If This Email Is Any Proof, the Verdict in Trump’s Fraud Trial Is Gonna Hurt
"Trump makes closing argument on final day of New York fraud trial, disregarding judge's restrictions"
Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling/ February 7, 2024/6:16 a.m. ET
A new email from Judge Arthur Engoron demands answers on possible perjury from a key witness in the case.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Donald Trump’s wallet is in for a new world of pain, according to a new letter by the judge in his $370 million New York bank fraud case.
That’s thanks to Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, who is reportedly negotiating a plea deal with Manhattan prosecutors that would require he admit he lied on the stand during the trial, according to The New York Times .. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/01/nyregion/weisselberg-perjury-trump-fraud.html .
“As the presiding magistrate, the trier of fact, and the judge of credibility, I of course want to know whether Mr. Weisselberg is now changing his tune, and whether he is admitting he lied under oath in my courtroom at this trial,” Engoron wrote.
“I do not want to ignore anything in a case of this magnitude,” Engoron added.
Engoron has asked the legal teams to respond by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Ultimately, Engoron noted, he might use the news as reason to invoke “falsus in uno”—which would discount the credibility of Weiselberg’s entire testimony.
Weisselberg was a key witness out of the 40 odd people who took the stand during the bank fraud trial, in which Trump is accused of massively overinflating his net worth in order to broker better (and fraudulent) deals with banks and insurance companies.
The Times reported that prosecutors seemed particularly focused on claims Weisselberg had made on October 10 about Trump’s penthouse at Trump Tower, which had been overvalued on his financial statements by inaccurately reporting it as three times its actual size.
Engoron ruled prior to the start of the trial that James had proved that Trump committed fraud. What remains to be seen in Engoron’s verdict is just how much dough Trump will have to cough up as recompense for his scheme, which was likened by the judge to Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. The court has also floated the possibility of stripping .. https://newrepublic.com/post/175780/new-york-court-ruling-trump-organization-fraud .. the Trump Organization’s licenses to do business in the state.
Alvin Bragg just sent a 'reality check' to witnesses who would lie for Trump: analyst
"Trump makes closing argument on final day of New York fraud trial, disregarding judge's restrictions [...]Trump said he "never had a problem" before running for office [see below] and directed his ire toward the judge. P - "You have your own agenda, you can't listen for more than one minute, this has been a persecution," he told Engoron, who interrupted and told Kise to "control your client." [...]Trump grouses that his indictments took years. Here’s why that is."
M.L. Nestel April 11, 2024 6:32AM ET
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. - Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS
Days before Donald Trump is expected to go on trial for allegedly falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments, one legal expert thinks Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg seems to be firing a warning shot to Trump allies who are tempted to lie under oath.
While appearing on MSNBC's "Alex Wagner Tonight," legal analyst Jeremy Saland argued that former Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg's new five-month prison sentence for perjuring himself should give incentives to other Trump witnesses to tell the truth on the witness stand in the coming weeks.
"I see it not as a chilling effect that will adversely impact these witnesses to say we shouldn't testify," he said. "But it will be more in terms of reality check that if you make believe and if you tell that story that isn't true and you misrepresent, we as prosecutors will do our homework and hold you accountable."
Weisselberg pleaded guilty in March to two felony counts of perjury after acknowledging he offered false testimony involving the size of former President Donald Trump's triplex apartment inside Trump Tower.
Saland said that seeing Weisselberg get more jail time could erase any temptation other witnesses may feel to not be fully forthcoming during testimony.
"Otherwise, that exposure can be huge and they don't want to become the storyline," he added. "This is Donald Trump's storyline. Not theirs."
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