Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump’s Co-Defendant Money Man THROWN IN JAIL

Episode Date: April 11, 2024

Trump’s former CEO Allen Weisselberg is going to jail again for lying under oath about Trump’s assets, which undermines any chance Trump had of using Weisselberg to help him out at next week’s criminal trial. Michael Popok explains how Weisselberg’s sentencing today may also lead to sanctions for Trump’s lawyers’ Habba and Kise, and why the Manhattan DA didn’t ask for a longer sentence than 5 months and gave Weisselberg a break in advance of the next trial. Get up to 40% off for a limited time when you go to https://shopbeam.com/LEGALAF and use code LEGALAF at checkout! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown Lights On with Jessica Denson: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/lights-on-with-jessica-denson On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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reached on a sentencing deal, reached by the Manhattan DA's office, prosecuting him along with his lawyers. What did he do wrong? He lied under oath to the New York attorney general in a civil fraud case, not even criminal where he lied, but if you lie under oath, civil or criminal cases, you go to jail. It's called perjury. And if your lawyers like Chris Kis and Alina Habba that represented Allen Weisselberg and you knew or should have

known he wasn't telling the truth, then you have a problem too. It's called suborning perjury. You can be referred to the Bar Association, or in this case, the Appellate Division First Department in New York for discipline. It's a big problem. Why did the Manhattan DA investigate and prosecute Allen Weisselberg? Well, they couldn't let it lie. They couldn't let, okay, he lied under oath. Forbes Magazine just called them out, we'll ignore it. Okay, so that wasn't going to happen. And also they knew that Allen Weisselberg was a potential witness in the case against Donald Trump. Why? Because Allen Weisselberg along with Michael Cohen who will be testifying in that case,

they were the ones that handled the money transfer, right? Follow the money where $130,000 was paid to Stormy Daniels as part of a scheme where anytime Trump committed, as alleged, sexual misconduct, he made that story go away by paying off the person. He used Alan Weisselberg and ultimately Michael Cohen as the middleman. Michael Cohen would get the $130,000 in the case of Stormy Daniels. It would be listed on the books and records fraudulently as the middleman. Michael Cohen would get the $130,000 in the case of Stormy Daniels. It would be listed on the books and records fraudulently as the indictment reads, in the Trump Organization as a legal payment to Michael Cohen or a bonus to Michael Cohen or something like that. He would then use the money to pay off Stormy Daniels and enter into a non-disclosure agreement. That's how they would do the catch and kill program over and over again. Al Weisberg,

the CFO responsible for the books and records on the financials, authorized the transfer of the money to Michael Cohen and like that. Now, Michael Cohen, of course, is going to testify. He went to jail already once related to some of these issues, but he's a new man. He's pled guilty and served his time and served his debt to society, and he's a lead witness for the Manhattan DA. The question that was always on everybody's lead witness for the Manhattan DA. The question that was always on everybody's mind is will the Manhattan DA try to use Allen Weisselberg to

continue the links in the chain in front of that jury in New York, or were they going to fry him with this prosecution, make him radioactive, and disqualify him from being used at least by Donald Trump, if you will. And that's what they had to do. I don't think Alan Weisberg left them any choice. He had lied under oath. They cut him a deal and the deal that they cut him, just so you understand it, is that they could have prosecuted him for violating his probation because by lying under oath at the trial, he was on probation for tax fraud, meaning that if he violated his terms of his probation by committing other crimes, he could have been sent back to jail and have his sentence increased related to the tax fraud. And then of course, he'd be a two-time loser when it came to

sentencing this time around. So the Manhattan DA did him a solid, given his age and other things. They let him plead guilty to lying during the depositions that happened before he went into jail and before he took his plea deal, or I'm sorry, he got convicted by a jury before he was sentenced and was on probation in the tax fraud case. They let him plead guilty to crimes that happened before that and they skipped the part about him lying under oath during the trial in front of Judge Angoron. Although Judge Angoron, as I will discuss in the later part of this odd take, he's interested in what happened there. We'll talk about it and about the lawyers that allowed it to happen there. Just put

a pin in that for a minute. Let me complete the thought here about Alan Weisselberg. So he pleads guilty to two counts of perjury related to kind of his pre-sentencing on the other crime activity. He's going away, he's already started. Five month prison sentence, the judge in Rikers Island, the judge today allowed him to take, you know, she took the deal that she didn't have to, but she did. She took the deal and she sentenced him to the five months related to that.

She asked Alan Weisselberg if he had anything to say to the court. He said, no, I don't, Your Honor. The whole sentencing took five minutes and he's off to Rikers Island. Now, as part of the plea deal, I haven't really seen the actual documents so I'm relying on reporting about the plea deal. But the reporting that's out there on the plea deal is that the Manhattan DA not only allowed him to plead guilty to two counts prior to his sentencing on the tax fraud counts as a break, but they also gave him another break. They said, we're not gonna call you as a witness.

So the Manhattan DA is not gonna call him as a witness at trial, okay? I had thought that at least they may reserve the opportunity to recall him as a rebuttal witness should somebody say something that he needs to refute. But I guess they felt that he's so radioactive that he's not even worth as a two-time felon fraudster and somebody who lies under oath to put it back on the stand. That doesn't mean we've seen the last of Allen Weisselberg. I mean, we'll have to see the final witness list for Donald Trump. He may try last of Allen Weisselberg. I mean, we'll have to see the final witness list for Donald Trump.

He may try to call Allen Weisselberg, although now he's been made so radioactive by the Manhattan DA successfully prosecuting him twice and sending him away to jail twice and him agreeing and being convicted of perjury that the chances of Donald Trump using him now are nil. I mean, the chances of anybody really testifying in favor of Donald Trump at this trial, including Donald Trump, are really are receding quickly into the distance. Proper sleep can increase focus,

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If you wanna try Beam's best-selling dream powder, get up to 40% off for a limited time when you go to shopbeam.com slash LegalAF and use code Legal AF at checkout. That's shopbeam.com slash Legal AF and use code Legal AF for up to 40% off. Now the last point of this hot take. What happens in the New York attorney general case now that it's been admitted, there's a conviction and a sentencing for Alan Weisselberg having lied.

Yes, the Manhattan DA didn't get the sentence on his line during the trial, but there's a judge who's still presiding over all matters related to the Attorney General obtaining the judgment against Donald Trump for the New York civil fraud case for $455 million. Now the judge and the New York Attorney General want to get to the bottom of what did Keis and Habba know and when did they know it about their client because they represented Allen Weisselberg, about their client Allen Weisselberg during that civil trial. And how did they allow Allen Weisselberg to take the stand and testify so falsely, so patently falsely that

Forbes Magazine ran an article during real time during the trial saying, Alan Weisselberg just lied, because we interviewed him and he's the one that pushed the 30,000 square foot lie. So now there's going to be an evidentiary hearing. I don't know if Alan Weisselberg is going to testify. The plea deal that's been reported is only about him not being called by the prosecutors in the Stormy Daniels, hush money cover up case, not about this case or about the Trump calling him in that case. So we'll have to see. And I think as we've said in prior hot takes and on Legal AF that

Kays and Haber are in trouble because they knew or should have known. And when the judge asked them, point blank, what do you know? This is after the trial while he was about to write his judgment. What do you know about Allen Weisselberg and the report that I'm seeing in the paper that he lied under oath and he took a plea deal on March the 4th? What do you know about that? They said, we don't know anything, Your Honor. We can't tell you anything. We don't know anything. Well, he's going to find out what they knew. Whether Allen Weisselberg is a relevant witness to all that or not, we'll find out and we'll do it on Legal AF. We don't blow smoke or sunshine there. It's on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Eastern time. We sit at the intersection of law and politics just like this. As practicing lawyers, we bring you our best reporting and our best analysis because we practice in the courtrooms that we

talk about. If you like this kind of legal analysis and you don't like smoke or sunshine being blown your way, you've come to the right place. Wednesdays I do the show with Karen Friedman, Nick Niflo and Saturdays with Ben Misalas. And then on hot takes, just like this one, you like my body of work, you like what I do, go over to my playlist on MidasTouch. It's under Michael Popak. You'll find about 1,300 or so of my hot takes, just like this one. And if you like legal analysis at the nitty gritty level, sort of a Ted Talk meets a law school, join our Patreon at patreon.com

slash legal AF. So until my next hot take, until my next legal AF, well, until my next Patreon exclusive video, this is Michael Povach reporting. Heary, hear ye. Legal AF Law Breakdown is now in session. Go beyond the headlines and get a deep dive into the important legal concepts you need to know and we discuss every day on Legal AF. Exclusive content you won't find anywhere else, all for the price of a couple of cups of coffee. Join us at patreon.com slash legalaf. That's patreon.com slash legalaf.