Last week, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance charged the Trump Organization and its Chief Financial Officer, Allen Weisselberg, for a 15 year tax fraud scheme.
The indictment read:
"During the operation of the scheme, the defendants arranged for Weisselberg to receive indirect employee compensation from the Trump Organization in the approximate amount of $1.76 million ... in ways that enabled the corporate defendants to avoid reporting it to the tax authorities."
At a rally this past weekend in Sarasota, Florida, Trump acknowledged the charges against his organization and even appeared to admit to them.
Watch below.
"You didn\u2019t pay tax on the car or a company apartment...you didn\u2019t pay tax, or education for your grandchildren \u2014 I, don\u2019t even know what do you have to put? Does anybody know the answer to that stuff?"\n\nProsecutors call this an admission...pic.twitter.com/3Myuzy0cB9— Andrew Feinberg (@Andrew Feinberg) 1625361189
Trump told supporters:
"[New York officials] go after good, hardworking people for not paying taxes on a company car. 'You didn't pay tax on the car or a company apartment! You used an apartment because you need an apartment cause you have to travel to far where your house is. You didn't pay tax.' Or education for your grandchildren, I don't even know."
In another interview, Trump's son—and a top executive at the Trump Organization, Donald Trump Jr., also appeared to acknowledge the legitimacy of the charges against Weisselberg.
UPDATE: Don Jr is also making admissions and implicating his dad: "They say he didn't pay taxes on $1.7 million over 16 years, that's the New York state 8% of that, $136,000. Half of that was because my father paid for his grandchildren's school..." pic.twitter.com/2rOtUASB5P
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) July 4, 2021
Don Jr. told Fox News' Dan Bongino:
"They dressed up the indictment, obviously. They dress it up. They make it look very serious. They say he didn't pay taxes on $1.7 million over 16 years, that's, to New York state, 8% of that, $136,000. Half of that was because my father paid for his grandchildren's school in New York City, so you take that out. It amounts to about five grand a month."
People were pretty sure the former President confessed to the crimes.
Somewhere, a defense lawyer is beating his head into a brick wall, over and overhttps://twitter.com/AndrewFeinberg/status/1411493248502317056\u00a0\u2026— Joyce Alene (@Joyce Alene) 1625362618
Keep talkinghttps://twitter.com/AndrewFeinberg/status/1411493248502317056\u00a0\u2026— Citizens for Ethics (@Citizens for Ethics) 1625362306
Allen Weisselberg\u2019s attorneys right now: https://twitter.com/andrewfeinberg/status/1411493248502317056\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/GtjBffFS9l— Jon Cryer (@Jon Cryer) 1625366616
Yes, this is evidencehttps://twitter.com/andrewfeinberg/status/1411493248502317056\u00a0\u2026— Hussein Ibish (@Hussein Ibish) 1625408319
Others think a greater strategy could be at play.
This was an intentional legal strategy to combat the prior statements about how well he knows the tax code. There is a heightened intent standard for tax crimes and the DA has to prove the defendant knew the law and willfully broke it. This was his attempt to claim ignorance.https://twitter.com/AndrewFeinberg/status/1411493248502317056\u00a0\u2026— Daniel Goldman (@Daniel Goldman) 1625391787
One of Trump\u2019s tricks is to basically openly confess to crimes\u2026it Jedi mind-tricks his followers into believing that it can\u2019t possibly be illegal if he\u2019s talking about it in public. He did it with collusion, obstruction, extortion\u2026seems to work for himhttps://twitter.com/andrewfeinberg/status/1411493248502317056\u00a0\u2026— Asha Rangappa (@Asha Rangappa) 1625365511
The argument is: of course he didn\u2019t pay taxes, but people like us aren\u2019t supposed to!https://twitter.com/AndrewFeinberg/status/1411493248502317056\u00a0\u2026— Chris Hayes (@Chris Hayes) 1625362886
They didn't take kindly to Trump Jr.'s defense of Weisselberg either.
Don Jr's talking point here is\n\nIf you don't count one-half the illegal things that Weisselberg allegedly did, the other half of Weisselberg's alleged tax frauds saved him only $60,000 a year - or a little more than the median US worker earns *before* tax.https://twitter.com/AndrewFeinberg/status/1411510796518137858\u00a0\u2026— David Frum (@David Frum) 1625367042
Trying to normalize it but it ain't normal, manhttps://twitter.com/AndrewFeinberg/status/1411510796518137858\u00a0\u2026— Theresa \ud83d\udc69\u200d\ud83c\udf73 (@Theresa \ud83d\udc69\u200d\ud83c\udf73) 1625368475
Jr has no idea how much money 5 grand a month is to some people.https://twitter.com/AndrewFeinberg/status/1411510796518137858\u00a0\u2026— Imaginary GH Fan (@Imaginary GH Fan) 1625367802
At this time, no member of the Trump family has been charged.
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