Prosecutor: Trump ‘explicitly’ sanctioned tax fraud
Closing arguments made in N.Y. trial
NEW YORK — In the end, it wasn’t a last-minute smoking gun but a prosecutor insisting that evidence shows Donald Trump was aware of a scheme that his Trump Organization’s executives hatched to avoid paying personal income taxes on millions of dollars worth of company-paid perks.
After telling jurors on Thursday that Mr. Trump “knew exactly what was going on” with the scheme, Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Joshua Steinglass followed up by citing trial evidence and testimony that he said made clear “Mr. Trump is explicitly sanctioning tax fraud.”
Mr. Steinglass, speaking on the last day before deliberations at the Trump Organization’s criminal tax fraud, showed jurors a lease Mr. Trump signed for one executive’s Manhattan apartment and a memo the former president initialed authorizing a pay cut for another executive who got perks.
He also cited former CEO Allen Weisselberg’s claim, during his three days of testimony, that he told Mr. Trump he would pay him back after Mr. Trump agreed to cover his grandchildren’s hefty private school tuition cost. Weisselberg then adjusted his payroll records to cut his pre-tax salary by the cost of the tuition.
“I mention this all to show that this whole narrative that Mr. Trump was blissfully ignorant is just not real,” Mr. Steinglass said.
Mr. Trump himself is not on trial, as Mr. Steinglass reminded jurors, but Judge Juan Manuel Merchan gave him the green light to talk about Mr. Trump’s possible awareness of the scheme after the company’s lawyers, in their summations, claimed that Mr. Trump knew nothing about it.
Mr. Trump has denied knowing that Weisselberg and other executives were dodging taxes, writing on his Truth Social platform this week: “There was no gain for ‘Trump,’ and we had no knowledge of it.”
After Mr. Steinglass finished Friday, Trump Organization lawyer Michael van der Veen asked Judge Merchan to declare a mistrial, arguing that the prosecutor had irreparably harmed the defense by effectively portraying Mr. Trump as a coconspirator in the tax fraud scheme.
“I don’t believe it’s necessary to declare a mistrial. That’s not really even a thought,” Judge Merchan said, agreeing to instead caution jurors about Mr. Steinglass’ remarks.
But Mr. Steinglass’ sudden focus on Mr. Trump’s knowledge of the scheme, right as the Trump company’s trial was ambling to a conclusion, begged the question: Why wasn’t he charged, too?
The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined comment, citing the ongoing trial. District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who inherited the case when he took office in January, has said that an investigation of Mr. Trump is “active and ongoing,” and that no decision has been made on whether to charge him.
The Trump Organization, the entity through which Mr. Trump manages his golf courses, hotels and other ventures, is charged with helping some top executives avoid paying income taxes on non-monetary compensation. The company’s case is the only trial to arise from the Manhattan district attorney’s office’s three-year investigation of Mr. Trump and his business practices.