>> The Manhattan District Attorney's Office is likely to criminally charge the Trump
Organization and also the Chief Financial Officer for the Trump Organization David Weissenberg. Now
Trump himself and this is important, is unlikely to be charged criminally.
And this has to do with possible tax crimes. And so when you read the details of
what the district attorney's office is going after the Trump Organization for, it honestly
does raise a few eyebrows because this is an investigation that's been going on for years.
So if this is what they're coming out with, I'm a little worried that there might not be much
in terms of wrong doing by the Trump organization. So let me make my case,
let me give you the details. So as I mentioned, Trump himself isn't expected to be charged.
His lawyer said Weisselberg has rejected prosecutor's attempts at
gaining his cooperation. So the CFO Weissenberg is not in any way cooperating with the investigation.
So it's unlikely that if he is criminally charged and he is found guilty of wrongdoing,
he's not going to be able to take advantage of some sort of plea deal.
Now is that David Weiselberger never knew what he looked like.
Okay, David weiselberger there you have it, folks. The Trump Organization and Weiselberger
are expected to face charges related to allegedly evading taxes on fringe benefits.
This is where it gets important guys pay close attention. Evading taxes on fringe benefits.
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office and New York State Attorney General's office have
been investigating whether Weisenberg and other employees illegally avoided paying taxes on parks
such as cars, apartments and private school tuition
that they received from the Trump Organization. So this is about evading taxes. If we're
talking about evading taxes on let's say a cash bonus, then there's criminal wrongdoing there.
But if you're gifted a car
and you don't pay taxes on that, is that considered criminal? I mean, it just seems
like they're really reaching here and I'm just being clear. I'm being honest with you guys about
what we know so far about this investigation. And by the way through the continued investigation,
is there a possibility that they find actual significant and serious wrongdoing?
Sure but what they've come out with right now isn't really looking good
for anyone who was hoping that Donald Trump would be held accountable for
all the other financial crimes that he kind of brazenly would talk about,
right? So let me give you more details, it's not clear who received the bonuses within the Trump
Organization which were likely paid by cheque or through a wire, or how much they totaled.
Now investigators are also looking at benefits given to other top executives including Matthew
Calamari, the chief operating officer of the company and his son, CNN has reported. The
two men, who received cars and apartments are not expected to be charged in the initial indictments,
but they remain under scrutiny by prosecutors.
Okay, so lawyers for Trump and this is the important part,
lawyers for Trump and his company tried to persuade prosecutors not to charge the Trump
organisation arguing that charging a company over fringe benefits or employee compensation
was unheard of. Former prosecutors say it is rare to charge an individual or company for failure to
pay taxes on Employee Benefits alone, although such charges are used as part of larger cases.
So that's important. There is some likelihood that this is just the beginning and the prosecutors
here are trying to build a case by starting off by attempting to prove that there was
some tax evasion going on. But again, the question is what form of tax evasion like is it just that
these employees were gifted cars and they didn't report it and to be quite honest with you.
If TYT and this is like a laughable thing to ever even consider because it would never happen,
but if TYT gifted me a car, I wouldn't think to pay taxes on that car. I just wouldn't,
it wouldn't even cross my mind. Am I a criminal? Now if TYT paid me cash under
the table and I did not report those earnings to the IRS, then I am evading taxes, right?
I think that's pretty obvious in pretty clear. So, if the prosecutors really have a shot at
proving these criminal charges, they would have to show evidence
that there were cash bonuses that Trump organization employees did not pay taxes on.
But for a two to three year investigation for this to be what comes out?
I just think it's weak sauce. It's definitely weak sauce. Let me give you more.
So I just gave you the statement from Trump's lawyers, but it's not just Trump lawyers,
there's also legal experts who have weighed in on this.
This seems a little weird. So tax lawyers have said it's unusual to see a criminal
case brought for failing to pay taxes on perks such as an apartment or company car.
Usually they say those kinds of issues are handled with civil settlements and penalties.
One tax lawyer said cash payments can cross the line into criminal activity and that's true,
who knows maybe there's evidence of a lot of people getting paid under the table
and evading taxes. And if that's the case, they should face the consequences for it.
But for all intents and purposes right now, what it appears is they don't have much on Trump,
which is a little frustrating because his own former personal attorney Michael
Cohen testified under oath and had this fascinating exchange with AOC, let's watch.
>> To your knowledge did the president ever provide inflated assets to an insurance company?
>> Yes. >> Who else knows
that the president of this? >> Alan Weiselberger,
Ron Lieberman and Matthew Calamari. >> And where would the committee find
more information on this? Do you think we need to review his financial statements and
his tax returns in order to compare them. >> Yes and you'd find it at the Trump org.
>> Mr Cohen, I want to ask you about your assertion that the President may have
improperly devalued his assets to avoid paying taxes. According to an August 24 to August 21
2016 report by the Washington Post, while the president claimed in financial disclosure forms
that Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter Florida was worth more than 50 million.
He had reported otherwise to local tax authorities that the course was worth
quote no more than 5 million. Mr. Cohen, do you know whether
this specific report is accurate? >> It's identical to what he did at
Trump National Golf Club at Briarcliff Manor. >> To your knowledge, was the President
interested in reducing his local real estate bills, tax bills?
>> Yes. >> And how did he do that?
>> What you do is you deflate the value of the asset and then you put in
a request to the tax department for a deduction. >> So that is what kind of tipped off prosecutors
in the Manhattan district attorney's office and I think it makes sense to do the investigation but
so far the outcome of this investigation doesn't really show any serious crime.
I mean, certainly not something to the point that would incriminate Donald Trump specifically, which
is why he is not likely to be criminally charged yet, but this could be the beginning of other
criminal charges. This could be part of a larger criminal case. Obviously, I can't predict that
but it seems like there's a possibility that's the direction this investigation is headed in.
I also want to correct myself, I refer to the Chief Financial Officer as David Weiselberger,
I'm not sure why? But his name is Alan Weiselberger. So I wanted to make that
correction and make sure to correct the record on that. But as this story develops,
we'll give you details if there's anything significant
as it stands right now to be completely fair and honest because that's important.
This seems like a bit of a nothing burger.