allen weisselberg. he was charged, today, in manhattan, along with the company and trump payroll corporation in a 15-count indictment alleging tax fraud, conspiracy, falsifying business records, and scheming to defraud the state of new york. this is a big deal. even if you agree with his lawyers that this shouldn't be a criminal matter. it's a big deal, even if you agree with the former president, who called the case, quote, the political-witch hunt by the radical-left democrats, with new york now taking over the assignment. why is this a big deal? simple. the investigation is not over. the pressor -- pressure just grew enormously, today, on allen weisselberg. and no one disputes how closely connected he has been to the man, whose books he has kept for decadings. decades. >> every single thing, when it was the acquisition of paperclips, light bulbs, furniture, mattresses, you name it. allen weisselberg's kids' payments. rent, everything, would have a donald signature on it or his initial. >> in a moment

prosecutors also allege weisselberg evaded taxes on $1.7 million of income. >> allen weisselberg is inmillion that's not chump change. that's real money. that's potential jail time for weisselberg. also the allegation they falsified documents is incriminating. it showed they knew it was wrong. this indictment repeatedly talks about others involved in this scheme. who are they and are prosecutors going to have enough to charge them in the future? >> when are we going to find those out? >> one never knows with prosecutors. it's interesting they haven't done it yet. >>> "the lead" with jake tapper starts right now. ♪ >>> president biden embracing families who are running out of hope. "the lead" starts right now. the consoler in chief at the community in surfside, florida as rescue teams have to stop because of safety concerns. a sweeping and audacious illegal payment scheme. how worried should donald trump be. plus quadrupling down on the big lie and attempting to change the subject. kevimc

, the former wife of jerry weisselberg, and daughter of allen weisselberg is giving them some informationcan show it others to hope to flip them as well. we know that allen weisselberg has not flipped to date, but sometimes once a defendant sees his name on that indictment, kit change his mind. we saw it with rick gaetz who was a co-defendant with paul manafort and deputy chairman for the trump campaign, and he refused to flip, and then when he was indicted, he changed his mind. so those things can happen, and then provide the benefits for prosecutors in terms of additional information. >> and ari, how serious are these charges from not providing fringe benefits to somebody on a job, and are we paying attention to something that is not as significant given who the defendant and the target are? >> well, it ranges on the amount, the conduct, the intent, and these are all things that now mr. weisselberg is indicted and marched through there in cuffs will be litigated in a courtroom, but asking most americans, and you say, can you get away with dodging 100,000 or 200,000 in taxes, and people

allen weisselberg, also a very big fish. idea that he would only be useful to try to bring somebody else in or implicate somebody else, and what i think is very much so dismissive of what the severity of the charges may very well be. now, it is true, obviously the prospect of facing federal incarceration for anyone is very problematic, but it might be that he has outlived his usefulness as a cooperator. it may be that they're able to corroborate or substantiate the types of things they needed him for, for any prospective bigger fish already. so a lot of this is a balancing act of prosecutors about trying to get things to substantiate their case, corroboration, but people outlive their usefulness. one key way to know that is an indictment against them. >> and then what happens after they've outlived their usefulness? they're indicted and then the prosecutors don't need them anymore? in other words then they can go to jail and the prosecutors don't care? >> i mean it could be that they, in terms of usefulness, they are no long

weisselberg. >> the he made the decision. allen weisselberg on the check or mr. weisselberg for short. >> michael cohen there testified about weisselberg in 2019. he's been a reasons there several times. the investigation remains ongoing and michael cohen joins me now. michael. you started this and your reaction to today's indictment. the organization that you used to work for and the cfo you used to work so closely with. >> i am not surprised of the ziemt, thest a little benefit what of us looking for or hoping for in a sweeping set of indictment meaning allen weisselberg. he's not the keystone to this entire indictment. there will be more as far as i am concerned. i know that i had gone in and i have spoken on more than a dozen occasions to the district attorney and there are a multitude of issues that are far more ranging from allen weisselberg is not paying for a car. he's not the only one. it had the same wacky compensation package. >> wacky compensation, the company intentionally use to avoi

allen weisselberg, who's fighting for his life. weisselberg's estranged daughter-in-law. in the absence of text and e-mails, it's going to be very tough to make a case against donald trump. >> you know, tim, very quickly. cooperate to what end, though? weisselberg could give them what, bring what additional charges? we keep hearing the investigation is not over. into what? >> well, i think the meat of this is possible, very robust bank fraud if they get it. more robust tax fraud if they get it. i think money laundering is in play, falseication of business records, and allen weisselberg is an eyewitness to trump's thinking and behavior on this. but as jeff points out, that only goes so far. the e-mail thing is an interesting issue because while trump didn't personally use e-mail, he directed his administrative assistant to send e-mails on his behalf. and she would also say in those e-mails mr. trump has directed me to do x, y, and z. if prosecutors have gotten their hands on her hard drives, they're going to have more evidence in print of trump's thinking at different poin

weisselberg. these benefits were backed out of that number, in other words, this document show that the trump organization intended these fringe benefits. these off the book payments to be part of his overall compensation, therefore his income. i think that's a powerful piece of evidence that is revealed in this indictment today. >> andrew, one of the things that strikes me about the record keeping is that they do keep two sets of books. they actually keep a record in effect of the crime. >> absolutely. you have, you know, basically it's donald trump and his greed getting the better of him. by keeping track the true income, so that they're not overpaying their employees. lawrence, one point i would like to make that is quite striking here, is that the indictment goes out of its way to talk about the fact that there was not just a state and city tax offence here, but there was a federal tax offence here. that is repeated i believe 30 times in the short indictment that there is a federal scheme here

weisselberg's lawyers and mr. weisselberg is he is going to fight this, for now. and see what comes down the pike, in terms of additional charges. if he were to have cooperated with the da's office, you can be sure that the da's office would have required him to imlicate not only other people in the larger investigation. meaning, loan fraud, bank fraud, insurance fraud, maybe other tax fraud. but he would have to implicate himself, as well, in order to be an effective cooperator. and that's a larger case. so his calculation, at this point, is he's not going to cooperate, now, on a case that doesn't require jail to implicate himself in a case that might involve millions of dollars. and perhaps, require jail. so, i think they are going to wait and see what happens with further charges. >> andrew weissman, we have been discussing, you and i, on this program for a while, the anticipation of this indictment. now that you have seen it, had a chance to read it. what is your reaction to what you find in it? >> so i agree with susan. and i think a really good sign of that

weisselberg. two people familiar with the matter tell nbc news the charges are expected to be unsealed in court tomorrow in manhattan. one from representative told nbc news earlier today that the charges will be unsealed around 2 pm. as nbc news reported last week, the charges center around a scheme to pay compensation to weisselberg and possibly others, off the books by the trump organization. the washington post reports, weisselberg is expected to surrender thursday morning, at the office of manhattan district attorney cyrus vance junior. two people familiar with the plan says he's expected to be arraigned later in the day, in front of a state court judge. the trump organization will also be arraigned, represented in court by one of its attorneys. this would not be happening if donald trump did not bring new scrutiny to his businesses by running for president. this is not a political prosecution. this is the kind of attention you get when you run for president. as certainly the attention you get

the other is a weisselberg. she lived this deal over the last 15 years and has been cooperating with prosecutors. let's get their perspective on what this means and what could happen next. ♪that you laughed about♪ ♪well, the names have all changed♪ ♪since you hung around♪ welcome back, america. it sure is good to see you. i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. with skyrizi, 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months, after just 2 doses. skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms such as fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or coughs, or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. ♪ nothing is everything ♪ now is the time to ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. you need an ecolab scientific clean here. and you need it here. and here. and here. which is why the scientific expertise that helps operat

the other is a weisselberg. she lived this deal over the last 15 years and has been cooperating with prosecutors. let's get their perspective on what this means and what could happen next. this may look like a regular movie night. but if you're a kid with diabetes, it's more. it's the simple act of enjoying time with friends, knowing you understand your glucose levels. ♪ hi guys! check out this side right here. what'd you do? - tell me know you did it. - yeah. get a little closer. that's insane. that's a different car. -that's the same car. - no! yeah, that's before, that's after. oh, that's awesome. make it nu with nu finish. ♪ sometimes you wanna go ♪ ♪ where everybody knows your name ♪ ♪ ♪ and they're always glad you came ♪ welcome back, america. it sure is good to see you. at philadelphia, we know what makes the perfect schmear of cream cheese. the recipe we invented over 145 years ago and me...the world's best, and possibly only, schmelier. philadelphia. schmear perfection. what's the #1 retinol brand used

i thinkette a battle for the love of allen weisselberg. me read part of the trump organization statement here before i get to you. allen weisselberg is a loving and devoted husband, father and grandfather who worked at the trump organization for 48 years. he is now being used by the manhattan district attorney as a pawn in a scorched earth attempt to harm the former president. so, this is a battle to win the hearts and mind of one person or perhaps one family, allen weisselberg. i can usually judge the former president's concerns by the number of things he tries to talk about in a 48-hour period before bad legal news and he has been as erratic as ever, so he clearly even though they tried to tell us he's not concerned, he seems highly concerned about this if you look at the nondenial denials about their concern. >> so what's interesting is that statement you just read, chuck that, we got from the trump organization today is basically -- can be summed up in five words which is, hey, allen, we got your back. that's what they're trying to say

weisselberg could flip. there could be more. >> another thing to think about and we're just keeping the options here and seeing where things go based on today's office, it looks like they filed charges to get within the statute of limitations of a number of the crimes. if you notice, they're for tax years 2017, 2018. at a certain point you can't charge conduct that's further remote in the past. they can then supercede the indictment down the road and add more charges. you're right, where were the bigger sort of insurance fraud or charges that might have brought more serious liability and if they had them, why didn't they come forward at this time? >> thanks so both of you for joining us. one of former president trump's upcoming rallies is reportedly drawing criticism from a top republican ally. who? we'll tell you next. ahhh! get out of here mouse. ahhh! ♪ don't flex your pecs. terminix. from a pioneer in photographic film to a master of the digital age, we're always searching for new ways to imagine, create

this isn't new today to allen weisselberg. when he goes to sleep tonight he will say, okay, i call their bluff. they threatened they were gonna charge me if i didn't cooperate. they chose -- i chose not to cooperate, this is where i will be. let's see how this plays out. what's weisselberg is banking on, because new york state sensing -- for white collar cases are relatively lenient, he's not likely to face that much jail time. i think you will wait to see the evidence that the prosecutors have, which they have to turn over within 45 days. then he will start to make some decisions as to why he wants to do. motions he wants to file, or whether he wants to try to work out the guilty plea short of cooperation, or perhaps, if he wants to cooperate. given that he had the opportunity to cooperate any likely knew he was facing and chose not to, i don't think the handcuffs today, or tonight, when he goes to sleep, knowing he's been arrested, i don't think it will change his calculus. if there was additional witnesses and charges, that

we are seeing the beginning in the hopes that weisselberg will flip. >> weisselberg has been the keyw investigators were looking around weisselberg. we know in the past investigators looked to michael cohen. initially, he had not flipped. he had been -- had a search warrant. he had been charged. then he ended up striking a deal for testimony in exchange for leniency. clearly, that's the number one fear for donald trump or people in his orbit. >> that's right. michael cohen, as you said, he had a huge amount of other liability that didn't have do much with his work with donald trump. had a whole entanglement involving loans in new york city that was part of the pressure to flip. he thought he might spend more than ten years in prison and pleaded guilty and testified against trump. we will see tomorrow what kind of sentence is facing weisselberg. is he talking about an offense that gets off with a fine? is he looking at years at prison? will he felt the pressure michael cohen felt? it's hard to evaluate until you know what's going to happen with weisselberg. it's hard to know what's go

that's against weisselberg. there's another charge that allen weisselberg faces alone, which is grand larceny by obtaining a tax refund that he was not supposed to get. the news here, the interesting and i think potentially surprising news is, number one, this is a lot of charges. 15 felony charges is a more serious and extensive indictment than trump lawyers have been trying to spin. this is heftier than they prepared people for. it's a heftier indictment than most were expecting. number two, in statements today from the d.a.'s office and from the new york attorney general's office -- this is a joint investigation by those two new york law enforcement entities -- in statements from those entities and in that exchange in court that i described about why they need a protective order, because the case is still going on, it was made clear by prosecutors speaking in court, by statements from the defense -- from the d.a. and from the attorney general, made more clear than i expected it to be today that this indictmen

but weisselberg knew everything. so he's just the kind of person they're looking for, because he was in the room. >> yeah, a lot. so harry, let's play what trump organization lawyers said today after court. >> these cases are always resolved in the civil context. the irs has never made a case like this. >> they cannot point to any case, any case, where a corporation has been prosecuted based on a few individuals in the corporation who allegedly, on their personal tax return, made a mistake or did not pick up fringe benefits on their personal tax return. >> you hear that, and there is the question, harry, most of these cases against corporations like this are generally civil. can you explain why this one is criminal? >> yeah. and it's not really true. this is spin and talking points that they prepared before, i think, they saw tin he indictme. but he must have known what was coming. one quick point to gloria, he's not just the kind of guy, he is the absolute guy they need. but what's the difference? continuing course

weisselberg...ushered in a new phase of the district attorney's sweeping inquiry into the business practices of mr. trump and his company. while the indictment was narrowly focused on the tax scheme, the charges could lay the groundwork for the next steps in the water investigation, which will focus on mr. trump. again, that's being reported tonight in those terms about the new york times. the next steps in the wider investigation will focus on mr. trump, quote, in the next phase of the broader investigation into mr. trump and his company, the prosecutors are expected to continue scrutinizing whether the trump organization manipulated property values to obtain a loan taxes and benefits among other potential financial crimes. so, there had been some, i think, discussion is speculation that because bank fraud and insurance fraud manipulating the valuation of various assets to defraud banks to index authorities, that had been reported as a focus of the investigators but it was not included in the indic

weisselberg pleaded not guilty. as for donald trump, he says the entire two-year investigation is politically motivated. >> it's a disgusting thing. it's very unfair. >> reporter: one potentially key witness is weisselberg's former daughter-in-law, who is cooperating with investigators. >> he knows where the bodies are buried. he's the one that does the deals. he's the one who knows where every penny goes. >> reporter: trump's former laerichael cohen who turned on trump and did time in prison, says the soon to be 74-year-old weisselberg could turn on trump, too. >> right now, his life is on the line. he's 74 years old. he wants to be with his family, not hanging out with a bunch of other inmates. >> reporter: trump told abc news weisselberg is, quote, a tremendous person. they are pressuring him, setting him up. they want him to lie against trump. >> jonathan karl joins us now from washington. and jon, the former president himself not charged today, but prosecutors clearly not finished with this case. >> reporter: i

that person would be allen weisselberg. and it remains to be seen whether or not he is willing to play ball. >> tom, what are you looking for in the indictments to give you a sense of what's next? >> in new york state we don't get speaking indictments. we have talked about this countless time. we get an indictment from the u.s. attorney's office here in new york. it is 30, 40, 50 pages of detailed information, time line, maybe text messages, email conversations are included in that. that's not typically something we see in new york state but since they are charging a company, will they have the ability to give us a lot more information to help us understand the broader part of this? which leads me to my second point, so far we have heard about what's going on today from trump's attorneys, attorneys on the defense side to kinds of knock the air out of what we are about to hear today and what might be contained in these indictments. i think it will be interesting to see just how much more the manhattan district attorney's off

understand allen weisselberg is not a cpa, he's a bookkeeper. you knew this and you should have been warning us because that's all that they're good at is deflecting their i will legalities on to somebody else. it wasn't me, it's him. if it's not him, look at him. donald doesn't care if it's going to be al land or the accountants at mazers or someone else. it doesn't matter as long as it's not him. it's an amazing -- it's an amazing way about him, you know, where, again, he'd rather be his children than be himself. >> we had a prosecutor on earlier who said that, you know -- i think you made this point before, that there are these millions of documents, a ton of documentation that is the real star of this case, not necessarily weisselberg. what did he mean by that? what documents are out there and how damaging could they be? >> i know the documents because i spent more than ten occasions with district attorney so i'm very familiar and one of the things that we know that they got as a direct result of my house oversight hearing and my participati

weisselberg is being accused of doing.a: in this indictment, there is a total of 15 counts of tax fraud. what they are alleging is that the trump organization and also specifically mr. weisselberg has been defrauding the tax organitions here in the united states. the irs, the ones that are responsible for collecting income tax from individuals and companies. the theme we are seeing in these charges is, look -- there was a long scheme that ran from march of 2005 up until june 30 of 2021. that's yesterday. that this scheme was going on to defraud the american tax organizations here. they would be engaged in things like underselling how much compensation mr. weisselberg was actually making -- there had been reports that his income over the years was around $800,000. according to this indictment, his compensation in one year was one seven $6 million. -- $1.76 million. he also did not report that he was living in new york, that he was living elsewhere, when in fact he was living in new york, and not paying new york taxes. the a

again we're waiting for allen weisselberg to arrive. impact will be on him, when he is officially charged up until this point he's not cooperated with investigators. will this indictment lead to some cooperation? that's what we're waiting to see over the next few days. again we'll bring you allen weisselberg's arrival when it takes place. >>> now this -- >>> i don't know what other excuses can be made for the republican party at this point. they've been given ample opportunities to, you know, to have an exit ramp from the previous administration and they chose to embrace that administration and in doing so on the backs of hundreds of police officers that responded to the insurrection. >> that's a d.c. police officer who was brutally assaulted during the capitol insurrection on january 6th telling cnn he was shocked but not surprised after all but two house republicans voted against creating a select committee. the house did ultimately vote in favor of creating, and cnn congressional correspondent jessica dean. >> good morning to you. la

weisselberg pleaded not guilty. as for donald trump, he says the entire two-year investigation is politically motivated. >> it's a disgusting thing. it's very unfair. >> reporter: one potentially key witness is weisselberg's former daughter-in-law, who is cooperating with investigators. >> he knows where the bodies are buried. he's the one who knows where every penny goes. >> reporter: trump's former lawyer and fixer michael cohen says the soon to be 74-year-old weisselberg could turn on trump, too. >> right now, his life is on the line. he's unch o other inmates. >> reporter: trump told abc news weisselberg is, quote, a tremendous person. they are pressuring him, setting him up. they want him to lie against trump. >> >> reporter: in fact, linsey, prosecutor said today that the investigation continues and this is a sprawling investigation. they have had donald trump's tax returns and other financial records since february and there will clearly be an effort to get weisselberg, who faces up to 15 years in prison if h

weisselberg whom mr. trump once praised for doing whatever was necessary to protect the line emerged from the district attorney's sweeping inquiry into trump and his company. he ran what is a well-worn play for his multiple brushes with criminal investigations calling the probe, which was boosted by a united states supreme court decision that cleared the path for trump's financial records to be turn over to the new york investigators a, quote, scorched earth attempt to harm him. the charges come as the twice impeached ex-president is stepping back into the political limelight as a rogue kingmaker in the adherence to the big lie, the one that incited the deadly insurrection and is at the intersection of current warnings about domestic violent extremism. "an indictment of the company that carries his name strikes a blow to the former president just as he has resumed holding rallies. even if trump parlays the charges into some immediate good will from his supporters, he has denounced the investigation as pol

weisselberg has to decide.ged anyway, trump is certainly going to point the finger at weisselberg. >> what do you say to what the attorneys for the trump organization have contended, saying, look, this is about mistakes on weisselberg's personal tax returns, this is about politics, there are other firms that have done far worse. what do you say to that? >> pamela, when i listen to that, to me, those sounded a lot like admissions. i mean, if i were their lawyers, i would say stop talking, because you notice they're not denying that this stuff occurred. they're saying, this is just small ball, it's small potatoes. but, you know, i've never heard of a company perk of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to tuition for a cfo's grandchildren. and if it was done, those companies would surely pay taxes on it. you can do whatever you want for fringe benefits but you have to pay taxes on it. i know they're talking about the car because the car is in a little bit of a gray area. but the car is not the extent of all th

when we see that, we'll see the legal pressure on weisselberg, because weisselberg flipping to reduce his liability will be one of the important things to happen. >> this could be the tip of the iceberg as the da looks into the trump organization. what happens from here do you expect that mr. weisselberg will flip on donald trump and leading to charges on the former president? >> reporter: it's hard to expect until we see how much jail time, if any, allen weisselberg is facing. if you remember, michael cohen, was saying i'll take a bullet for donald trump, then he sees more than 10 years in of jail time and he became a witness against trump. so until we see what weisselberg is facing, that could change the course. but we'll see the district attorney coming out and saying how they view the indictments, just the end or the beginning? >> also the michael cohen example is a very good one because like allen weisselberg he had extreme closeness to president trump and testified on capitol hill as to how the president communicated often saying nothing but enough to get them to do something th

and that is allen weisselberg.eisselberg said, the children that are actually going to be collateral damage to this. and that is the exact incentive that you need to give someone like allen weisselberg. it's not just to save his own hide, but the height of his children as well. >> one of those conversations like, dave, with someone who is in like weisselberg who's in this position. >> it depends on who's having the conversation, chris. it's gonna be curious to see who ends up representing him. is it a laura connected to the trump organization? or is there enough at this point to drive a wedge between the two to force him to get his own attorney. but oftentimes who edged up happening in a situation like this, for successful defenses of individuals in these positions, is whether or not you can get them to level with their point of view enough to realize that it's wise to acknowledge when they simply got you. and are you going to do that in a way that's going to ultimately lead to you getting the best resolution you c

weisselberg also charged with grand larceny. now, the former president, the former trump fixer and keeper of secrets i should say, michael cohen, who knows a thing or two about taking the fall saying this today. >> what you have right now is allen weisselberg's head on the chopping block. and do you think that donald trump will protect him? well, if allen looks back at what happened to me the answer an emphatic no. >> remember what he told congress about how his boss made his wishes known, how he made sure people knew what he wanted them to do? >> he doesn't give you questions. he doesn't give you orders. he speaks in a code. and i understand the code because i've been around him for a decade. >> so here's what you should know. the former president is not charged with anything right now, but his pride and joy, his company is. and his attitude about paying taxes is well-known. remember this? >> the only years that anybody's ever seen were a couple of years when he had to turn them over to state authorities when he was trying to g

weisselberg the financial officer there. keep in mind how much of donald trump's personal brand of politics, his personal family wealth is tied up in this company. and if this company were to be charged there could beat financial repercussions in terms of loans that become too that could eventually lead to bankruptcy by the company. but in importantly it's the real danger for donald trump, weisselberg could begin cooperating with the state prosecutors in that could potentially lead to -- while trump's allies say this week that they're pleased to see that the former president is not himself going to be charged as far as we know tomorrow, we know that this investigation is not over and that there could be another chapter to it and it's one of the reasons we want to see donald trump react so strongly and his public statements tonight. it's some of the latest in the series of investigations to take him down. >> paul, counselor, i have one for you. here's how the new york times puts it tonight. interviews with the current and for

allen weisselberg is alone with list thoughts. what happened starting tonight, over the weekend, if there is a mod movie made about it, i would be compelled to ask. is there there anything barring a third party from transmitting a message to weisselberg? >> on the the laws of obstruction of justice and witness tampering will bar donald trump from trying to influence weisselberg one way or another. the one thing that people need to remember, this is not a surprise to weisselberg. it's pretty clear the d.a.'s office wanted his cooperation, and targeted him as the linchpin as the individual who would know the most and the finances and the one most likely to know whether former president trump or any of his children were involved in this scheme or perhaps some of the other fraud allegations they have been investigating. but this is not new today to allen weisselberg. when he goes to sleep said, he will say, i called their bluff. i chose not to cooperate, and this is where i'm going be. but i think what he's banking on, because the new

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weisselberg held that role since 2006.ment by the manhattan district attorney's office has affected operations at the trump organization. weisselberg and the trump organization pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, grand larceny, tax fraud and falsifying records. the daily beast reports today that in addition to weisselberg, the indictment lists seven trump organization companies including one where ivanka trump held an executive role for eight years. according to the daily beast, while it's impossible to know what charges are still to come, legal experts say the indictment suggests bigger targets are in line, potentially including the former president's adult children. joining us now is david kay johnston, pulitzer prize winning investigative reporter who has done extensive reporting on donald trump's finances. and glenn kirchner, former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst. thank you both for joining me this evening. another big story about trump and his finances. david, is this news out of scotland, the wei

if allen weisselberg was keeping a separate set of books for allen weisselberg is it possible that heks for donald trump's children, that's a good question. we don't know the answer yet but that's one way in which the trump family could be implicated going forward. there's the other larger question, i pointed to it this morning. an important thread yesterday on twitter, look here's the real threat to the company. put the legal thing aside. if they have been keeping a separate set of books, they're in violation of loan cov nance. all of the loans that the trump organization has. and they're a highly leveraged business like a lot of real estate businesses. on the 12th count of the indictment it says they're charging weisselberg with that, falsifying the company records and if that's true and proven they're in violation of every loan covenant they have. that could bring about the end of the company if all of those loans are breached and banks decide to say we're calling in our loans, pay them back. the company can't. that looks like a threat to the business itself, aside from the legal t

weisselberg pleaded not guilty. he was ordered to surrender his passport and was released without bail. his lawyer said the case against him and the trump organization was politically motivated. >> in 244 years, we have not had a local prosecutor go after a former president of the united states or his employees or his company. that is a significant line to cross. a mako weisselberg could face up to a decade in prison if convicted. many legal experts are speculating prosecutors targeted him with the hope he will flip and help investigators in other ongoing probes into the trump family business. we'll have more on this story later in the broadcast with pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter david cay johnston. the world health organization warned thursday that the african continent faces an unprecedented third wave of covid-19 cases. more than a dozen african nations have reported their highest rates of deaths and new infections since the start of the pandemic, with more than 650,000 new cases recorded since ma

weisselberg himself, they said, avoided paying taxes on $1.7 million, used company money for apartments, private school tuition, and luxury cars-- all of it adding up to 15 counts. the trump organization called it a political play with a bigger target in mind. you think the real target here is former president trump? >> given the nature and the unprecedented nature of these charges, that's certainly-- that's the reason they were brought, okay. if the name of the company was something else, i don't think these charges would have been ght. wberg p not guilty, has worked for the family for almost 50 years. but now he's under pressure to flip. >> this is a man in his 70s. if he looks at michael cohen and look what happened to him in terms of imprisonment, when they put the cuffs on you-- as they did today at the courthouse-- you may have quite a change of mindset. >> reporter: weisselberg's former daughter-in-law is cooperating with prosecutors and willingly turned over boxes of documents. so there was a lot happening off the books. >> 80%, yeah. >> reporter: 80%. >> yes. >> reporter: and w

there was a notation that said, per allen weisselberg. weisselberg said, get my name off there.eally incriminating evidence. so, if allen weisselberg's sitting there with his attorneys today, i think his attorneys have to tell him look, they have a strong case against you. you are about to turn 74 years old, allen. and if you get convicted here, you could go away for several years. so, you need to let that sit for a bit as a prosecutor but that indictment sent a message yesterday. >> maggie, i think people forget sometimes trump organization is a family business. relatively small, in some ways, family business. a family business now under indictment. you have a byline on the story which i think is really interesting in "the times," which talks about how this indictment could affect the family business, almost immediately. what will the impact be? >> so, john, the biggest question, right now, is what this means in terms of the trump organization's relationship with its lenders. in -- in various areas. whether that is lenders on specific properties. whether that is lender -- lende

and this is where allen weisselberg fits in. received benefits. a company car, tuition for one of his grandchildren's schools and bonuses. and this is something that we expect to be part of the case today. we don't know the full breadth of it but i think once we know more, we'll be able to get a sense of how much additional pressure there will be and where else this investigation may be heading. >> ckara scannell, thank you vey much. >>> joining us now to discuss the significance. eli honig and cnn anchor and happens to be a lawyer, laura jarrett. eli, i want to begin with you. the manhattan d.a. has had trump's tax returns and azars for months now and had michael cohen to speak with, a relative of weisselberg himself. is this enough at this point given what you you've seen and with your experience as a prosecutor, would you expect a d.a. to lead with his or her strength in effect, lead with the strongest charges or do you see this as a first step? >> that is the big question here. is this the first step or is this all there is? a lot of that will

weisselberg, the financial officer there. keep in mind how much his personal family wealth is tied up in this company. if the company were to be charged, there could be financial repercussions, in terms of the loans that become due. weisselberg could begin cooperating with the prosecutors. potentially, that could lead to more trouble for the former president. while trump's allies say this week that they're pleased to see the former president is not going to be charged, as far as we know tomorrow, they know the investigation is not over and there could be another chapter to it. and it's up with of the reasons i think we've seen donald trump react so strongly in his public statements, including tonight, calling this a witch hunt and the latest in a series of investigations to try to take him down. >> paul counselor, i have one more you. this is how "the new york times" puts it. 18 current and former associates of weisselberg, as well as a review of legal filings, financial records and other documents, paint a portrait of a man

weisselberg surrendered to the manhattan d.a.'ury indicted him and former president trump's company. his attorney releasing a statement saying mr. weisselberg intends to plead not guilty and he will fight these charges in court. in another statement the trump organization said weisselberg is now being used by the manhattan d.a. as a pawn in a scorched earth attempt to harm the former president. we should note, the former president is not being indicted today, but when the indictment is unsealed we will learn for the first time whether prosecutors will tell the full story of their case. the so-called speaking indictment may indicate whether others are likely to be charged in the continuing grand jury probe. we caught up with cy vance this morning. >> can we get a comment? >> just good morning. see you at 2:15. >> 2:15 it is. tom winter, monica alba, chuck rosenberg, former u.s. attorney and fbi official. barbara quaid and law professor at the university of michigan law school. there's a lot of noise from somewhere, let's figure out

joining us now, jennifer weisselberg, a former daughter-in-law of alan weisselberg. she's provided them with materials related to the trump organization. so at this point this morning, i'm curious, jennifer, your reaction to that your former father-in-law has now surrendered and we're awaiting the details of this indictment. >> i'm interested to see how broad it is. i think the d.a. has done a good job. i'm not surprised the indictment has come today, but to back pedal on what you said, he's been using my kids and leverage, as pawns to try to get me ton silent. i fill it the opposite of the statement he just made. >> that was a statement from the trump organization. when you say he's using your children as pawns, you're talking about your former father-in-law allen weisselberg? >> and the taxes in my divorce and there was a lot of money that wasn't going to be reported, and it would affect my ability to take care of my children. my children haven't been home since february 3rd of 2020, they've been leveraging my silence over that. although the eviction is bad, you kn

weisselberg's indictment as he now awaits trial. we actually looked into whether scottish law might have required mr. weisselberg to be removed as an officer and director of that company just because he was indicted. in this case we don't think that's what happened. we don't think scottish law would have required his removal from the company. but, still, his name came down, came off it. that's interesting in itself. sort of interesting getting to the bottom of why that happened and why that happened first. the other reason this is interesting and potentially important for us as a country is because, frankly, the stability, the state of mind, and the increasing radicalism of the immediate former president of the united states is a matter of national concern. the big, conservative conference, cpac that former president trump spoke at this weekend did a straw poll of who attendees of the conference want to be the republican nominee in 2024. trump had more than 70% of the vote in that poll. look at this paragraph. hmm. who's the front-r

allen weisselberg making it happen. this is a pattern and practice of the trump organization for numerous executives and employees over a decade and a half. so this is really serious stuff, much more expansive than i would have expected given what folks have been saying over the last few days, and it's real trouble for trump and his organization. >> the indictment, jennifer, repeatedly mentions other employees who also got benefits from the trump organization. but weisselberg was the only one charged. do you think this is only going to get bigger? >> i think that's right. i still don't know what's going to happen, as i said, with kind of the other tentacles of the investigation as far as manipulating asset values for bank fraud and tax fraud and that side of things, the hush money payments, et cetera. but as far as this particular scheme is concerned, the indictment was very careful to not only talk about weisselberg and his son but to make clear that other people benefited and other people were involved on the trump or

this case is not about allen weisselberg, this is about pressuring allen weisselberg to turn on trump, to flip and to testify against him. all of trump supporters politically are going to put this in the context of four years of investigation of president trump, the special counsel investigations, the two impeachments. they're going to put this in the context of a long, long pursuit and they're going to dismiss it as political. >> martha: yeah. a trump adviser told politco that he is definitely going to run again for respect. he's emboldened by saying this is what they got after all of that investigation. i want a thought from both of you on this hunter biden story. as miranda divine reports, at some point the biden white house will talk about the president's involvement his son's shady overseas business dealings. joe biden insists he didn't know a thing about hunter's lucrative deals in countries where he wielded influence as vice president. let's put up the picture that appears by all -- every indication portion of what is in the background here to be taken at the naval observatory.

weisselberg failed to report to state and federal tax authorities. $900,000, almost 1 million bucks in federal, state, city taxes that he got to keep that he should have been paying. the trump org and allen weisselberg pleaded not guilty and are expected back in court in september. as to what happens next in a criminal investigation, what this means for donald trump himself, i'm joined by rebecca royfi who's now a professor at new york law school. rebecca, first just your first line reaction after reading the indictment today. >> this is an incredibly powerful indictment. it's detailed in such a way as it seems like it will be not too difficult to prove and, you know, i think, first of all, this really takes some of the wind out of the sails of that defense, if you can call it a defense, that this is a politically motivated prosecution. this is the bread and butter of the da's office. a case like this is what they would pursue. if a business owner were paying his employees to this tune off the books, there is no doubt that the da's office would pursu