Trump fraud trial highlights: Allen Weisselberg grilled on financial records

Court has adjourned for the day, but not before Weisselberg answered that he couldn't recall to several more of the questions from the AG's office.

The former Trump Organization CFO said he could not recall who had final sign-off on the compilation of statements of financial condition after Trump became president, repeatedly saying he could not remember.

The statements during that time period were signed off on by Donald Trump Jr. and Weisselberg. Asked if he did any independent review of the statements, Weisselberg said no.

Asked about Trump Jr., Weisselberg said he relied upon the same people Weisselberg did.

The 76-year-old became animated at one point when asked if appraisals that could have been used for the financial statements had been done for certain properties. "We had no reason to and get an appraisal. There was no purpose for it," he said.

Asked if they'd done any, he said, "I don't remember."

Weisselberg will return to the stand on another date. Nicholas Haigh of Deutsche Bank is scheduled to testify Wednesday. 

Weisselberg, who's a named defendant in the civil fraud case, testified that he was not involved with development decisions at a Trump property in New York called Seven Springs.

The answer appeared to astonish his questioner, Louis Solomon of the AG's office. “Are you as certain of that as you are of the rest of your testimony?” Solomon asked.

He then displayed a 2014 email from Morgan Lewis lawyer Sherri Dillon to Weisselberg and Eric Trump about a potential charitable contribution analysis involving Seven Springs' land.

Fulton County prosecutors investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election are seeking testimony from Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, at the upcoming trial of lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, according to court documents.

Prosecutors are also seeking testimony from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Andrew Hitt, a 2020 Trump elector in Wisconsin.

Prosecutors say each of them has unique knowledge as to Chesebro's involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

To compel testimony from an out-of-state witness, two judges must sign off. The judge in the jurisdiction where the case is being prosecuted, Judge Scott McAfee, and a judge local to where the witness lives. For McDaniel, that’s Michigan; for Jones, that’s Travis County, Texas; for Hitt, that’s Wisconsin. There are certificates that McAfee signed for McDaniel and Jones in the docket but there isn’t one for Hitt yet.

Back on the witness stand after the lunch break, Weisselberg just acknowledged that from 2011 until Trump became president, he would give Trump the statements of financial condition before they were finalized.

Trump had an opportunity to review the statements and Weisselberg said he “periodically” received comments on them. 

After Trump was elected, Weisselberg said, he would give the statements to Donald Trump Jr. or Eric Trump.

He testified earlier in the day that he didn't remember discussing the statements with Trump.

The trial has adjourned for lunch. It's scheduled to resume at 2:15 p.m. with continued questioning of Weisselberg by the AG.

Just before breaking for lunch, the AG's office asked questions relating to the valuation of Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

The AG maintains the club was massively overvalued on Trump's financial statements, while Trump has angrily declared that he believes it to be a $1.5 billion property.

Weisselberg was shown a clipping from the New York Post with a handwritten note on top; underneath, a 2019 email from Weisselberg providing more information to Patrick Birney, a Trump employee, on the sale of another property in Palm Beach. Weisselberg said he was just trying to be helpful because Birney did not know people in Florida.

The exhibit also included an article on the offering of a Palm Beach estate for $135 million and several handwritten notes, all of which Weisselberg has denied are his own handwriting.

He has then shown a Wall Street Journal clipping with a Post-it in his handwriting that he sent to Birney. The note reads, “Patrick, hold for next year’s f/s. Let’s see what it ends up selling for.”

Weisselberg testified that was because it is the selling price, not the asking price that matters, a damning admission given how Trump’s triplex was valued (e.g., by using the asking prices of inappropriate comps plus a wildly inaccurate square footage amount).

Weisselberg testified that he does not recall ever discussing with Trump the statements of financial condition that the AG's office said were grossly overvalued.

Trump signed off on the statements before he was sworn in as president.

Weisselberg has noticeably increased the number of times he answers "I don't recall" to questions from the AG's office since the midmorning break, and has used the phrase dozens of times on the witness stand.

Asked if he ever met with Trump and his former lawyer Michael Cohen about the financial statements, Weisselberg said he didn't recall. Asked whether it was possible they did, he threw up his hands and said it was possible.

Then he testified he didn't believe he had any discussions with Trump and Cohen about the statements or about Trump's net worth. When pressed on the issue by the judge, Weisselberg said, "It did not happen."

While the fraud trial proceeds in New York, special counsel Jack Smith's team in the federal Washington, D.C., election interference criminal case is asking a judge to force Trump's hand on whether he plans to use an "advice of counsel" defense.

If he does plan to do so, the prosecutors said it would be a waiver of attorney-client privilege and would entitle them to gather more evidence from over two dozen witnesses.

“During the course of the Government’s investigation, at least 25 witnesses withheld information, communications, and documents based on assertions of the attorney-client privilege under circumstances where the privilege holder appears to be the defendant or his 2020 presidential campaign. These included co-conspirators, former campaign employees, the campaign itself, outside attorneys, a non-attorney intermediary, and even a family member of the defendant."

The filing does not say who that family member is. It notes that Trump and his attorneys have said on social media and in media interviews that they plan to contend the then-president was just listening to advice from his lawyers when he tried to stay in office despite losing the 2020 election.

If U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan grants the motion, Trump would be required to file such a notice with the court by Dec. 18. Windom and Gaston said requiring the notice by then would ensure there are no delays related to additional discovery that the government might be entitled to.

"Given his extensive public statements, the defendant cannot complain that formal notice will prematurely or unfairly reveal a hidden trial strategy," the filing said.

Weisselberg says he doesn’t recall relying on information from the former president or either of his adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, for the representations in the statements of financial condition. Trump's son, both top executives at the company, are co-defendants in the fraud trial.

Solomon showed Weisselberg the “rep letter” he signed in 2017 attesting to the accuracy of the 2016 statements of financial condition, which valued Trump's triplex based on the size being 30,000 square feet. Solomon is asking whether he signed it four days after Trump Org. employee Amanda Miller wrote in an email that per “Allen W.,” they were leaving the Trump Tower triplex square footage alone; Weisselberg gave a meandering, nonresponsive answer — and Judge Engoron, acting on his own volition, asked Weisselberg to actually answer the questions.

Engoron appeared to be annoyed: “Don’t make speeches. Just answer the question.”

Weisselberg admitted that he never checked the spreadsheet before signing the rep letter, despite an express statement in the letter asserting no events subsequent to June 30, 2016, that “would require adjustments to, or disclosure in, the personal financial statements.”

And he also conceded he was comfortable signing the rep letter despite Forbes putting the Trump Org. on notice in September that the square footage of the triplex was actually 10,996.

The court is taking a brief recess.

There has been some confusion about which lawyers represent which defendants. Alina Habba is doing the objecting this morning for Weisselberg and shepherded him out of the room protectively during the mid-morning break as if he is her client. Weisselberg is now in a meeting room off of the main courthouse with Trump Organization lawyer Alan Garten, Habba, Chris Kise, and other representatives of Trump world.

Right now, Weisselberg is being examined about the 2017 inquiries from Forbes about Trump’s triplex and other properties. The emails he is being shown reflect that Forbes had their number: They were in possession of a 1994 amended condo declaration that laid out the accurate number of square feet.

But Weisselberg has been steadfast that he doesn’t recall telling a Trump employee named Amanda Miller to “leave it alone;” instead, he insists he was focused on the commercial side of the building.

He acknowledges speaking to Miller about the Forbes inquiry but does not recall speaking to Miller about Forbes’s 10 questions about Trump Tower. “I never even thought about the apartment; it was de minimis to my mind.”

But he admitted that he certified to Mazars that the Trump Org. was responsible for the fairness and accuracy of the information — and that the information incorporated in the statements of financial condition was, in fact, fair and accurate.

Weisselberg said he was aware that Trump's Trump Tower apartment was 10,000 square feet and not the 30,000 square feet used to determine its value on financial statements, but testified he didn't notice it because there were other items he was more worried about.

"Looking at the value of that apartment relative to his net worth is not material. It’s about 1%," Weisselberg said. "Looking at the statement of financial condition there were much larger items on there that I was more concerned about."

Another witness, former Trump senior VP Jeffrey McConney, testified last week that Trump's triplex apartment was valued at $180 million on the financial statements based on the inflated square footage, and the real value and size were about a third of that.

Engoron pointed to the exaggerated size in a pre-trial ruling finding Trump had committed persistent fraud. “A discrepancy of this order of magnitude, by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades, can only be considered fraud,” Engoron wrote.

Weisselberg has taken the stand and is being questioned by Louis Solomon from the AG's office.

He went through his history of working for the Trumps — which dates back to 1973 — and said he's been through a lot in the last few years, "as you all know."

Weisselberg pleaded guilty to tax fraud charges in 2022 and served around three months in jail this year.

The DA’s star witness on a related criminal case against the Trump Org, Weisselberg testified today that he got a $2 million separation agreement when he parted ways with the company.

Trump again demanded that his civil fraud trial be dismissed as it stretches into its second week.

In a post to his Truth Social platform last night, Trump repeated his grievances over the lack of a jury in the trial and accused James of having “misrepresented values” to the judge in an effort to interfere with his chances of a second presidential term.

“This trial is an Election Interference Witch Hunt, and everybody knows it,” he wrote. “New York State should intercede and stop this total travesty of Justice.”

Last week, Judge Arthur Engoron rejected an effort from Trump’s team to suspend the trial.

Weisselberg has arrived with a mask on and is sitting in the first row of the gallery ready to move into the witness chair.

Allen Weisselberg is slated to take the stand today. Nick Haigh, a risk manager with Deutsche Bank who has been traveling overseas, will also testify this week, in addition to Patrick Birney of the Trump Organization.

There will potentially be testimony from Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen in the coming days.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has said she will be in court for the testimony from Weisselberg and Cohen. She was present in court for the trial's first five days last week.

A former chief financial executive for the Trump Organization, Weisselberg became the prosecution's star witness in the Manhattan district attorney's case against the Trump Organization. In December, the company was convicted on all counts stemming from a 15-year tax fraud scheme.

Weisselberg was identified as a beneficiary of the company's scheme, collecting $1.76 million in “indirect employee compensation,” including a rent-free apartment and furnishings, expensive cars and private school tuition for his grandchildren, prosecutors said. He pleaded guilty to charges related to the scheme and served around three months in jail.

Weisselberg had testified during that trial that other senior executives profited from the scheme and that the company also benefitted from not having to pay certain taxes.

He is set to take the stand today.

The first witness called by the prosecution, Donald Bender, a former accountant for Trump, admitted that he didn’t dispute valuations of individual assets and also said he didn’t recall noticing any failure to disclose the methods used to value those assets, contrary to industry guidelines.

Trump’s lawyers sought to undermine Bender's credibility, prompting a heated exchange between defense attorney Chris Kise and Judge Arthur Engoron.

A second accountant, Camron Harris, said in his testimony that the Trump family and their company, the Trump Organization, are responsible for their own financial statements.

Trump who attended the trial for its first three days, railed against the court proceedings, calling them a “disgrace” and a “witch hunt” on Wednesday. He did not appear in court on Thursday or Friday.

At the end of the week, as prosecutors questioned Jeffrey McConney, a former Trump Organization senior vice president, he admitted that the company's former longtime CFO, Allen Weisselberg, sought his help to commit tax fraud.