So by now, you must know unless
you've been watching Fox News as
your sole source of news that the
Trump Organization as well as its
CFO, Alan Weisselberg are facing
a number of different charges,
basically alleging that for
a decade and a half or so.
It's been running a variety of
different little schemes to avoid
having to pay taxes.
And the prosecutors in New York
have come up with 15 different
felony counts.
Prosecutors have zeroed in on
the benefits that
Weisselberg in particular and
his family received from Trump
including 10s of 1000s of dollars.
Private school tuition for one of
Weisselberg grandchildren normal,
like company stuff pay for the
dude's grandchildren's schooling,
or rent free apartment on
the Upper West Side of Manhattan,
and leased Mercedes Benz vehicles.
Weisselberg's wife also receives
her own leased Mercedes,
which I think it's safe to say that
we're in favor of robust benefits
for workers.
But this is probably going a little
bit beyond that.
And you're still supposed to pay
taxes on that stuff.
And Weisselberg in response
to these charges
has pleaded not guilty, and
an appearance at a Manhattan
courtroom just yesterday afternoon.
That includes a scheme to defraud
tax fraud, larceny, and conspiracy.
The Trump Organization also pleaded
not guilty.
Charges carry the potential for
years in prison, although so
far Weisselberg shown little signs
of cracking under the pressure.
Although what does that even mean?
At this point, if he was cracking,
if he was worried, it wouldn't be
like live in the courtroom.
He'd be talking to his lawyers,
they'd be talking to
the prosecutors.
That's how that works.
And of course, that is one of
the key parts of this.
You have these charges against
Weisselberg.
Will he cooperate?
And if he does, what kind
of information can he provide
about the Trump Organization.
Presumably, he knows virtually
everything that's been going on
there financially.
But we don't know yet
if he's going to crack.
Jang, do you think that it's likely
this will result in,
I think 73 year old man who doesn't
want to spend the rest of his
life in prison cooperating?
>> Yes, so, first of all,
I just got to agree with John on
one hilarious point.
He hasn't shown any signs of
cracking because it's Perry, Mason,
or Matt Locke, right?
[LAUGH] >> Where he's like, no,
that's such a good question.
I don't know what to do.
Bead of sweat down your breath.
He hasn't ever been in court or
in public.
How would you know what his
psychological state is?
And by the way, this point of signs
of cracking are not there are no
signs of cracking you either do or
you don't.
We haven't started the trial.
So you're either going to cooperate
with prosecutors or you're not.
So it's binary.
So it's just an absurd way
of framing things.
Secondly, I can't wait for the kids
reactions which we're going to get
to, okay?
We might have done it but
it's not that big a deal is
an awesome defense that we're going
to share with you in a second.
But, we talked yesterday on
yesterday's show about, well, look,
this is not the biggest charge
that they could have gotten with.
Obviously, there's the issue of
them lying on their taxes
while inflating their assets value
when applying for loans.
That juxtaposition could lead to
two different charges, and
is a higher level charge than this,
let alone the stormy Daniels
Charges that Michael Cohen went
to prison for in charge Trump was.
But Trump's lawyer basically had
the same reaction as Trump
yesterday that we told you about.
But for
the lawyer to do it is even worse,
I would argue he said,
this is all they got.
Wait, you're implicitly admitting
that there's way worse, and
you're shocked that they only
charged you with these crimes that
you think are low level.
As the lawyer, I really wouldn't go
in that direction.
[LAUGH] >> That guy's thinking
about it, right?
This way like damn charged me with
because I haven't done anything
presumably same is true of
you, right?
If they charged you with tax
evasion and larceny, which for
Weisselberg right,
if you didn't do it you'd be like,
what the hell's going on?
I can't believe they charged me
with this then you wouldn't go.
That's all they got.
>> Did you guys even look?
>> [LAUGH] At these interviews say,
is that all you had?
>> Yeah.
>> The prosecutor presumably go,
apparently we didn't dig deep
enough.
>> Yeah. >> Here,
the only question in terms of how
this is all going to wind up?
To come back to your question, John
is, well, there's two layers to it.
One is, how clearly do they have
him here because they're charging
the thing that they think they have
the most evidence on.
That is got to be their strategy,
right?
At least to start with.
And if they think hey,
you can go to prison for 15 years,
and you're 73,
uneven the smallest of the charges.
Good luck.
Well, if he thinks he's really
going to go under,
then he might go.
I'm going to show you signs of
cracking.
All right,
in the middle of the trial and
then flip on Trump.
But all that is really unlikely
because the reason is, since these
are not super high level charges,
and you don't know which way
the jury is going to go.
You might think even if I lose,
I'd be my first offense.
Am I really going to get
prison time?
And I'm going to throw myself at
the mercy of the court and
say I'm 73, and by this time Trump
is almost back at office.
I mean, all these things
are running through their mind.
>> That's true, yeah.
>> Right?
>> Athough,
this is the state matter to
presumably controlled anyway.
>> Thank you, John,
that's a really good point.
Then Trump couldn't do anything
about the state matter but in terms
of like, I might not get anything
anyway even if they find me guilty.
That's why it's not like it does
give me pause like I hope that's
not all you have, right?
And so then the second layer is,
and this is a more important
layer is, are they doing this as
an appetiser and they're going to
move on to the entree?
If they move on to the entree,
all is good.
If this is all they have, then it's
not that they're not guilty of it.
It's just that it's not a super
heavy charge.
And that's why I ironically kind of
shared Trump's lawyer's reaction
which is,
is that all you had on Trump?
>> Yeah, and if the last few years
have taught us anything,
don't expect that just the obvious
wealth of crimes and suspicious
things that an investigator could
find will lead to that
investigator finding those things.
You can get let down by those
things.
But anyway, I think it's
an interesting question.
It would be like
his first defense or whatever.
Just because he could get ten years
doesn't mean that he would.
That's said, it's an incredibly
wealthy guy who was dodging
taxes on like free private school
education's and cars working for
the Trump Organization,
all of that works together.
It's not that they couldn't get
the exact jury that they want, but
that doen't.
I don't think that that's likely to
lead to a jury that's super
sympathetic for you.
>> I know but even as sentencing
that usually goes to the judges and
one is wealthy clients, and
they go to sport.
Alan Weisselberg is 75, and
he'll walk in with a cane.
>> Yeah. >> Just like the mob,
yeah, and he'll be like events to
change a gun.
Take a look,
I'm already losing my mind.
>> Please let me often the judge
like my god, he looks just like me.
Okay, fine,
you don't have to go to prison.
That happens all the time, but
only if you're well.
>> Yeah, exactly.
This isn't about like him showing
signs of cracking like the huge
amount of sweat dripping down.
He's going to show signs of
one thing.
He's going to show signs of
becoming a senile old man who can
barely hold himself up,
in which case he's probably
going to be just fine.
Or he's going to get signs of
Donald Trump calling him a rat.
And then he's definitely flipping
because Donald Trump as
of right now is still saying he's
an honorable man.
How could they possibly
do this to him?
But he can turn on a dime if he has
to, this guy could have been a rat.
He was incompetent.
All he could do was make coffee
back could be forthcoming, as well.
But that said, what
the the Trump Organization lawyers
had to say about the charges that
we found out about this week,
that they barely found anything.
Is only like a 5% more savvy or
nuanced case then is going to be
made by some members of the Trump
family, including in this video,
you'll see Eric Trump.
>> Crime is ramping, people are
leaving the city in record numbers.
It's dirty.
It's disgusting.
New York is no longer what it is,
and they have an entire district
attorney office and
attorney general's office.
That's focused on $3.5 million to
take down a political opponent.
I mean, this is what they do.
This is New York State for you.
This is worse than
a Banana Republic.
It's truly horrible.
It's truly terrible.
A rabid, you know
this better than anybody.
They're afraid that my father is
going to run in 2024, and they're
afraid that he's going to win.
So they don't look at
corrupt Hunter Biden.
They don't look at the fact that
he's taking money from China, and
Ukraine, and other countries.
And he's selling his finger
paintings for
$500,000 to undisclosed people.
Now, they don't care
about any of that.
They care about going after
innocent, great human beings.
Alan Weisselberg is one of them.
And taking out Donald Trump and
going after a political opponent.
>> Okay, it's not in that clip, but
at one point he says something,
the effect of it's only like $3.5
million.
>> He did mention.
>> He just had an eclipse.
I got to start paying attention.
[LAUGH] >> But anyway,
I honestly didn't hear it.
This coffee needs
to be even stronger, perhaps no.
But anyway, that's not an argument
and like bringing up Hunter Biden
is not an argument, dude.
Don't try to make us buy that you
fundamentally are aggrieved by
the idea that a rich guy might make
money off of who his dad is.
I don't think that that's something
that really keeps you up at night.
>> Yeah, my two favorite parts of
that is like, it's only $3.5
million that we stole.
And you guys are making a big deal
out of this.
Did you know New York is dirty now?
>> He said it's dirty and
disgusting.
[LAUGH] >> That's where they
going to hit your jury from
eventually.
>> [LAUGH] So, I don't know that
the jury is going to be moved by,
guys it's only $3.5 million,
I mean you guys didn't steal $3.5
million over lunch.
That's why they keep saying like,
is this all you got?
We still way more than that, right?
So, that's not a good defense.
And now what you should say on TV
when you remember
the Trump Organization.
The Trump Organization has
also been charged,
and that could be used against you.
Ladies and
gentlemen of the jury we'd like to
play a clip of Eric Trump- >> Yeah.
>> Executive Vice President for
the Trump Organization, [LAUGH].
And then the squirrel thing was
great like, under a squirrel Biden,
[LAUGH].
>> Hunter Biden can be like
the most corrupt person
in the world that has literally
nothing to do with whether or
not your company committed crimes.
>> Yeah, in a best case scenario
you're saying, your honour,
did you know there are other
criminals in the world?
Yes, but they're not on trial.
Here you are.
And that is not a great defense.
>> Yeah, the defense that they have
right now at least in terms of
keeping their base in line and
donating is that as I alluded to in
the intro, if you're watching Fox
like that, at
least in the thing with Eric Trump,
they're talking about it.
They just bring him on to defend
Weisselberg.
There's no critical pushback or
anything.
But the night before the charges,
when we knew the charges were
coming, Sean Hannity had a town
hall with Donald Trump, and
didn't bring it up.
How do you have the former
president, his company is facing
criminal charges,
they just don't even talk about it.
When they were bringing Weisselberg
in, I saw Liz Power had a mash up
of the shots of CNN, and MSNBC was
like shots the courtroom and
everything.
And on Fox it was, did you know
Hamilton was eligible for
PPP funding?
Literally that's what they were
talking about.
So like peep, there's millions of
Americans that have no idea what is
going on about any of this.
>> I like the idea of,
they go to court and
Alan Weisselberg's Attorneys like,
your honour, we might have stolen
a good deal of money and
evaded taxes on the other hand,
his name is Andrew Hamilton.
>> [LAUGH] Hunter Biden never
misses his shot to do something
corrupt.
>> No, we just missed that
I accidentally called
him Andrew Hamilton.
[LAUGH] >> I can't tell my brain is
melting, anyway you want me.
>> God, if Peter Washington could
see me now, he'd be wrong.
[LAUGH] One last thing, on YouTube
Superjet, Jerry Alfred wrote in how
come everybody is in trouble, but
Trump, everyone gets charged
finding arrested, but Trump.
Theoretically Jerry,
they are waiting for
those guys to flip and
give them better evidence on Trump.
They already have pretty good
evidence men, on the Stormy Daniels
case If that's not a layup,
I don't know what is, and
remember this is super important
part of your question.
These prosecutors if they seem
jittery to me they do right,
they show signs of cracking.
[LAUGH] Not in this case, but
I mean overall in how careful
they're being in approaching and
trying Trump.
Remember, they think
their entire career is on the line.
If they get the case,
even 1% wrong,
everybody's going to blame them for
the rest of the time.
So that's why they're being super
duper careful.
And even though they have Trump on
the stormy Daniels case,
because Michael Cohen already went
to prison for it, and
Trump was his co-conspirator,
they're still like, tiptoeing like,
I don't know, maybe, and so.
They're desperate to flip somebody
like Weisselberg or
someone else that works at
the Trump Organization.
So they'll have even better
evidence if they try to try Trump.
because if you try to try Trump and
you blow it, that is a debacle,
right?
And by the way, guys,
I want to say this every time,
right?
If Trump didn't actually do it,
I don't want him arrested,
indicted, or charged, right?
So if they don't have the evidence
because he didn't do it,
then by all means, they absolutely
positively should not charge him,
right?
>> Interesting,
purely hypothetical.
>> [LAUGH] Yeah, I was just
going to say, but so much of
the evidence is already public.
That's why we're acting fairly
certain.
And some of his co-conspirators
have already gone to prison.
>> Yeah. >> And that's why Jerry
asked that question.
And that's why we are fairly
certain that Trump in
fact did do it.