weisselberg. and those charges could mean the 76 year old weisselberg could be placed once again behind bars. now, last year, mr. weisselberg spent 100 days in jail for his role in helping engineer a wide range in tax rug schemes at trump's family business. during that case back in 2022, not only did weisselberg plead guilty, but part of his plea deal required to testify a civil trial against the trump organization. what does all and weisselberg's potential guilty plea here mean for donald trump? the new york times puts it tonight, although the agreement is unlikely to immediately affect mr. trump, it could strengthen mr. bragg's hand before the former presidents trial. it could deter other witnesses and mr. trump circle from lying on the stand. perjury charges could discredit mr. weisselberg, who has disputed details of mr. banks evidence. in other words, this could all be quite material to that criminal case against donald trump, which is scheduled to begin on march 25th. tonight, just hours ago

weisselberg. and those charges could mean the 76-year-old weisselberg could be placed once again behind bars. last year mr. weisselberg spent 100 days in a rikers island jail for his role in helping engineer a tax scheme for the trump family business. not only did he plead guilty but part of his plea deal made him testify in a civil trial that same year for the trump organization. what does it mean here for donald trump? as "the new york times" puts it tonight, although the potential agreement is unlikely to immediately affect mr. trump, it could strengthen mr. bragg's hand before the former president's trial. it could deter other witnesses in mr. trump's circle from lying on the stand. and perjury charges could discredit mr. weisselberg who has disputed details of mr. bragg's evidence. in other words, this could all be quite material to that criminal case against donald trump, which is scheduled to begin on march 25th. and tonight just hours ago we got even more breaking news that makes that all

weisselberg cooperating against donald trump. that doesn't surprise me. this guy is not in position to cooperate. i've cooperated with really bad guys. but the problem is, when you have an inveterate liar, multiple times convicted, you can't ask a jury to believe him. >> allen weisselberg fiercely loyal to donald trump, i should note. i think one thing we forget about is he got a $2 million severance package that required him not to cooperate with any law enforcement. >> i don't think that's enforceable to say you won't cooperate with law enforcement. it certainly undermines what prosecutors are trying to do. i guess that can mean a subpoena for trial or anything. that's a shocking detail to put into a severance agreement, in addition to the amount. clearly trump and his people are trying to keep weisselberg in the fold here because they're worried about him flipping. >> i should note, he has not agreed to this yet. he's just in talks to do so. it could fall apart. elie hoenig, thank you -- elie witness. >> i would be a witness i

say allen weisselberg of the trump organization is in discussions to possibly plead guilty to a perjury charge. this is related to the new york civil fraud investigation into the real estate company finances, specifically testimony that weisselberg gave in an interview with the new york attorney general's office and at the fraud trial last year. we're going to have more on this story coming up next in "the situation room" with wolf blitzer. >>> until tomorrow, you can follow me on facebook, instagram threads, x formerly known as twitter, on the tiktok @jaketapper and follow on x at "the lead," cnn. our coverage continues with alex marquardt in wolf blitzer's situation room. see you tomorrow. >>> happening now, breaking news, cnn's exclusive new poll shows donald trump maintaining a narrow lead over president joe biden nationwide as biden fights for votes in the pivotal battleground state of michigan and both candidates gear up for the potential rematch this fall. stand by for our revealing snapshot of the race and new reaction. >>> also breaking, sources say the former chief financial o

. >> tonight, straight from the, source breaking news as trump's longtime money man alec weisselberg is now in talks to plead guilty again. this time, for allegedly lying on the witness stand and trump's civil fraud trial. another landmark trial we have watched, today the mother of the michigan school shooter ethan crumbley took the stand in her own defense. she said she did not know her son was in danger, despite the many warning signs. and a -- defensive near lloyd austin faced reporters for the first time since the secret hospital stay apologizing for not telling the president, saying, quote i did not handle this right. i'm kaitlan collins, and this is the source. >>> tonight, the man who spent decades helping run donald trump's family business allen weisselberg could be on the verge of pleading guilty for the second time. this, time to a -- charge we are told. the 76 world was the chief financial officer of the trump organization for decades, he went to jail at rikers for about 100 days last year. that was for his role in running a 15-year tax fraud scheme at the trump organizati

if and what former trump ceo allen weisselberg may have lied about on the stand. he cites recent reporting in "the new york times" that suggests weisselberg is negotiating a deal with manhattan prosecutors that would require him to plead guilty to perjury. engoron writes this. i, of course, want to know whether mr. weisselberg is changing his tune and is admitting he lied under oath in my courtroom at this trial. i do not want to ignore anything

alone or with weisselberg and trump will be unrebutted because nobody will put allen weisselberg on the stand after he pleads guilty to perjury. your question is one that has people like me scratching my head for months if not years, why hasn't weisselberg flipped, i think the 2 million is part of it. i also think it's something else. >> i think he's 76 years old, and he's worked for fred trump, and at a certain point, at your core, if you were to flip, what that would take is a denial of self that's, you know, so huge, i don't think you can, and i think he sees this as a witch hunt as donald trump does. >> i thought it was so interesting. i was watching a little bit earlier, and we got to let you go so you can get to "deadline: white house." this goes back 100 years. the trump legacy, the empire that his father fred trump built and handed over to him when he died. >> right. and you can think what you want about the trumps, fred trump. >> he has a spotted legacy. >> he does. he profited, and some people think well beyond the line of milking federal programs, and building housing, bu

could influence on whether it would make sense to put pressure on weisselberg to cooperate? >> i suspect this plea deal is part of a broader cooperation that he may have with alvin bragg and his team. i find it hard to believe that there's just going to be a plea to perjury and nothing more is going to come of it than that. i would really suspect that alvin bragg and his team are looking for ways to make their case stronger. they know it's not going to be an easy trial. they know donald trump is going to try to make a circus out of it like he has the last couple trials. the jury is going to be skeptical to the somebody who pleaded guilty for perjury. you have to think weisselberg may have some receipts. >>> tonight, we're also learning more details about donald trump's growing legal bills. he's facing 91 legal charges across four criminal cases and those attorney's fees are piling up. newly filed campaign disclosures show trump spent over $55 million of donor money on legal fees in 2023. politico reports that overall trump has spent more than he raised last year in 2023 than

weisselberg was on the stand.e enough, he said weisselberg lied on the stand and we have receipts. here are some of the things that we know he said to us. almost immediately thereafter, weisselberg's testimony was further called off. he was supposed to return to the stand a day later after an interruption from another witness, and then when he was supposed to come back, he didn't. and many people expect that's because he was caught purgering himself. so that's what we think is going on. i also want to clarify, though, that while these negotiations are reportedly underway, according to "the new york times" and others, we don't have reason to believe that they have been conclusively finalized. that is, there is no plea agreement yet, rather our best understanding based on other's reporting, is that there are only discussions. >> andrew, help me understand how this plays out, what you make of this. would a plea take an important chess piece off the board in this case? >> yeah, no question that this would be a very ba

he also said the same thing about allen weisselberg.s important, because allen weisselberg and michael cohen are sort of the other two sides of what i would call the trump holy trinity when it comes to who is in the room when donald trump gives his indirect mob boss like instructions about what he wants to have happen. that was no less true in this case than it will be in the upcoming manhattan d.a.'s criminal trial, where the allegations in the indictment were that trump completely understood what the arrangement was going to be. michael cohen was going to pay stormy daniels, then, he and weisselberg and trump came up with this scheme for repayment that disguised as repayments as if they were invoices for legal services. so, i think it should cost the trump world some serious pause, and yet, a clients always has the right to direct their own defense. increasingly, you see donald trump surrounded by lawyers who are unwilling to say no to him. i was stunned earlier this week at a hearing in the criminal trial, when todd and, who i will c

weisselberg and mr.new york company. donald trump jr. and eric trump are banned from serving as a director or officer from any new york company for two years. donald trump and his companies are banned from applying for loans from any new york bank or financial institution for three years. a new independent director of compliance will be created at the trump organization to ensure the company establishes internal protocols and meets financial reporting obligations. and a current independent external monitor will continue to oversee the company's financial dealings and ensure this fraud cannot continue. i want to be clear. white collar financial fraud is not a victimless crime. when the powerful break the law and take more than their fair share, there are fewer resources available for working people, small businesses and families. and everyday americans cannot lie to a bank about how much money they have in order to get a mortgage to buy a home or a loan to keep their business afloat or to send their child

if the -- he does plead guilty, it will be the second time weisselberg will have pleaded guilty.eviously pleaded guilty to tax charges and did testify in a case against a trump organization entities. those entities were convicted and fined. it's not exactly clear what testimony weisselberg may end up saying was false, but it does come, the timing here is interesting, with the judge set to rule soon with a verdict in this case. you said we expect the decision to come down this month. breonna? >> all right, kara scannell. we will be looking for that. thank you. boris? >>> now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. a gas explosion in nairobi, kenya has killed at least three people and injured hundreds of others. officials say the fire spread overnight to a warehouse and homes. officials also say the company behind the explosion is going to be shut down, calling it illegal and unlicensed. >>> in the meantime here in the united states, another recall from tesla, this time over font size that is affecting 2.2 million vehicles. federal regulators say the font size for

he had to admit it was a trio of weisselberg and himself. the judge finds despite claiming responsibility or knowledge of certain statements of financial condition, trump junior would insist that all the material statements were accurate. that's another example where the judge went through it all and found this tension, at times basically misleading material, fraud, lies. i want to add to our discussion here in this rolling coverage. "new york times" investigative reporter russ loopner. welcome. you might be the closest thing to a tv accountant. you definitely know more than bill. >> fair. >> but i've told viewers directly it's hard to read a whole ruling like this. even in the business side, there are people who don't know as much about it. you and "the times" have been really exhaustive on this. big picture, does this ruling and the tension that it finds, does it match what you found and your understanding of this? is it worse? is it better? >> i think the big trend that we see with a analyzing his tax documents. he was really rich about a

we already know that allen weisselberg might be on the hook.had been the subject of some alleged fraudulent conduct. so you have overwhelming evidence found by the judge that weisselberg cannot be trusted with controlling the finances of any business. they were permanently banned from serving in the financial control function of any new york corporation, similar bans on donald trump, allen weisselberg for a period of three years and that's serving as an officer or director of any new york corporation or any other legal entity, which really leaves in limbo what is to be done with the trump entities. because not only are these business organizations, they also have substantial assets. the question now arises, who steps in or what steps in to control those companies and control those assets? but a very significant finding, $364 million is pretty close to the asking dollar amount of the plaintiff in this case, the plaintiff, of course, being the state of new york, through new york's new york. >> laura, what happens in the intervening period? he obv

this is kind of the next step for allen weisselberg. he's already pleaded guilty to tax fraud charges. now he could be pleading guilty to perjury charges. and relates to testimony he gave in this case but it's important to note as part of this deal, he's benes essential in trump's life for 40 years. he's not expected to be cooperating with the district attorney's office in their upcoming investigation and trial of former president donald trump. that's related to the hush money payments and the reimbursements and charged with falsifying business records. weisselberg is not expected to be cooperating in that investigation. >> two things. one, does that surprise you? two, no effect on trump coming out of the legal issues or is there? >> it's interesting. it could cut both ways for the former president. weisselberg if he reaches this deal before the trial would be an admitted liar. he's someone that would make it harder for trump to call as a witness if he was going to do that. this trial will come down to the credibility of michael cohen,

in new york, allen weisselberg is back in talks with prosecutors, according to "the new york times." this time over a perjury plea deal. >>> and georgia d.a. fani willis admitted to a quote personal relationship, what does her private life mean for the rico case against donald trump and his codefendants, joining us with the answers is justice and intelligence correspondent, ken dilanian, "new york times" investigative reporter, suzanne craig, her 2016 reporting focused on donald trump's taxes and earned her a pulitzer prize. also with us, nbc news investigations correspondent, tom winter, and msnbc legal analyst, lisa rubin. everybody welcome. ken, what happened to the trial? why is it not on the schedule any longer in d.c.? >> it's bowing to the reality that this case has been on hold while we wait for the d.c. appeals court to rule on whether mr. trump is subject to any level of presidential immunity against the charges in this case. since it's widely assumed the appeals court will rule against the former president on the score, the next stop would be the supreme court and that's a

weisselberg is allegedly in plea negotiations with that office. she continues, in an abundance of caution i have conferred with my ethics counsel and advised i'm restrained with my obligations from providing any further detail. what's not in there, of course, is any denial that allen weisselberg, in fact, might have perjured himself during his testimony. no matter, judge engoran says it won't affecting the timing of his ruling but puts those folks on notice, if anybody perjured themself in my courtroom, i want to know about it. and i likely think this is not the end of that inquiry, irrespective of when we get his decision. >> so, given that the possibility that weisselberg perjured himself doesn't necessarily change the time line of the case, does it change, harry, anything else about this case? >> look, the options for trump about the decision that is going to come out maybe by next wednesday what he said are either huge or gargantuan. >> what is the space between huge and gargantuan? >> 120 million. they asked for 250, then for 370 million. i t

weisselberg denied that that happened., guess whose testimony stands as the unrebutted truth, ironically, michael cohen's. >> somebody call michael cohen, see if he's available for tomorrow. >> thank you for that remarkable explanation, i always understand it after lisa tells me about it. it takes a lot to get me smarter but thank you for that. don't go anywhere, quick break for us. up next, a conviction today for a mass shooting that tested the limits of parental responsibility. tested the limits of parental responsibility millions of children are fighting to survive due to inequality, conflict, poverty and the climate crisis. save the children® is working alongside communities to provide a better life for children. and there's a way you can help. please call or go online to give just $10 a month. only $0.33 a day. we urgently need 1000 new monthly donors in the next 30 days to help the children we support around the world. you can help provide food, medicine, care and protection, plus so much more that a child needs by c

the defendant, donald trump, michael cohen and allen weisselberg. guess what, when we compare the alleged crimes of those three people, guess who looks at the best, michael cohen. >> yeah, right, true. one at the things that they're asking for in this, lisa, is a change of venue. they're saying that trump can't get a fair shake in manhattan. do you think that there is -- is that within the realm of possibility in all of this? >> they have not asked for it yet. one of the things that i came up with today's talking about jury selection. todd blanche, one of trump's lawyers, essentially said, i need to know why people who raise their hand and say, i can't be fair in this case, are saying that, because their answers may be a fool to me, and my plan a venue change motion. but the judges answer to that is the risk to pre trial publicity surrounding air conflict poses to justice in this case going to be any less a few months for now, a year from now or by an algae, in a different jurisdiction, no? as our colleague endorsement was saying today about the enr

we know allen weisselberg is a crook. now we know he is a liar, as well.ok because he is a convicted felon for having been involved in a 15-year-long criminal scheme to defraud in the first degree while he was part of the trump organization. he pleaded guilty to that. he went to rikers. he went and served time for that. he came out and, katie, what did he do? it looks like he went right up on the witness stand in donald trump's new york civil fraud trial and lied. that lie would've had the effect of helping donald trump in that case. yes, we hear about allen weisselberg negotiating a guilty plea to that perjury charge. i don't see him being a viable cooperator. i would call him a ten foot pole cooperating witness, if he is a cooperating witness at all. no one wants to touch him as a witness, except for the end of a ten foot pole. >> quickly, before i have to let you go, i want to stay on that man and the a criminal case. it is a case that is grounded in documents, in the payments that were made, et cetera. it also has a star witness in michael cohen who ha

now later in this same decision, the judge notes weisselberg was aware of the negative cash flow. of those trends we heard earlier in the night. the -- two prepare a document containing a series of, now these are lies, but in legal speak, they are called implausible assumptions. to generate $26 million of net operating income. weisselberg, meddling with the evaluation of the crown drew -- in sorting a top finance official, to quote remove the management fees for the net operating expenses, even though they were an expense. again, a convoluted way of saying blatantly lying to make money. we are back with our entire investigative panel here, of experts. i go to first, because both in accounting, and in law, something we collectively know a little bit about, there's a lot of diplomacy, there's a lot of jargon, there's a lot of fancy terms. i say lie, and i would have said it before the case was proven. but we had a summary judgment on one set of issues, and now we have the judicial findings on the set of issues. and they find financial lies, knowing and willful. plus, a conspiracy to

my question to you, in light of what we have watched about the possibility that you have weisselbergjuring himself, do you think that weisselberg tortured himself, to, how do you think that then changes, potentially, the timeline on this? >> so, let me remind people of what's at issue here. we're waiting for judge engoron to say two things. one, he has already found liability with respect to one cause of action. he has said that donald trump has engaged in civil fraud. there are counts two through seven that he is going to be decided whether there is liability as to donald trump, his sons, weisselberg, various defendants. there is a liability determination over it above what he's already found, and there is a damage to termination. that is where everyone has their eyes on that, whether it will be 300 and $40 million, -- alan weisberg is a defendant and that civil case. if the judge finds that he lied on the stand, and the allegation is that weisselberg, what he took the stand said i didn't know anything, i was not involved in connection with evaluating the trump property in new york,

why is judge engoron asking trump's lawyers to respond to this weisselberg potential plea? >> well, because they are in a position to have to know whether or not, in fact, it's true that he lied on the stand and if he lied on the stand this obviously has a huge impact on the judge's evaluation of the testimony and the case itself. and even though the alleged perjury may be about a small part of that testimony, the judge says maybe i have to discount all of his testimony because somebody who lies about one thing could lie about -- >> everything. >> exactly. >> and weisselberg is a key defense witness in engoron's trial, is he not? >> yes. i mean he is an important witness, and he, you know, testified as to a lot of the alleged valuations that were supposedly exaggerated in order to get a benefit in these -- in these loans. >> is this the kind of thing that would potentially move judge engoron to increase the sort of fine, if you will? we know he's looking at maybe $370 million fine here in this civil fraud trial. >> right, it's complicated because that fine is going to be ba

former trump organization cfo allen weisselberg who famously took the fall for the trump organization in a different criminal matter is reportedly in talks with d.a. bragg to plead guilty to perjury in yet another trump-related crime case. that's a lot of criming in a lot of different trump related matters. now, whether this all means that trump has just lost his most important witness here in the first criminal trial of an american president, that remains to be seen. all we know right now is that this case is going to trial, and the implications of that are somewhat profound on a number of levels. march 25th is after super tuesday. donald trump will likely be the republican nominee for president by that date. and, wow, is that going to make campaigning for president interesting. >> we're here during the day and i'll be campaigning during the night. i'm going to have to sit here for months on a trial. i think it's ridiculous. it's unfair. >> joining me now lisa rubin and melissa murray. no two better people to have sitting right here as we unpack all of this. first, i want to get your

. >>> former trump organization cfo allen weisselberg is in talks with the manhattan d.a.'s. they relate to testimony weisselberg gave in an interview with the new york attorney general's office and at trump's civil fraud trial. in 2022, weisselberg pleaded guilty to 15 criminal charges and served 100 days in jail. >>> still ahead for us, president biden heads to delaware as the remains of three fallen u.s. troops return to american soil. >>> and how does nikki haley fair against trump and biden. >>> president biden first lady and defense secretary lloyd austin head to delaware this morning to join the grieving families of three u.s. soldiers killed in jordan. their remains will be transferred back to dover air force base. thursday the pentagon chief confirmed that multitiered response is coming as he warned of escalating tensions in the region. >> this was a dangerous moment in the middle east. we'll continue to work to avoid a wider conflict in the region. but we will take all necessary actions to defend the united states, our interests and our people. >> paula hancocks is

this comes as "the new york times" reports former chief financial officer allen weisselberg is negotiatingtors to plead guilty to perjury for lying on the stand during trump's recent civil fraud trial. meantime, "the washington post" reports trump's march 4th trial date has been dropped from the public calendar of the federal court in washington. with us now to talk more about this, glen kirschner, former federal prosecutor and msnbc lel analyst, also host of the justice matters podcast. so, glen, great seeing you. what is behind the move for the washington federal court there? >> yeah, jose, when i saw the reporting that the march 4 trial date has apparently dropped off the public docket, i mean, that kind of reinforces i think what we all know at this point, there is going to be some delay. the appellate court in d.c. has not yet resolved the absolute immunity issue, though, we're expecting an opinion any day now. but even once they issue that opinion, trump will have the opportunity to petition for a rehearing en banc meeting all of the appellate court judges sitting. he also did that i

and eric trump and alan weisselberg and others involved. one of the first things he orders is that several of them together including donald trump and his trust and trump organization will have to pay $168 million and change. the next paragraph says that there's another ruling for $126 million and change. another one for $60 million. we'll have to look and see if they're overlapping or if we add them up. these are the numbers coming out. donald trump jr., $4 million in one case and allen wiseleburg a million dollars. so there's a lot of numbers there. we'll parse through the numbers. they're big. there was a big ask. looks like they may be in the neighborhood of close to $300 million or more. >> martha: we're seeing this. i believe this is a reuter's report. we're starting to balance up the numbers here. according to some of the reporting out there, the number is $354.9 million. as you say, the damages are spread across a number of the trump family members that are deeply involved in the business. don jr., eric trump, $4 million. perhaps eq

on top of that, as you mentioned, the former cfo, allen weisselberg of the trump organization, already serving a jail sentence for unrelated tax fraud charges, he is potentially getting the squeeze from manhattan district attorney prosecutors as they look to take trump to trial for his business practices, as well, that there is a possibility of new charges against allen weisselberg. >> all right. katelyn polantz, thank you very much for that. >>> we have new reporting today on how donald trump's legal team is preparing for the u.s. supreme court in oral arguments before the justices next week. at stake is -- this one is about whether or not donald trump will be allowed to appear on the 2024 primary ballot in colorado. the colorado supreme court, you may remember, ruled that donald trump could not because of his role on january 6th. now what? cnn has some new reporting on this. joan, what are you learning? >> reporter: kate, the stakes could not be higher. it'll affect who is on the potentia presidential ballot and could affect who becomes president. there's pressure on these lawyers an

as he entered the white house, he had a meeting with allen weisselberg.was former cfo, the fellow we were just talking about. it looked like he only had 50 or $60 million in available cash. but since, then he sold him assets and probably it is now greater than that. but it is really you look at the verdict or the amount he's going to have to pay for the e. jean carroll decision, that is 83 million. my estimate would be he can probably cover that. but the 370 million that he may be looking at, it may not come in at, that that's going to be a tough nut for him to head. i think we are looking at asset sales. that is a difficult proposition for him. he doesn't own a lot of class a property. so, right away, you are looking at a fire sale situation, where the assets -- in the first place. >> david, let me pick up on that. when could he take a page out of rudy giuliani's -- who declared bankruptcy in december, after he was ordered to pay 100 $50 million for defamation. if trump continues to see these bills stack up, is there a risk the former president might tak

weisselberg's testimony was not credible.hat if he's actually pleading guilty to lying on the stand for perjury. he was not going to be used by the manhattan d.a.'s office for the hush money case, and certainly donald trump wasn't going to call him. it's a statement to any other witness that donald trump might call that they if they intend to lie under oath, they too will be prosecuted for it. >> what's your guess as to when we could see that decision in the civil fraud trial? why do you think it's delayed until two more weeks at least? >> you know, i don't know. the only thing i could think is the judge is just trying to take his time and make sure it's appellate proof, so he's the one who tried the case and made the decisions, and he wants to be as thorough as possible so when donald trump will inevitably appeal, the appellate court will look at it and not overturn his decision. >> clearly it's another hit on his pocketbook after the $83 million verdict that he's of course going to appeal, but my understanding is he even ha

meanwhile, two former trump work executives, allen weisselberg and jeff mcconney have been permanently banned from serving in financial management rules for any company in new york. weisselberg was fined $1 million and all four have been barred from personally running a company in new york for some period of time. this is the case that is often referred to as the new york civil fraud case. but that shorthand masks the scope and nature of the missed deeds for which trump has now been held liable. back in september, judge arthur engoron, issued a summary judgment in the case before the trial began. he found trump and his company liable for committing fraud for years. often wildly inflating the true value of trump's assets, in order to obtain more favorable loans. the case appeared to be airtight. gore on later remarked there, is quote, enough evidence in this case to fill this courtroom, and quote. yesterday's jaw-dropping judgment was the culmination of a years-long investigation that was set off by an exchange between a than freshman lawmaker and a former trump insider, way back in 201

his two adult sons, eric and don jr., as well as his longtime business associates allen weisselberg it received fines of at least 1 million dollars as well. along with their own respective fans from operating a business in the state of new york for a number of years. perhaps the most egregious example of this fraud, and that least, the most notable, easy to undertake, was trump's practice of habitually lie about the size of his trump tower protests apartment. it was so blatant that allen weisselberg had no choice but to admitted under oath as part of the trial. quote, weisselberg said he was aware trump trump tower apartment was 10,000 square feet and not a 30,000 square feet used to determine its value on financial statements. another witness, former trump senior vp jeffrey mcconney testified trump's apartment was valued at $180 million on financial payments, based on the square footage. and the real value and size for about a third of that. reacting to that blatant and brazen fraud, judge arthur engoron some of trump's about aaa connect with the consequences. quote, the english poet

and you also don't want >> some contemporaneous notes that allen weisselberg made, right? >> so weisselberg was part of this hush money payment he was involved in conversations with michael cohen. he took handwritten notes that the prosecutors want to use trump's lawyers are saying they shouldn't be allowed to use that because allen weisselberg because not being called as a witness in this case, he's not you can be questioned by the defense about it, right? that's right. and also, remember he is in talks to plead guilty to perjury in the new york attorney general's case, which also raises complications about his credibility as a witness. >> and what about the access hollywood tapes and his public statements on sexual assault allegations >> i mean, the question then for the judge is going to be not just does this show bad character, you can't just introduce evidence that shows that a defendant's a terrible guy is as terrible things. you have to show that it's directly relevant to one of the issues at trial. the person's intent, some sort of pattern. and i think think what p

weisselberg? notwithstanding the fact mr.ohen has a reputation for extraordinary veracity, you can understand the turn he's taken in his life to try to recover the truth. weisselberg is a different story. >> up next, how the head of the nra in the words of a new york prosecutor got caught stealing from the cookie jar. that corruption trial with the jury right now. details are next. th the jury right now details are next just sleep. inspire. learn more and view important safety information at inspiresleep.com love you. have a good day, behave yourself. like she goes to work at three in the afternoon and sometimes gets off at midnight. she works a lot, a whole lot. we don't get to eat in the early morning. we just wait till we get to the school. so, yeah. right now here in america, millions of kids like victoria and andre live with hunger, and the need to help them has never been greater. when you join your friends, neighbors and me to support no kid hungry, you'll help hungry kids get the food they need. if we want to take car

. >>> breaking right now, sources say allen weisselberg of the trump organization is in discussions to possibly plead guilty to a perjury charge. this is related to the new york civil fraud investigation into the real estate company finances, specifically testimony that weisselberg gave in an interview with the new york attorney general's office and at the fraud trial last year. we're going to have more on this story coming up next in "the situation room" with wolf blitzer. >>> until tomorrow, you can follow me on facebook, instagram threads, x formerly known as twitter, on the tiktok @jaketapper and follow on x at "the lead," cnn. our coverage continues with alex marquardt in wolf blitzer's situation room. see you tomorrow. >>> happening now, breaking news, cnn's exclusive new poll shows donald trump maintaining a na

and that includes, chris, allen weisselberg, who had a $2 million severance agreement with the trump organization after he was sentenced for criminal tax fraud in another case to which he pled guilty, they gave him this $2 million severance agreement, that was raised during the trial as somewhat suspect. now the attorney general's office says, you know what, we want that $2 million back, whatever portion of it you already have, that's part of that $370 million that they're asking judge engoron to award to them. so this is relevant in that civil case, as well as to potential future developments with respect to mr. weisselberg's own criminal future. >> relevant, but presumably could also delay february when we hear a decision? >> potentially we'll know if the office of court of administration for new york tells us it will take him more time. we haven't heard that so far. >> on a very big day of breaking news, thanks to all of you. we're going to have much more on this throughout the hour. >>> plus, in 60 seconds, congressman jared moskowitz will join with us reaction to this ruling. yo

and allen weisselberg, the former chief financial officer, is liable in the amount of 1 million i haven't had a chance to read through the language of what the judge said here, but really this was about the money because the judge had already found that donald trump, his sons, and allen weisselberg, had engaged in fraud by issuing fraudulent financial statements, giving them to banks and insurers in order to obtain favorable rates. he ruled that before the trial, but we did go through a three-month trial. the judge was looking to determine how much in ill-gotten gains us what this word of discouragement means, the money that they benefited from. so now the judge issuing this significant ruling, more than $350 million against donald trump and the trump organization and against the suns. i'm going to i just see if i can quickly search to see what the judge said about any band that was the other outstanding question here. i'm not able to find that very quickly, but that is another issue that we're looking for here of what the judge says about whether he's banning trump from doing business or

donald trump and his sons and his former cfo, alan weisselberg, all being banned from doing business for serving as directors, as officers of any corporations here in new york for three year are withs. remember, letitia james wanted a permanent ban, forever. she didn't quite get it. of course, we're going to look and see if we get any statements from the attorney general. all right, back to what we were talking about earlier because we've been talking about the economy and inflation. we got all that data out this morning that a we've been covering. there's a new survey that says americans are slapping down those plastic cards, they're wracking up credit card debt. we're going to talk about how worried americans are about their financial health. credit card companies am-ex, mastercard, visa on the radar. "claman if countdown "will be right back. ♪ ey're waiting for you. hey, do you have a second? ♪ ♪'re all reaching a magic numbe. and more about discovering magic. rich is being able to keep your loved ones close. and also send them away. rich is living life your way. and having someon

allen weisselberg is find $1 million plus pretreatment interest. he and mcconney are permanently barred from serving in the financial control function of any new york corporation. then you have erik and don junior. their age find more than $4 million, plus the pro government interest. both are barred from serving as officer or director of any new york operation for two years. the independent mueller station place. and an independent director of compliance will be appointed for the organization. altogether, let's first look at the pick numbers. when you add the interest, katie, to these fines, donald trump is on the hope for more than 400 and $50 million. what's your assessment of the rolling and will it stand on appeal? >> i first want to say, congratulations, and to give some applause to whomever created those graphics. because they are on point. it took, whoever that, is distilled 92 pages of justice engoron's rolling yesterday into exactly the key issues. but one of the reasoning messages from that ruling of justice engoron, it means the rule of

this >> allen weisselberg, ron liebermann, and matthew calamari. >> and we are what the committee findformation on this? do you think we need to review his financial statements and his text returns in order to compare them? >> yes, and could find it at the trump org. >> our trump business experts are back. tim o'brien, david cay johnston, faith gay, and susanne craig. well, here we are. >> here we are. it's incredible, that's one of where it started. >> with michael cohen as the person who did the k turning over of the courage to get this. >> yes, and since then it's been an unraveling. really spectacular. we worked on a story that ran in 2008 and look at some of these things and the games they were playing, evaluations go all the way back to his father. that's where it started. then to see it all the way for today, it's remarkable. >> tim o'brien, it is an indication, by the way, it's one of the reasons why i thought donald trump would never run for president. because the level of scrutiny that is possible, and that is likely to occur into his private life and his business life, is so

. >> and weisselberg is a key defense witness in endurance trial, is he not?uations that were supposedly exaggerated in order to get a benefit in these -- >> is this the kind of thing that would potentially move judge engoron to increase the sort of fine, if you will? we know he is looking at 300, maybe 370 million dollar fine here in this civil fraud trial. >> it's complicated, because that fine is going to be the base a lot on the expert assessment of how much damage was done. but i think yes, in terms of his ultimate finding of the extent to which this fraud occurred. and if he finds that this was massive, then of course the fine can be massive. >> the other piece of this that's interesting, is the way all of these cases are collapsing in on each other a little bit. can you talk about that unusual dynamic? >> it's very interesting. first of all, you know that there is this ongoing case in manhattan, a criminal case that is unrelated about the hush money payments. and so alvin bragg has that on his mind, even if weisselberg is not going to be an important ch

has a meeting with allen weisselberg, his accountant, and there is difficulty with a cash. there is not that much left. but we do know since then, he has so the operating agreements he had on his hotel in washington. he also sold -- a golf course he had in new york. he also sold, he must have gotten less publicity, but condos he owned in new york. his mansion and carefully hills. i can keep going. he's been raising cash but at the same time, we don't know how much money he's having to plug into his many money losing businesses, just to keep them going. it's a hard thing, but we do know he has been quietly building up the cash blanket. this decision today, either to pay it or to put up the money so he can appeal on top of the e. jean carroll decision. these are massive amounts of money for him. i think we are looking -- it's going to be interesting to see what happens. i don't know and i think we'll have a situation where he'll have to put a bond. and how he's even going to get that, given all the trouble he's in now. it is anybody's guess. >> no one's going to give -- let's

a temporary a temporary restraint against those, trump and his sons and the organization allen weisselberg and the former controller of the organization permanently banned. remember the controller was somebody who had a very weepy testimony talking about how he left the job because he was is so tired of all of the legal woes of the corporation. he now is one person who along with weisselberg can no longer serving this function in new york permanently elie trump's argument the entire time has been that there's no victim because he paid the banks back with interest. did that affect the outcome here in any way? >> so the judge takes a very legalistic approach here. any sort of addresses that he says that technically speaking for the causes of action that were brought here, it doesn't really matter. now, it is important to note jake this is an atypical fraud case because usually in a fraud case, you do have a victim, you have somebody who has lied to shareholders, to investors to unsuspecting members of the public. and here, the people who were lied to the entities who were lied to were billio

weisselberg and mr.e also banned for life from serving in a financial management role in a new york company >> that'll >> trump jr. and eric trump are banned from serving as an officer or director of any new york company for two years? and donald trump and his companies are banned from applying for loans from any new york bank or financial institution for three years. a new independent director of compliance will be created at the trump organization to ensure the company establishes internal protocols and needs financial reporting obligations end the current independent external monitor, we'll continue to oversee the company's financial dealings and ensure this fraud cannot continue i want to be clear white, color financial fraud is not a victimless crime when the powerful break the law and take more than their fair share. there are fewer resources available for working people small businesses, and families and everyday americans cannot lie to a bank about how much money they have in order to get a mortg