Lawyers in dark on Don moneyman and perjury talks
Lawyers for the New York attorney general, Donald Trump and his former top executives said Wednesday they didn’t know anything about the ex-president’s one-time finance chief Allen Weisselberg being in talks to plead guilty to perjury.
Responding to a demand for more information from the judge in Trump’s civil fraud trial — who asked them to shed light on a recent New York Times report that Weisselberg is in talks with the Manhattan district attorney’s office to plead guilty to perjuring himself at the trial — both sides said they were out of the loop.
“At this time, we are not involved in any negotiations and are unaware of what specific trial testimony may be the subject of the plea negotiations or whether Mr. Weisselberg has conceded that he testified falsely,” AG lawyer Kevin Wallace said, adding that the report shouldn’t delay a verdict in Trump’s fraud case.
“The fact that a defendant who lacks credibility and has already been to prison for falsifying business documents may have also perjured himself in this proceeding or the preceding investigation is hardly surprising,” he added. “If true, he should be held to account fully for his actions.”
Alina Habba, whose firm represents Weisselberg in the AG case, said she had not spoken with the DA’s office and couldn’t shed further light without violating ethical obligations.
“Mr. Weisselberg is entitled to a presumption of innocence,” she said. “Therefore, it would be wholly improper, and unconstitutional, for this court to presume that Mr. Weisselberg engaged in any criminal wrongdoing in Your Honor’s courtroom based solely on the publication of an unsourced and unverified news article.”
On Monday, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron emailed lawyers for the AG and Trump inquiring about the report in The Times as he mulls a final decision on six outstanding claims in the civil fraud case.
The AG, who says Trump and associates schemed to defraud financial institutions for years to boost Trump’s bottom line, wants Engoron to order them to pay the state at least $370 million in illegal gains and to permanently bar the former president, Weisselberg and ex-Trump Organization Controller Jeff McConney from New York’s real estate industry. She wants Don Jr. and Eric Trump barred for five years.
The Times report did not detail the part of Weisselberg’s testimony that may be under scrutiny. However, the AG notified the court of potential omissions during the trial following a bombshell Forbes report finding that he’d lied when he said he was unaware of a bogus valuation of Trump’s Manhattan penthouse.
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who secured Weisselberg’s conviction in a separate case in 2022, has declined to confirm or comment on reports he’s planning to charge Weisselberg again.