According to a report in the New York Times, President Donald Trump, his son Donald Trump, Jr., and his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen received New York City gun licenses in exchange for undisclosed favors.
Former police lieutenant Paul Dean alleges that the men donated to charities linked to the NYPD in order to obtain the permits.
Dean was formerly the second-in-command of the gun licensing division; he was arrested in 2017 for accepting favors and gifts from middlemen to approve gun licenses, which are notoriously difficult to get in New York City.
Police commissioner James P. O’Neill told the Times, “These claims were investigated thoroughly by our I.A.B.—internal affairs—the F.B.I.’s public corruption unit and overseen by federal prosecutors” and called Dean’s claims “highly suspect.”
The Daily Dot filed suit against the NYPD in June for access to Trump’s and his sons’ concealed carry permits; that lawsuit is ongoing.
Trump has repeatedly bragged about the fact that he carries a weapon, and his name was on a list of concealed carry holders in New York City published in 2013. The NYPD did not disclose to the Times whether or not Trump, Cohen, and Trump Jr. still had firearm licenses.
Dean claimed that the illicit gun licenses were the result of a deep culture of corruption in the NYPD. He claimed that his boss, Deputy Inspector Michael Endall and former Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, both directed him to issue licenses through suspect channels.
H/T New York Times