so just who is allen weisselberg. simply calling the trump organization chief financial officer doesn't really convey how close weisselberg is to the family and how far back those ties go. randy kaye has the details on the man who may know all. >> replacing george this week is my chief financial officer, allen weisselberg. and you think george is tough wait until you see allen. >> reporter: donald trump's long time chief financial officer, alweisselberg, enjoying his 15 minutes of fame on "the apprentice" years ago. but these days in real life weisselberg would much rather avoid the spotlight. >> can you say how many times have you met with investigators? >> absolutely, it's still ongoing. >> reporter: jennifer weisselberg is allen weisselberg's ex-daughter-in-law. >> there's a forensic accountant that was originally appointed by the state and is now working with my new criminal attorney to dive deep into the tax returns, statements of net worth, bank accounts, credit cards. >> reporter: she and weisselberg's son barr

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

and how much pressure does this put on allen weisselberg? that's what you'd be asking yourself tonight if you were in your old job. >> for sure. thank you. good evening, lawrence. today's indictment is, clearly, a very broad-ranging indictment. involving 15 years. allegations of 15 years of scheme to defraud taxing authorities. and we are talking about $1.76 million in income that was, either, falsely reported or mis -- or not properly reported. i think with -- it's -- it's clearly a very significant indictment. i think, in terms of the issue of mr. weisselberg's cooperation. right now, he is looking at charges that don't mandate a jail sentence. it doesn't mean that he wouldn't get one, if he was convicted. but it doesn't mandate a jail sentence. um, i believe that the calculation made by mr. 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 requi

daughter-in-law of allen weisselberg. i know that you have not yet read the indictment. i'm not going to ask you specifically about that. can you tell us a little butt more about what the testimony -- that you shared with investigators has been about now that this indictment is public? >> i would like to know what it says. i'd like to confirm or deny if i believe it's true. i heard, from you know, the producer at msnbc

understand allen weisselberg is not a cpa, he's a bookkeeper. then what they're going to do knowing frick and frack, they're going to point around to mazers, the accountant. say 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

again we're waiting for allen weisselberg to arrive. we do not know what the 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. >>

allen weisselberg had some of that through a certain payment. with ivanka trump what we saw -- others are involved as well -- there was $26 million that we found in consulting fees that were being paid from entities that donald trump controls outward. we couldn't see who they were going to. we saw them going out. it was like, wow, when we saw it, where were these going? what we found as we went along was we were comparing the taxes to other documents we had, public documents and other documents. we saw some of it went to a company that is controlled by ivanka trump is an officer of and paid out to ivanka trump. why that was a red flag is because she's an officer of the trump organization and has -- she's paid more than $2 million. she's getting consulting fees. that should be -- the irs would look at it and say -- they are only -- these payments should be ordinary and necessary. you have to question why somebody who is making $2 million at the trump organization is also getting consulting fees. what's going on? what we in our reporting suspected

allen weisselberg, also a very big fish. the 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

>> today the lawyer for allen weisselberg's former daughter-in-law jennifer weisselberg told business insider, she is ready to testify against allen weisselberg at trial. we are very gratified to hear the reporting that the da's office is considering bringing criminal charges. we had been working with them and other investigators since late last year and have provided investigators with a mountain of evidence about not only fringe benefits but also other potential tax issues. we will discover in the indictments revealed tomorrow what other potential tax issues could be involved. and today in an interview with msnbc's hallie jackson, jennifer weisselberg said she believes there is legal jeopardy for allen weisselberg and for donald trump personally involving things that happened after donald trump became president. >> who do you think has leverage on him? what do you think that leverage entails? >> i think it's donald. >> what is the leverage? >> it's with the presidential inaugural committee. >> can you tell us anything more about that? >> i mean, it seems like it bleeds into the trum

to remove the notation " per allen weisselberg " from the entries of donald j. trump's detail general entries related to tuition paid on his biafra to his family members private school. you can get four years for that. four years in prison, just for that. just for that falsifying of business record. allen weisselberg is accused of committing that crime in the final weeks of the winning trump presidential campaign in 2016. the question that today's indictment does not answer is, exactly how involved and responsible for these crimes was donald trump? tonight, donald trump who is reportedly not a good sleep or will at some point tried to fall asleep and allen weisselberg who is 73 years old, is a husband, a father, and grandfather, who wants to spend his remaining years with his wife, his children, and grandchildren, all the time have been beneficiaries of the crimes outlined in this indictment, direct beneficiaries. tonight, allen weisselberg is facing a possible sentence that could leave him in prison for the rest of his life. donald trump has to fall asleep toni

so the question today is we know about allen weisselberg. give us a better sense of the who right now in terms of who is being charged today. there's also the company. >> big day. we'll learn a lot of important detail but there are some things that we do know already. today's indictment will charge two defendants. the first defendant is the trump organization itself. yes. prosecutors can indict corporations even though they are not people but important to know there are only financial penalties. this could mean the end of the trump organization ultimately if they get convicted but nobody can go to jail based on a corporate charge. the second charge is an individual allen weisselberg long time chief financial officer of the trump organization. if convicted as an individual key go to jail and he'll be a focal point. prosecutors are clearly trying to put pressure on allen weisselberg to flip him and get him to cooperate. >> what types of crimes are we talking about? >> a lot of details we'll get out of the indictment today. the gist of it is ta

for allen weisselberg and former donald trump personally. involving things that happened after donald trump became president. >> who do you think has leverage on him? and what do you think that leverage entails? >> i think it's donald. >> what is the leverage? >> it's with the presidential inaugural committee. >> can you tell us anything more about that? >> it seems like it bleeds into the trump organization. and there were some things going on after donald was already president, where they were capitalizing on making money for themselves. and it looks like in depositions, that ellen weisselberg was involved along with the cfo and the white house to orchestrate that money. and one of the organizations that stole the money, looks like it was the trump org. >> do you believe that the former president himself holds any liability here? >> absolutely. absolutely. i believe he'll get the indictment. >> against him? >> yes. yes. >> and leading us off tonight is adam coffman, former executive assistant district attorney and former chief of the inves

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 avoid taxes, is that your view? >> well, my view is that if you are liv

i thinkette a battle for the love of allen weisselberg. let 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

., allen weisselberg, who surrendered to authorities in new york city this morning. prosecutors say that for at least 16 years, the trump organization paid top executives off the books, calling it a sweeping and audacious illegal payment scheme. 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

what prosecutors will try to do is build up pressure on allen weisselberg. he has been an executive for the trump organization for decades. so if prosecutors can build pressure on him so that he might help actually prosecutors to go after donald trump, that's actually the goal. the trial will not start probably before next year, so there will be time for allen weisselberg and his lawyers to consider if they are going to help prosecutors, or if he's going to remain on the side of donald trump. but clearly this is all getting some witness to help prosecutors against the former president. brent: jens korte, as always, thank you. it's being hailed as a huge step towards tax justice. 130 countries have agreed to a global tax plan to ensure that multinationals pay a tax rate of at least 15%. the plan is designed to prevent large firms including google, amazon, and facebook from taking advantage of weak tax rules. today's show of support is significant, but not every country is on board. reporter: this modest press release from the oecd could have a huge impact on

that's the incentive to give someone like allen weisselberg. it's not just his own hide, it's the hide of your children as well. >> what are those conversations like with someone in that situation that weisselberg appears he will find himself in tomorrow? >> it depends who is having the conversation. it's curious to see who represents him. is it a lawyer connected to the trump organization? is there enough to drive a wedge between the two and force him to get his own attorney? often what happens, for a successful defense 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 you do that in a way that's going to lead to you getting the best resolution in court. that's not easy to do. we have seen public failures of lawyers who couldn't pull it off. that's what the conversations entail. >> i want to -- since i have you here, i want to ask about another huge piece of legal news today. it took a lot of people by surprise. i

the trump organization's chief financial officer allen weisselberg surrendered to the manhattan district attorney's office on thursday, charged with grand larceny for avoiding taxes on $1.7 million in perks that he did not report as income. his arraignment came as the d.a. filed criminal charges against the trump organization, accusing it of operating a 15-year tax fraud scheme. 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 johnsto

what makes allen weisselberg different? >> the difference here is that allen weisselberg basically has been in operational control of the trump organization for decades. he was the cfo but in practice was a little bit more than that. he controls every dollar that comes in and out of the country, makes questions about who's hired and fired. in one deposition he said he made sure the right subsidiaries were buying the right pens to save money on office supplies. so somebody with that level of interaction with trump prosecutors are hoping he'll be able to tell them, this is why we did this, this is what trump told me to do. so that is going to be, if he's charged with breaking crimes, he understood what he was doing. >> david has been covering this story for years. we'll let you get inside the courthouse. thank you so much. >>> let's bring in danny a vallow. we don't know what's in the indictments we may learn later this afternoon when they're unsealed. what are you expecting to see? >> based on reporting, if this was a case t

second of all, they've already taken a run at allen weisselberg. they have also approached allen weisselberg, i am certain, and said this is what we have. we would like you to cooperate. allen weisselberg said, thanks but no thanks, i'm not going to cooperate. i'll take my chances. he's not facing that much jail time. and i don't think there's any more pressure to add to him based on the fact that he was in handcuffs today. he knew that was coming. he made that conscious decision to get arrested and get indicted rather than cooperate. i don't think we have any good reason to suspect that he is going to cooperate down the road. so i don't see why there would be additional charges against the trump organization unless new evidence comes in. i don't really see any statute of limitations issues in this indictment that would have required them to do this now as opposed to later. it's a little confusing to me if they have more why they would charge this. common sense leads me to believe they're not going to have anymore. >> new york's attorney general le

and he talked about the arrest of allen weisselberg. you see trump making excuses that hopefully allen weisselberg doesn't slip on him and thinking and taking the case that his company does what every other company is doing. even if they are it is still illegal. trump is using the tune it is still working for so many republican voters. >> many of my viewers have had enough of trump, is probably useful to hear what you just said that he said last night because it is a remarkable defense to a bunch of allegations. in many cases it defenses i didn't do it. here is what he said about the charges that you were just talking about. >> they go after good hard- working people for not paying taxes on a company car. you used an apartment because you have to travel too far where your houses and you didn't pay tax or education for your grandchildren. does anybody know the answer to that stuff? but they indict people for that. but for murder and selling massive amounts of the worst drugs in the world that kill people left and right, that's okay, thin

and that is allen weisselberg. and it is people like allen weisselberg 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 get

to put allen weisselberg in prison. it may also be why donald trump's continued ranting are why joe biden's approval ratings are so strong. and then there's president biden's continued leadership in the most important job the president can have making americans safe. here's president joe biden today. >> because of our wartime effort to administer 300 million shots in arms in 150 days, more than 182 million americans have received at least one shot including nearly 90% of seniors and 70% of adults over the age of 27. by the end of this week, we'll have reached the mark of 160 million fully vaccinated americans and that's a goal i set in march that i'm thrilled we're going to hit just a few days after july the 4th. the bottom line is the virus is on the run and america is coming back. we're coming back together. >> leading off our discussion tonight, ezra klein, opinion columnist for "new york times" where he hosts the podcast "the ezra klein show." he's the author of best seller "why we're polarized". >> also joining us

both the company and the cfo allen weisselberg pleaded not guilty. three months after a deadly attack by militants in mozambique, we have a special report about the local people caught up in the violence. and a piece of internet history goes up for auction. the original code for the world wide web is sold for more than $5 million. welcome to "bbc world news america" on pbs and around the globe. china's communist party is celebrating its 100th anniversary, and the president xi foreign powers -- is warning other powers. they are alleged human rights abuses. our china correspondent has the story. reporter: the were front and cef its celebrations. the total control, the omnipotent leader, the unquestioning loyalty. overlooking tiananmen square, the general secretary spoke of how the party saved china from a history of humiliation and of the power it now wields. >> the chinese people will never be bullied, oppressed, or enslaved. any royal who dares -- anyone who dares go against us will have their heads cracked and bloodied. reporter: there are no refere

allen weisselberg is a wholly-owned psychological subsidiary of donald trump's criminal mind. if you work for donald at any high level position, you have to commit criminal offenses and they've committed many of them over the years. it would be difficult to get weisselberg to flip in any circumstance. there is no minimum prison sentence in the indictment that he now faces. he could get in theory 15 years. he's a first time offender, he's in his 70s, probably would get probation or at worst, home confinement. that's probably not enough to get him to flip. on the other hand, if they were to charge his sons, we've heard a lot about their family dynamics. >> oh, yeah. glenn, last quick question to you, you and i have had this discussion many times before, my friend, donald trump, his organization may go down for some sort of tax corruption crimes. but there are bigger crimes he should be prosecuted for, right? >> yeah. donald trump is a federal problem and we need a federal solution. it's wonderful that new york has finally gotten off its duff and it seems like they're indicting h

there was a notation that said, per allen weisselberg. weisselberg said, get my name off there. that is really 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 lende

does allen weisselberg e-mail and text? >> i gave them an e-mail that they didn't know about, but one of the reasons they both got homes in florida, because they constant lid fedex between mar-a-lago and boynton beach. >> so what is the answer, does he use e-mail and text? allen personally. >> he tries not to. he's made mistakes, but typically, no. >>> they fedex packages? >> right. right. from bieoynton to palm beach. >> you would see the fedex packages constantly? >> yes. >> you want you were convinced at one point you thought allen weisselberg could flip. he did not, obviously. he could still decide he wants to cooperate. do you see that happening? do you think that charges could change his mind? knowing what you know about him and knowing who he is. >> yes, i think he'll be in a different mindset after today. >> how so? >> maybe the new tax attorney is just making him aware of the fact that there are issues here. i thought tax fraud and tax evasion was a crime itself -- >> it is. >> typically it's a civil case, i unders

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

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

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

the cfo, allen weisselberg, is saying he will fight the charges in court. prosecutors say the investigation will continue. [horn honks] >> thank you. it still to come, president joe biden meets rescuers in florida and spent three hours with the families of those still missing after the collapse of an apartment block. the canadian village had a devastating heatwave and was burned to the ground by a wildfire. ♪ >> there are a couple of fine days. cold days but fine days taking you through the weekend. the seasonal rain in east asia is pretty static, waving a little bit through japan. that means more rain to come in tokyo. if you follow back to the chinese and, that is persistent and heavy rain. through the yangtze valley, there will be flooding. there is heavy rain stretching toward beijing as well. tokyo's forecast is not a big surprise. it is either raining or back for the next three days. ♪ >> al jazeera. wherever you are. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> the top stories on al jazeera. the man in charge of securing coronavirus vaccines for africa has blasted your for fa

someone who does not seem to be cooperating with me, allen weisselberg? >> exactly. when the dutchman first came down, i wondered, is this really enough leverage to get weisselberg to flip on trump? let's be honest, to give prosecutors information about activities or actions on the part of the former president trump, the prosecutors that might be interested in. i wasn't quite sure, not but i think weisselberg, having heard the president weaken his case, we can his defense, might be rethinking, and might be wondering just how far on this limb he wants to be, if the president is going to continue to undercut him, potential lines of defense he might have. he could end up in jail, but seriously information his age. >> ezra, as i read arizona's new reports about the trump attempt to steal the election there, that was blocked only by someone returning his call, i was reading it in tandem with your recent piece about democracy itself in this country, and the central flaws, to put it mildly, in our democracy. the electoral college which is what the election schem

that's a charge against allen weisselberg, cfo. another charge, then allen weisselberg faces alone which is grand larceny in the second degree, ran larceny of course is theft. they're accusing him of essentially stealing in effect from the irs by knowingly obtaining a tax refund that he was not supposed to get. but the... venues here, they genuinely interesting i think surprising news is, number one, this is a lot of charges. 15 felony charges is a serious and extensive indictment that the trump organization lawyers have been trying to spin to the public for the past week or so for sure. this is a heftier indictment and they prepared people for. it is therefore a heftier indictment that most people were expecting. number two, in statements today from the da's office and from the new york attorney generals office, remember this is essentially been in a joint investigation by those two conference into entities. statements from both of those entities released, and in that exchanged that in court that i described it why they need a pro

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

when you read the indictment, the evidence of allen weisselberg's guilt is overwhelming. from the two sets of books to an indication allen weisselberg 's own tax prepare or flipped on him to a pretty clear paper trail that shows he was criminally evading federal state and new york city taxes. but i think probably the most ominous part of that indictment is there are two unnamed people. presumably fairly high up in the trump organization, who enjoy the same criminal perks that allen weisselberg enjoyed. they haven't been named yet but we have to ask ourselves. who are two other individuals who would've been high up enough in the organization, and firmly entrenched enough and donald trump's inner circle that they may have enjoyed the same off the books compensation as allen weisselberg. could there last name beat trump? we will know soon enough. >> it's a very good question. david, returning to weisselberg there is hope he might turn on trump. flip, but he hasn't. he's risking a prison sentence. you've been following the donald. you've known him personally for decades now.

this is not just about allen weisselberg and his son themselves orchestrating this scheme and 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's been said over the last few days. it's real trouble for trump and his organization. >> the indictment, jennifer, repeatedly mentions other employees who also got benefits from the trump organization. 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. 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 benefitted and other people were involved on the trump organ

allen weisselberg has been running that company from the back office for decades. if he is now out and trump's busy trying to be president again, it's going to be the kids? as i mentioned, business insider was first to report last week that allen weisselberg is now no longer an officer or director of the trump organization subsidiary in scotland. it was "the wall street journal" and then "the washington post" that matched that reporting today. "the washington post" further reporting that actually the day after allen weisselberg's name got taken off of the subsidiary in scotland the next day on friday the trump organization removed allen weisselberg from 40 other companies. 40 other trump subsidiaries based in the state of florida. in most instances allen weisselberg appears to have been listed as some combination of director, treasurer, vice president, and/or secretary of each of these subsidiaries. now he is out of all of those titles and the kids are in. instead. what could possibly go wrong? did i mention that allen weisselberg has been running the actual busine

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. buwe

cfo allen weisselberg led into court in handcuffs today. prosecutors charging the company with ten counts and weisselberg with 15 counts in an alleged scheme to defraud, conspiracy, criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records. 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,

if allen weisselberg was keeping a separate set of books for allen weisselberg is it possible that he wasn't keeping a separate set of books 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 bu

that's why allen weisselberg is so important. and the fact that he doesn't seem interested in flipping tells me prosecutors do not have a direct line on donald trump right now. >> amanda, rank and file republicans, not the matt gaetzes or jim jordans, but rank and file republicans who tolerate donald trump, does this mean anything to them, does the tax stuff make it uncomfortable for them to deal with him in any way? >> listen, donald trump plays a good pr war. when i was listening to him at that sarasota rally, i just thought, this is the ukraine investigation all over again. essentially donald trump stood up and said, so what if i did it, which is exactly what his then chief of staff mick mulvaney said at the white house podium when asked questions about leveraging ukraine aid for dirt on joe biden, "so what if we did it," right? the fact that so many reporters are classifying this as a fringe tax benefit instead of the fraud and systematic crime that it is, tells me he is winning that broad argument. so no, it probably won't m

cfo allen weisselberg arriving in court. prosecutors unsealing the 15-count indictment accused him of running a 15-year tax fraud scheme, providing off the books compensation for top executives including apartments, tuition and cars. some of the checks allegedly signed by donald j. trump. eordeesha karling >>> the search and rescue effort resumes in surfside, fl f. rescuers pulled off the pile when the remaining part of the south tower began shifting. president biden and the first lady traveling there today, meeting families of the victims and moments ago, stopping to see the growing memorial. >>> alarming news about the covid dell tra rit. petransmsible. >>> tracking severe storms as we come on the air. the heat wave in the west now blamed for more than 70 heat-related deaths. and tropical storm el is a rob marciano with the timing and the track. >>> the supreme court issues its final decisions of the term. justices issuing a ruling on arizona's voting restrictions. how the decision could effect challenges to other voting l

chief financial officer, allen weisselberg. and you think george is tough? wait until you see allen. >> reporter: prosecutors accused weisselberg and the trump organization of compensating top executives off the books so the business and executives could pay less in taxes. weisselberg himself is accused of avoiding taxes on $1.7 million in fringe benefits over the past 15 years. including a rent-free apartment in manhattan, two mercedes-benz automobiles for him and his wife and private school tuition for their two children. the tuition, the indictment says, was paid by personal checks drawn on the account of and signed by donald j. trump. 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 ever

he's also, i'm sure, quite confident in allen weisselberg's loyalty. he doesn't believe for a second he would flip on him. unless they could find somebody else would flip, donald will be completely confident in allen's loyalty for sure. >> another thing that struck me is the sort of bluntly worded reporting from the "new york times" that the next phase of the investigation. not only is there a next phase that there will be work and further indictments but that it focuses strictly on the indictment of your uncle and being looing at defrauding banks and tax authorities. wouldn't just be targeting the company or allen but him personally must seem like a different sort of a different level. >> yeah. sure. it shouldn't surprise anybody except perhaps donald because there are long-standing patterns here. my lawsuit will show just how consistent those patterns are and have been since the 80s. the other thing people need to understand is that when my grandfather was alive, donald was involved in everything that went on. after my grandfather started suffering f

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.