the trump organization pleaded not guilty, saying weisselberg acted on his own tonight the company says it will appeal. the trial comes just as mr. trump launched another bid for the white house. the former president regularly attacking the proceedings on his social media platform, saying new york's democratic district attorney was wasting time and money fighting a political witch hunt for d.c. against trump over fringe benefits. >> so, garrett, explain what this and where this leaves former president trump. as you noted, he was not on trial here. >> well, lester, in closing arguments, prosecutors claim that he sanctioned the tax fraud, although they did not charge him mr. trump late tonight saying this was an unprecedented prosecution and that the company will appeal in the end, though, the trump organization faces only a relatively small fine of $1.6 million. lester >> all right garrett haake, thank you. >>> tonight's other top story, the hard fought senate runoff election in georgia. results expected later tonight in the race between democratic senator raphael warnock and republican

the trump organization pleaded not guilty saying weisselberg acted on his own. company says it will appeal. the trial comes just as mr. trump launched another bid for the white house. the former president regularly attacking the proceedings on his social media platform saying new york's democratic district attorney was wasting time and money fighting a political witch hunt for d.c. for trump over fringe benefits. >> we'll have more on that on "way too early." >>> another big story, the police officers who defended the capitol during the january 6th insurrection were awarded congressional gold medals yesterday. the highest honor from congress. >> january 6th was a day of horror and heartbreak. yet, it's also a moment of extraordinary heroism. it is my honor to present the congressional gold medal to the united states capitol police, the metropolitan police and every hero of january 6 from every agent that responded that day. >> several officers and surviving family members were awarded individual medals. after receiving their awards, recipients lined up to shake t

the trump organization found guilty of criminal tax fraud. the doj special counsel investigating the 2020 election, subpoenas, local officials in key swing states seeking information on trump and his failed campaign. and -- the house select committee investigating january 6th could soon be moving forward with criminal referrals. wow. a bad day for trump. a good day for democracy, i guess, and an incredible speech by herschel walker. good morning, and welcome to "morning joe." it's wednesday, december 7th. with us we have former aid to the george w. bush elyse jordan with us and msnbc political analyst member of "new york times" mara gay joins us and host of "way too early," jonathan lemire and of politico, and will e! just doesn't stop. so much news. >> incredible race talking about more than a year and a decision. after one competitive primary, two general elections, two runoffs senator raphael warnock has won a full six-year term in the united states senate. the incumbent beat republican challenger herschel walker for that last senate seat o

and tonight, the response coming in from the trump organization. our investigative reporter aaron katersky leading us off from the courthouse here in new york. >> reporter: tonight, the company that was the foundation of former president trump's career and eventual rise to the white house, the trump organization, found guilty by a manhattan jury on all 17 counts, including a scheme to defraud. >> that is consequential. it underscores that in man hat that, we have one standard of justice for all. >> reporter: the verdict holding the company liable for the criminal conduct of its top executives, mainly allen weisselberg, the former chief financial officer who pleaded guilty to arranging some of his compensation off the books. the company paid for his apartment, his mercedes-benz, and for his grandchildren's tuition. nearly $2 million in perks, none of it declared as income. trump was not charged and the defense said he did not know, but prosecutors said trump sanctioned fraud when he signed off on part of the scheme. his initials on this memo okayed a

the trump organization dolling out luxury perks to executives like fancy cars and parmtds and none of which they paid taxes on. it's not the only legal issue facing donald trump. the special counsel overseeing investigations in to him is just getting started. we learned today of the first subpoena linked to the effort to overturn the 2020 election. cbs's scott macfarlane is on capitol hill and has all all the new details for us. there is a lot. >> there sure ises, norah, as one investigation involving former president trump expands in washington with new subpoenas the other is at the trump organization reaches its conclusion in new york. >> the verdict from the jury in manhattan was overwhelming on just the second day of deliberations. the former president's company con vctded on 17 counts including conspiracy, tax fraud and falsifying business records, all part of a 15 year long criminal scheme in which executives were given off the books perks including luxurious cars. rentfree apartments and private school tuition for relatives. prosecutors built the case around star witness and lo

the trump organization is now toxic, nobody wants to touch them. trump brand? >> i think he is right on the idea that they will have issues with lending, doing business, business with governments if they want to have a local contract. i think to me when i think about, it because i think they have some of their lending at least under control and a free organize some of it. i think the larger consequence is significant, to me this is now going to be in one investigation where they have had a guilty verdict come back and there are other investigations where they are going on. i think they are varying degrees of visibility into them. one of them and i will start maybe with the lowest visibility that they have. you have to think the irs is looking at this, the president as far as we know is already under audit. not audit will be reported audit if it goes against and could cost him 100 million dollars when there is a guilty verdict that comes back against you in court for a tax fraud. i'm sure they're paying attention. then i think there are two other th

backs cases against the trump organization, not against donald trump the individual. sentencing is scheduled for january 13th. it is expected that the trump organization will be made to pay a financial penalty. because it is not a publicly traded company, the maximum penalty that faces as one point $6 million. that is a drop in the bucket. but the other new york case could have other serious consequences. in, september the new york state attorney general letitia james filed a civil lawsuit against donald trump, the three oldest children don junior, ivanka and eric. and the trump organization. james accuses them of, fraud and of deceiving lenders and insurers, by routinely over valuing their assets for insurance, and borrowing purposes. undervaluing the pretax purposes. james has been investigating the trump organization's in 2019. she also deposed donald trump this summer, during which he pled the fifth more than 400. times she is seeking a harsher penalties, including banning all four of them from running a business in new york state, ever. again she also wants to se

one, the jury saw it as we did and the broader public got to see the inner workings of the trump organization on wodisplay. >> can you explain what was the operating structure of this organization? >> well, look, fundamentally, i mean, the name is in the title, right? the trump organization, trump corporation that's were on trial here. and the core of the conduct was senior officials in corporations being given benefits and not paying taxes on them and issue that defense sort of really honed in on was okay, it's just those folks. this was not for the benefit of the corporation. so that became a significant issue in the trial. and, you know, laying out said, okay, who hired these folks? who went through the documents? and what were their level and the organization, these were not mid level. these were high managerial agents as the law calls them. and so that, all of that and a piece put together, you know, obviously i wasn't in the jury room. we viewed that as essential. rebutting the claim from the defense that, you know, nothing to see, here. just a couple of rogue employees. it's hard to ha

>> it's a stunning verdict against the trump organization. president trump's business guilty on all counts, 17 counts of tax fraud and defrauding the state, federal and city coffers of money. this prosecutor said it was a widespread systemic tax fraud scheme that was on going by the trump administration, trump organization for 15 years. the verdict coming in after two days of deliberation by there jury. after the testimony of alan weisselberg, he pled guilty in a related case and is due to be sentence today sieve five months in prison for this. but in this case, the prosecutor said that the trump organization long had explicit tax fraud, that the president, they said, explicitly sanctioned tax fraud. he was not charged in this directly but there was a possibility now that the manhattan district attorney could bring charges against the former president. he's hired a former state attorney general prosecutor that has experience in cases against the trump organization. the prosecutor said despite other issues and claims of denial, that the former

one must remember there is a separate case pending against donald trump and his organization brought the new york attorney general. that is pending and even more seriously is the investigation being conducted by the department of justice into two elements. one is donald trump's taking documents from the white house to his mar-a-lago estate and how serious was the misuse as it is put of classified documents the other issue the justice department is investigating is trump's attempts to overthrow the 2020 election. this is now just another in a long list of legal problems facing >> donald trump. let's bring in a faculty director of the center for ethics and the rule of law at the university of pennsylvania law school. she joins us from philadelphia. how serious are these convictions against the trump organization and was this about trump's companies trying to defraud the irs? >> it is extremely serious. these are 17 counts of a sickly tax fraud and tax evasion. -- of basically tax fraud and tax evasion. what the company was doing was giving expensive benefits to top employees as a way o

with them, it's party first. >> reporter: about that case in new york, a trump organization spokespersons they disagree with the verdict. they plan to appeal, and they say the witnesses testified trump was unaware of the unlawful actions. norah. >> all right. scott macfarlane with all that news, thank you so much. >>> i'm dan lieberman with an overnight news update. democratic senator raphael warnock won re-election in the georgia senate runoff over former football star herschel walker. walker was the handpicked candidate of former president donald trump, but it was warnock who came out on top. he addressed his supporters in atlanta. >> the people have spoken. [ cheers and applause ] i often say that a vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children. voting is faith put into action, and, georgia, you have been praying with your lips and your legs, with your hands and your feet, your heads and your hearts. you have put in the hard work, and here we are standing together. >> democratic senator raphael warnock speaking to supporters after winning re-elect

to pin the blame for this tax fraud on alan while the work and other senior members of the trump organizationrs in this case are registered democrats, mr trump of my claim that this is a low political witch—hunt is somewhat undermined by the fact that some of the checks that were written as part of the way of giving bonuses to people in the high ups in the company were actually signed off on by donald trump himself.- donald trump himself. david willis, thank— donald trump himself. david willis, thank you _ donald trump himself. david willis, thank you ever - donald trump himself. david willis, thank you ever so - donald trump himself. david i willis, thank you ever so much for your time. a major united nations conference on preserving global biodiversity has opened in the canadian city of montreal. more than 10,000 delegates, including scientists, government officials and activists, are taking part in cop15. over the next two weeks, they will try to agree on how to preserve sensitive ecosystems. tom brada has the details. life on earth is in a race against time. injust life on earth is in a r

one must remember that there's a separate case pending against donald trump and his organization wrote by the new york attorney general that is pending. and even more seriously is the investigation being conducted by the department of justice into 2 elements. one is donald trump says, taking documents from the white house to his mar logo estate. and how serious was the misuse as it's put of classified documents? the other issue that the at the justice department is investigating is trumps. attempts to overthrow the 90 a 2020 election. so this is now just another in the long list of legal problems facing donald trump. so let's bring in claire finkelstein, she's faculty director the center for ethics and the rule of law. the university of pennsylvania law school and to join us live now from philadelphia klegg to happy with her. so how serious then are these convictions against the trump organization and was this about trumps companies colluding and trying to defraud the iris? it's extremely serious. these are a 17 counts of basically a tax fraud and tax evasion. and what the company was

here that will be likely handed down against the trump organization, although it is unclear when that will officially, formally happen. we do know that former president trump himself was not personally implicated in this, but a star witness, former cfo allen weisselberg played a prominent role in this. that's it for the coverage here on msnbc. it's going to happen in 35 seconds when nicolle wallace picked up the coverage. we'll see you tomorrow. meantime, enjoy the rest of the afternoon on msnbc. ♪♪ >>> hi there, everyone. it is a big news day, it's 4:00 and new york, big breaking news to start with. it has major political and legal implications, donald trump's family business, the trump organization, has just been found guilty on all counts in the trial in new york on tax fraud charges. prosecutors had alleged a massive 15-year long fraud scheme orchestrated by the trump org's top executives. the jury in this trial deliberated for a little more than one day before dieding to convict trump of all charges. susanne craig will join us. we start with hear lipman, former dispute assistant

the trump organization called the verdict press poster the rouse. turning on weisselberg, a once-trusted confident of the former president, saying that he betrayed the trust the company placed in him and he acted sole little for his own personal gain and out of his own personal greed. a at sentencing next month, the company faces a $1.7 million fine, but long-term, the consequences could be more severe if no one wants to do business with a felon. and david, the manhattan d.a. still has an ongoing criminal investigation that could result in an indictment of trump himself. the new york attorney general has filed a $250 million lawsuit, so the verdict today at this courthouse is not the end of it here in trump's former

all counts. $1.6 million in a potential fine here that will be likely handed down against the trump organization when that will officially, formally happen. we do know that former president trump himself was not personally implicated in this, but a star witness, former cfo allen weisselberg played a prominent role in this. that's it for the coverage here on msnbc. it's going to happen in 35 seconds when nicolle wallace picked up the coverage. we'll see you tomorrow. meantime, enjoy the rest of the afternoon on msnbc. ♪♪ >>> hi there, everyone. it is a big news day, it's 4:00 and new york, big breaking news to start with. it has major political and legal implications, donald trump's family business, the trump organization, has just been found guilty on all counts in the trial in new york on tax fraud charges. prosecutors had alleged a massive 15-yearg

but not surprised and gratified that the genre sauce that we did -- in our workings of the trump organization on display. >> can you explain, as you understand it, what was the operating structure of this organization? >> well, fundamentally, the name is in the title. right? this is the trump organization. the true trump corporations that were on trial here. and, the core of the conduct was senior officials and the corporations being given benefits and not paying taxes on them, and the issue that the defense sort of really honed in on was, okay, it's just those folks. this was not for the benefit of the corporation. that became a significant issue in the trial. muscling out so well, okay, who hired these folks? he went through the documents, and what was their level and very organization? these were high managerial -- and so, that, all of a piece put together, you know, obviously it wasn't in the jury room, but -- robotic the defense -- -- >> rogue cfo, someone who's reporting directly and literally in the -- >> isett yonder standing that it was effectively a culture of fraud that start from

he was still getting a paycheck from the trump organization even as he was testifying, and this is something we have seen from donald trump in the past. so a lot of loyalists go to prison -- we could talk about steve bannon getting -- not being convict in the that particular case. but the bottom line is there's a lot of people who protect donald trump. >> yeah, as you say, they protect donald trump. they make some sort of calculation, and the system has a high bar. the system does not err on the side of convicting you just because your name as on the front door. although tonight in this broadcast and on the trial, we've heard people leaving you with the factual conclusion that the name on the door was aware and not just out to lunch while other people did this. as i mention, we have this big booking coming up. i'm going turn to that. i want to thank maya wylie. shortest break, 60 seconds, when we come back, the manhattan d.a. who just won this conviction in the trump case, alvin brag, is lye when we're back in 60 seconds. ack in 60 seconds. kevin! kevin? oh nice. kevin, where are you... kevi

one must remember that there's a separate case pending against donald trump and his organization brought by the new york attorney general that is pending, and even more seriously is the investigation being conducted by the department of justice into 2 elements. one is donald trump says, taking documents from the white house to his morrow lago estate, and how serious was the misuse essence put of classified documents? the other issue that the attorney justice department is investigating is trumps. attempts to overthrow the 90 at 2020 election. so this is now just another in the long list of legal problems facing donald trump. and this is significant in terms of the fact it appears. it was a unanimous verdict by the jury. it took some 24 hours for the jury to come to this decision. a tax evasion is a very serious crime. the exact fine, as i said, we'll find out in january. but it's going to impact not just on the trump organization, and the officials within it, including donald trump's children, but also on donald trump, himself. i to mike hannah live 1st there in washington, dc. mike, tha

mike, what does this all mean for the donald trump organization? and for donald trump himself, well, 1st of all, for the organization, that means that very hefty fine, which the judge will decide on in coming days to of the organization, senior executives had already pleaded guilty to taxation charges one. ellen bible berg was the chief financial officer of the trump organization, the size of the trump organization, and there, regardless of the size, the fine, it may not be too much of impact, but the impact it will have. it's in terms of the organizations dealings with banks with other companies. this type of judgment will negatively impact on the activities of that organization. so that's going to have an immediate economic impact on the trump organization. as to donald trump, himself, he has not been found guilty of any wrong doing. in this particular case, he was not on trial. his organization was along with a number of senior executives. however, this is going to impact very negatively on the form of president as well. given one must remember t

rags cases against the trump organization, not against trump, the individual. sentencing is scheduled for january 13th. it is expected that the trump organization will be made to pay a financial penalty. because it is not a publicly traded company, the maximum penalty it faces one point $6 million. which is a drop in the bucket for the trumps. the other new york case could have other damaging consequences. in september, the new york state attorney general, letitia james, filed a civil lawsuit against donald trump, his three oldest children, don junior, ivanka, and eric, and the trump organization. accusing them of fraud. deceiving lenders and insurers by routinely overwhelming their assets. james has been investigating the trump organization since back in 2019. she also deposed donald trump this summer during which he pled the fifth more than 400 times. she's seeking harsh penalties for the trumps, including seeking all four of them from running a business in new york state every jurgen. she also wants to outsource the trumps from their company with an independ

trump was not charged in the case the trump organization pleaded not guilty, saying weisselberg acted on his own the company says it will appeal. the trial comes just as mr. trump launched another bid for the white house. the former president regularly attacking the case on his social media platform >>> maryland has become the third state to ban tiktok on government devices governor larry hogan is barring state employees and contractors from using the app because of a cyber security risk. they are the latest state to do so last week, chris wray warned china could use the app to collect data on its users. >>> months of rumors have been dispelled. actor anne heche was not impaired impaired by drugs or alcohol when she had her crash she crashed her car into a los angeles house in augment her death resulted from the fire that broke out and injuries from the crash. after two days in the hospital she was declared brain dead and ultimately taken off life support. >>> we are a week into december now, and it's unusually warm in some spots let's bring in michelle grossmann. morning, michelle. >

trump had full knowledge of the actions by his employees. however, as you correctly say, he was not on trial, but his organization was that being said, this is going to have a massive impact on donald trump himself. one must remember that he is facing a legal action possible legal action. in another case, most notably the justice department investigation into what he did with the documents that he took with him to morrow laga from the white house. and also in that investigation, the justice department is looking to what extent donald trump attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election. so this decision today, a unanimous decision would appear by the jury is something that just adds on to the weight of legal woes that donald trump faces and a personal basis, as well as those legal woes faced by his organization. and it's just as well that a lawyer for the organization said up to the trial, that of course we are going to appeal. so that is going to be in the works as well, yet another appeal possibly, should the judge allow it. so this will grind on for some time yet my kind of live in washington dc. many things now ukraine has appare

there's this case for the trump organization.t forget what letitia james is up to in new york, you can't do business in new york city anymore, that the trump organization can't do that, plus you have this -- plus you have the very serious mar-a-lago documents, criminal indictments, like very, very serious. so, i thought this would be motivating to trump voters. one rally i went to right before the election in dayton, trump -- they -- right before he came on stage they had a video of letitia james and how she's racist and out to get him and the fbi raid on mar-a-lago, and the crowd did not react at all. >> wow. >> i was really surprised. there was no -- there was, like, zero reaction from them. when he got up to speak, he spoke for two hours, of course, at the end of the two hours he gave his printed text remarks from the teleprompter but the rest was his personal grievance about how everyone has treated him so unfairly. it wasn't motivating. whether that keeps him from being a republican nominee, i don't know, because thus far th

one must remember that there's a separate case pending against donald trump and his organization wrought by the new york attorney general that is pending, and even more seriously is the investigation being conducted by the department of justice into 2 elements. one is donald trump said, taking documents from the white house to his mar logo estate, and how serious was the misuse as its put of classified documents? the other issue that the attorney justice department is investigating is trump's attempt to overthrow the 192020 election. so this is now just another in the long list of legal problems facing donald trump. but claire finkelstein is from the university of pennsylvania law school. she says trumps legal problems may see him fail to be selected as the republicans 2024 presidential candidate. these are a 17 counts of basically a tax fraud and tax evasion. and what the company was doing was giving extensive benefits to its top employees as a way of helping the company with regard to with tax bill by declaring business expenses for these employee benefits. and at the same time, not ta

. >>> a jury reached a verdict in the trump organization tax fraud trial in new york.'s right. the jury returned a verdict, guilty on both counts. that means that the jury after two days of deliberations and four notes today came back with the verdict. remember the two trump organization entities accused to be in a 15-year tax fraud scheme giving certain executives compensation, apartments rent free, private school tuition for allen weisselberg's grandchildren. donald trump former president trump not charged in this case and the name did come out at the trial including on closing statements. a prosecutor saying that he believed that donald trump had sanctions some of this tax fraud. so now the judge will sentence the company. there's no mechanism to dissolve the company but could face fines as much as $1.6 million. the former president has no personal legal liability but it is a black mark for him, the company that he built from the ground up and comes as the manhattan district attorney's office claiming this as a victory is continuing the investigation into the trump

this is a criminal case against the trump organization. berg has already pled guilty and testified against the corporation. >> so, what sober today, whitesburg is the one being trump blamed by trump lawyers here. -- we are here one reason, one reason only. because of the -- of allen weisselberg. she added that weisselberg wanted to deal with government because he knew he did something wrong and was afraid of a long prison sentence. there are ideas that this was his doing but the prosecution is saying, why? >> the prosecution is relying on three words in the statute. those words are in behalf of. that means that the actions committed by weisselberg and others can't be merely for personal gain. they don't northwest necessarily have to be benefiting the trump organization financially, but they have three more than a self dealing by the defendants. the prosecutors here are saying, look, the company benefits from this. they get away from paying employees last when they are able to essentially pay them under the table with these non taxable benef

jury finds the trump organization guilty of fraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records. what this really could mean for the company. former president trump's and his family. the trial of a former police officer accused of shooting and killing a black woman in her own texas 2019 is now under way inside at the time, her nephew, who was eight years old at the time, playing video games, his emotional testimony as he remembers his aunt and the night she died just yesterday, 15% still in the dark, fuzzing working around the clock to restore power to tens of thousands of people in north carolina. where two substations protect new revelations of the gaydos location was rammed open or someone opened fire on the facility. >> now, new concern that there could be copycat attacks across the country. >> now it's a recording studio. rich in music history where legendary artists create every once in a lifetime songs inside or beat pink floyd, a new documentary directed by mary mccarthy, the daughter of paul mccartney, takes us inside london's famed abbey road recording studio. the 90th a

thank you. >>> well, speaking about cleaning up a bit of a mess, with the trump organization faced thees? will they, it is on the juries hand be held accountable, is the question. what will the verdict be they are deliberating, we will talk about it on next. when you really need to sleep. you reach for the really good stuff. zzzquil ultra helps you sleep better and longer when you need it most. its non-habit forming and powered by the makers of nyquil. when we started our business we were paying an arm and a leg for postage. i remember setting up shipstation. one or two clicks and everything was up and running. i was printing out labels and saving money. shipstation saves us so much time. it makes it really easy and seamless. pick an order, print everything you need, slap the label onto the box, and it's ready to go. our costs for shipping were cut in half. just like that. shipstation. the #1 choice of online sellers. go to shipstation.com/tv and get 2 months free. ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insu

that's the verdict against the trump organization, the former president's real estate company charged with fraud and other financial crimes. what comes next is less certain. new york jury has convicted the family business that made former president donald trump a billionaire finding the trump organization guilty of criminal tax fraud. criminal convictions , in contrast to prior civil matters as and the broader message for this was a case about cheating, lying greed, prosecutors said. for 15 years, executives at the trump organization linked on the company to evade income taxes on rent, private school tuition and luxury cars. the case was built around testimony from the company's former finance chief, allen weisberg, who previously pleaded guilty to manipulating the company's books to reduce his taxes. wisenberg testified in exchange for five month jail sentence for donald trump. trump himself was not on trial, but prosecutors claimed trump was not blissfully ignorant. they showed trump's initials on a salary reduction memo, which investigators say cheated tax authorities and they show

trump-backed candidates end up having, it was that. they weren't chosen because they were the best fund-raisers or organizers or had the best recognition in their own state. they were chosen because they were beholden to donald trump. that turned out to be in a lot of the contests a losing quality. >> herschel walker is probably the extreme example of that. you could also say mehmet oz but more so he had celebrity, huge celebrity in georgia. could not be -- that could not offset the lack of qualification. >> yeah. celebrity does matter. think about governor arnold schwarzenegger, even mark kelly. but are they good fits? that wasn't the question donald trump was asking when he was looking for these candidates. >> it all gets back to tip o'neill. >>> joining us now, gary pieters, chairman of the democratic senatorial committee. take a victory lap. the committees don't have to be evenly divided. i don't have to tell you. house republicans forecasting a flood of subpoenas as they take control against the biden cabinet, biden family. does this mean senate committees, led by democrats, can issue subpoenas and pursue their own investigations?

two trump organization entities facing charges of tax fraud and falsifying business records. s a 15-year scheme to defraud tax authority. and, in washington d.c., trump ally, rudy giuliani, facing a disciplinary hearing over his work on the former presidents election reversal attempts. all of this says the investigation around the former president continue to swirl, even as he begins his rocky bid for reelection for 2024. i am back now with frank -- and karen, and here, now with cnn legal analyst, norm eisen as well. glad to see you, all here together. normally, i begin with, you there's a lot happening, we're gonna cut to donald trump and the jury deliberation happening right now in the following these cases you have a similar one in d.c. and i'm wondering what do you make of what the jury has to chew over tonight. >> well, laura, they have a tax fraud too to over tonight. donald trump, his business, the trump organization paid its executives through providing various benefits and not declaring that on their tax returns. now i think that the prosecution made a strong case, th

trump. who is a citizen, everyday person, who was at mar-a-lago, compared to somebody at a private organizationivate restaurant. why can't they make the same -- >> i'll be honest, i completely am missing the connection between donald trump, the former president, and wanting to make sure you know what he's doing, and customers coming into a restaurant. >> i'll be even clearer, then -- >> essentially blacklisted, something i thought we put back -- >> i'll be clearer. if the crux of the issue is you ought to have control over the people who come into a private establishment and have the right to exclude who you'd like, and one of the criteria for exclusion is based on what you agree with morally or find reprehensible, then the idea of the expectation of say, as an example, a donald trump being required to, in his own private institution, private restaurant, private club, having to have those sorts of criteria -- >> are you talking about nick fuentes? >> are you listening to what i'm saying? >> you didn't say that at all, i have no idea what you're talking about. if you're talking about -- yes, of

i think that is the real danger for the trump real estate organization. companyhat is run by donald trump and his family. will it survive? i think it is too soon to tell, but that is the existential threat. laura: what about the former president himself? he is not personally convicted but this is his family business. what does it mean for him, his ability to raise money, for example? reporter: i think it is fascinating watching this. here we are talking about the trump organization being found guilty on all counts. this is a damning rebuke even though he and his family were not named. the jury did not believe this executive who testified, and was such a star witness, the former cfo and trusted lieutenant of the trump family, he could not have acted at such a high level in isolation just for himself. without some kind of knowledge within the company. and it is this rebuke that potentially could embolden prosecutors in other cases. is was brought by the manhattan da. he is considering whether to bring another case involving hush money that was paid to people

nothing today is going to lead to anything major or significant for the trump organization or the individualstrump family. >> this is the analysis that matters so much. thank you very much. wolf? >>> there's also big news here in washington. january 6 select committee announcing it will make what are called formal criminal referrals to the u.s. department of justice. chairman bennie thompson declining to say which individuals are subject or how many he expects the panel to make and now clear the committee found evidence of crimes part of the investigation into the 2020 election. let's go to sara murray part of the team that broke the story here on cnn. >> reporter: bennie thompson said that the committee will make criminal referrals. it means that this committee believed they have enough evidence that a crime occurred. doj doesn't take the cues from congress but it is a significant the ep. the committee put out a statement saying to deal with the specifics in the coming days. who's going to be on the list for potential criminal referrals? our team is told this will focus on the leaders on the

>>> today, lawyers for the trump organization made closing arguments in the company's tax fraud trial is accused of conducting an organized scheme to avoid taxes, carried out by some of the hot executives. two of those executives testified during the trial. allen weisselberg, who admitted to accepting off the books perks in lieu of his full salary avoided more than a million in taxes. and jeffery mcconney, who was aware of weisselberg's actions. but in order for prosecutors to prove the trump organization is guilty as a business, they need to prove that weisselberg was acting on behalf of the company and not just for personal gain. and that right there was what the closing arguments focused on today, if you were the defense team. joining me from outside the new york city courtroom is nbc's tom winter. so the defense really laid in to allen weisselberg today. tell me what happened. >> reporter: yes, to say the least, calling it his personal greed, katy, was the reason why he did that, and that's the reason why we're here, according to the trump corporation's attorney, the real focus to

. >>> a manhattan jury found the trump organization guilty on multiple charges of criminal tax fraud d falsifying business records. the former presidents company was that focus of a criminal scheme, defrauding tax authorities. trump himself was not charged in the case. the prosecutors argued he knew about the fraud. an attorney for the trump organization says they plan to appeal. we will have a live report with the latest on the verdict in our next half hour. >>> in hawaii, the irruption of mauna loa has prompted the national guard to step in as residents and tourist flock to see the spectacle. jets of lava have been shooting toward the sky and back down the world most active volcano. it is now near a key highway, risking communities on the big island. when the lava reaches the highway, it largely depends on how long the volcano continues to erupt. >>> let's look at the first alert weather forecast with meteorologist, jessica burch. how are we looking today? will it be warmer? >> is not too much more noticeable. we have upper 50s and sunshine, and we will take that. we have more rain

donald trump was not a defendant in this trump organization fraud case. but his name came up repeatedly throughout the trial. a prosecutor said in the closing statement trump, quote, knew exactly what was going on. so, how on earth did he not get charged in connection to this case? >> well, that is such a good question. but in a traditional way, when a corporation is indicted, it is the corporation that is indicted. the personal benefit to weisselberg is why he was personally indicted. and why he pled guilty. his testimony was not as forthcoming as i think the plea deal should have and could have demanded. i hope he won't get full credit first testimony. because he went out of his way to help his former boss, actually, not even his former boss, as i understand it, he is still working at the trump organization. i think the cumulative effect and the naming of individual number one, once again, just like in the stormy daniels case, is getting to the point where donald trump will suffer the consequences, much more than a 1.6 million dollar penalty. much more l

and here again, the trump organization had a 15 year tax scheme. he is the trump organization. he was at the head of it. nothing happened there without going through donald trump. but he is not held accountable, once again. >> so, i take your, point alisyn. but what i would say is there's blood in the water. and i think you are starting to see the results of that. you are starting to see bolton come out and say i will challenge trump. i think you are going to see -- >> i will fight a behind the gym. >> i will knife fight him. >> i think you will see more people coming out of splitting away from trump because it's just the dominoes are falling. and i think they will continue to fall. >> just exhaustion. >> to jim's point, a primary in 2016 looked completely different and then a primary will look like in 2024. >> but why? >> people will be afraid to punch back in the nose. people don't know in the primary, republican primary 2016, donald trump was not brand-new on the scene. he was completely new, no one had done what he has done on the stage. we've seen that. it hasn't changed.

manhattan courtroom where jurors just started deliberaing in the tax fraud case against the trump organization trump himself is not on trial but his company is with his former cfo allen weisselberg as a key witness but prosecutors tried to pull trump into it anyway insisting he knew all about the scheme. one lawyer called the ex president quote the elephant not in the room. nbc's tom winter is outside the courthouse. it took a little while, i don't know if it was jury instructions or what but they finally have the case. give us a sense where things stand right now, tom. >> reporter: that's right, chris. jury instructions took more time than the judge i think initially or any of the observers thought, more than the hour anticipated and that makes sense a little bit because this is a complex kind of legal case in a case that really is not often brought. it's not often that corporations are charged criminally in new york and it's not often this particular law is a plied. before getting to this point before closing arguments, both sides with the judge went back and forth about the specific element

. >>> up next, what does the guilty verdict for the trump organization mean for former president donaldmp? we'll look into that next. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." o that nex. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports. so, we switched back to tide. one wash, stains are gone. [daughter] slurping don't pay for water. pay for clean. it's got to be tide. this is the planning effect. nina's got a lot of ideas for the future... a lot of ideas. so when she wants a plan based on what matters most, she turns to fidelity. at fidelity, anyone can create a free plan. a plan that can change as your priorities do. and nina's free plan? it leaves her free to focus on what's important right now. that's the planning effect. from fidelity. you've put your dreams on hold. remember this? but i spoke to our advisor, and our vanguard investments are on track. “we got this, babe.” so go do what you love. thanks for being our superhero. only at vanguard, you're more than just an investor—you're an owner. giving you flexibility to follow your dreams. that's the value of ownership. ♪♪ subway's draf

. >>> also tonight, the trump organization convicted, guilty on all 17 counts.and four women in new york city finding the trump organization guilty of fraud, conspiracy, and falsifying business records. what this means for the former president and his family, and tonight, what the trump organization is now saying. aaron katersky in new york. >>> the other breaking headline. all eyes on georgia tonight. the high stakes runoff election for senate. senator raphael warnock and his challenger herschel walker campaigning for every last vote today. and what this means, the big picture for both sides. rachel scott in georgia tonight. >>> also, the developing headline from the january 6th committee, indicating today ey