, and most first-time offenders in tax-related cases never end up behind bars. The tax fraud charges against the Trump Organization are punishable by a fine of double the amount of unpaid taxes, or $250,000, whichever is larger. Trump has not been charged in the criminal probe. The Republican has decried the New York investigations as a “political witch hunt,” has said his company’s actions were standard practice in the real estate business and in no way a crime. Last week, Trump sat for a deposition in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ parallel civil investigation into allegations Trump’s company misled lenders and tax authorities about asset values. Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination more than 400 times.