'Deja vu': Trump team asked about 'suspicious' severance ahead of NY trial closing arguments

Ahead of arguments for former President Donald Trump's New York $250 million civil fraud trial on Thursday, January 11, Attorney General Letitia James' office reiterated how the ex-president broke the law.

MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin offered updates via X (formerly Twitter), writing, "NEW: Kevin Wallace is about to begin for the Attorney General’s office. He says this is deja vu because all of the arguments have been made before. And the law of the case remains that the statements of financial condition were false and misleading for years."

She continued, "Each defendant acted knowingly and intentionally. In fact, other than the triplex, they did not characterize any of the valuation discrepancies as a mistake. And they tellingly never asked a single question of Donald Trump, Eric Trump, or [former Trump Organization chief financial officer] Allen Weisselberg. Only [former Trump Organization controller Jeff] McConney was asked about the statements of financial condition—and he has previously acknowledged engaging in unlawful conduct with Weisselberg. And after McConney and Weisselberg left the organization, who prepares the statements? Not the CFO, who is a CPA. Instead, they use [former Trump employee] Patrick Birney, who is not, while keeping Mark Hawthorn, the CFO, in the dark. But going back to Weisselberg, he acknowledged he — not [accounting firm] Mazars — was responsible for the accuracy of the statements of financial condition."

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Rubin noted, "And they never asked McConney whether Bender asked him for appraisals; instead, using [accounting expert] Jason Flemmons to say it was 'professionally implausible' to believe Bender asked for them. And they never asked McConney whether Bender asked him for appraisals; instead, using Jason Flemmons to say it was 'professionally implausible' to believe Bender asked for them."

She emphasized, 'Wallace allows that one of the accounting standards at issue, ASC 274, contains some flexibility, but insists it doesn’t give defendants 'carte blanche.' Wallace also adds that the defense here used expert testimony to fill in the factual paucity of their case. Engoron now asks about the severance paid to Weisselberg and McConney. Why is it suspicious? Wallace says Weisselberg got his severance after he was convicted and sentenced in a trial where he took the complete fall for the company. It’s also suspicious because the agreement says don’t go talking to the authorities. The amounts are suspicious because of the timing and the conditions, Wallace says. But he returns to defendants’ experts."

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