The Woman Who Could Help Take Down the Trump Organization Says She’ll Testify Before a Grand Jury - Vanity Fair

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On Monday, Trump called prosecutors “rude, nasty, and totally biased,” which is definitely the way to deal with people who could put you behind bars.

By Bess Levin

June 29, 2021

If you’ve been keeping up with the affairs of one Donald Trump, you know that he’s facing a cornucopia of legal issues that would make a Mafia don blush and/or remark to his associates, “That guy is f--ked.” In addition to a whopping 29 lawsuits and counting against him, the ex-president is the subject of four separate criminal investigations, the most serious of which appears to be that of the Manhattan district attorney, who obtained his tax returns earlier this year and convened a grand jury last month to hear evidence and testimony against him. And on Monday a key figure in the probe said that she is ready and willing to tell the jury everything she knows.

Appearing on CNN’s OutFront, Jennifer Weisselberg, the ex-daughter-in-law of Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, told Erin Burnett, “We are prepared, and we’re getting prepared,” to testify before the panel, which experts expect will come back with criminal charges. Jennifer, of course, is no average ex-daughter-in-law, but one who has supplied prosecutors with a trove of financial documents regarding her ex-husband, who happens to also be a Trump Organization employee, and the business’s CFO. “My knowledge of the documents and my voice connect the flow of money from various banks and from personal finances that bleed directly into the Trump Organization,” she told reporters in April, after investigators picked up from her apartment three boxes reportedly containing information on her ex-husband’s bank accounts and credit cards, as well as his statements of net worth and tax filings.

According to The Washington Post, the documents Jennifer turned over “show[ed] an array of payments and perks that [her ex-husband], Barry Weisselberg, and his family received as a result of his employment for Trump’s company over 18 years, likely raising key questions for investigators...working to ascertain whether the proper taxes were paid.” Per a transcript of Barry’s divorce deposition, he was unable to answer a number of questions about his taxes; when asked if taxes had been paid on the Trump Organization–owned apartment where his family previously lived, he said he didn’t know. When pressed to explain discrepancies between what he said he earned and what he actually reported on tax forms, he responded: “I’m not an accountant. I know what I make. I’m not too sure of certain things.”

Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that the Manhattan D.A.’s Office appeared to have “entered the final stages of a criminal tax investigation” into the senior Weisselberg, who could personally face charges this summer or possibly as early as this week, according to CNN. The investigation into the CFO, which Cyrus Vance Jr.’s office is presumably using to pressure him to flip and cooperate against Trump, focuses in part on the possibility that he avoided taxes on fringe benefits awarded to him and his family—benefits that included apartments, cars, and thousands of dollars in private school tuition. (Last month prosecutors subpoenaed the private school that Weisselberg’s grandchildren attend; according to Jennifer, from 2012 to 2019, tuition payments of more than $500,000 were made with checks signed by either Weisselberg or Trump.) According to the Times, should prosecutors seek charges against Weisselberg, they could choose from a variety of alleged crimes, including scheme to defraud, tax fraud, or grand larceny. While Weisselberg’s lawyers have reportedly told prosecutors that he will not cooperate with their investigation, the calculus could shift in the event that he is personally charged and wants to avoid prison time. (Weisselberg declined to answer CNN’s questions last weekend.)

In related news, on Monday lawyers for the Trump Organization mounted a last-ditch attempt to escape criminal charges, arguing that an indictment would be bad for business. Per the Times:

At a meeting with senior officials with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the New York State Attorney General’s Office, defense lawyers pointed to the harm that the business, the Trump Organization, could face if it were indicted, including damage to its relationships with banks and business partners, the people said. Meetings to discuss this kind of fallout of a criminal indictment, called collateral consequences, are routine in white-collar investigations and often indicate that charges are near.

The prosecutors did not inform the defense lawyers if they had made a final decision on whether to charge the Trump Organization, said the people, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss a private meeting. The company has long denied wrongdoing.

The meeting, which lasted less than an hour over a video call, came after the prosecutors warned the Trump Organization that they were considering indicting the company and its long-serving chief financial officer.

In a characteristically unhinged statement issued on Monday, Trump called prosecutors “rude, nasty, and totally biased” and seemingly referred to the fringe benefits provided to the Weisselbergs as things that are “standard practice throughout the U.S. business community, and in no way a crime.” To be fair, one can see why he might be upset about the prospect of the company being indicted, as former federal prosecutor Daniel Goldman pointed out:

WHO tells vaccinated people to keep wearing masks

In contrast to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which told fully vaccinated Americans last month that they can drop the face coverings, the World Health Organization has urged even fully vaccinated people to continue such precautions as the Delta variant spreads. Per The New York Times:

The Delta variant, a highly infectious form of the virus that has spread to at least 85 countries since it was first identified in India, is now responsible for one in every five COVID-19 cases across the United States. Its prevalence here has doubled in the past two weeks, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease doctor, has called it “the greatest threat” to eliminating the virus in the United States. Public health experts generally agree that getting vaccinated offers the best protection against any type of the virus.

On Monday, L.A. county also said it strongly recommends everyone continue wearing masks indoors, noting that the Delta variant accounted for almost half of all cases sequenced in the county. “Until we better understand how and to who the Delta variant is spreading, everyone should focus on maximum protection with minimum interruption to routine as all businesses operate without other restrictions,” officials said in a statement.

Andrew Giuliani’s bid for governor of New York isn’t going so hot

Insofar as not a single Republican leader in the state—not one!—thinks he should get the top job. Per The Guardian:

Giuliani, son of former New York mayor-cum-Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, received no votes in a poll of state Republican leaders about the party’s next choice for governor of New York state. The poll was not binding but it indicated that Lee Zeldin, a Long Island congressman, is the presumptive Republican nominee to challenge Andrew Cuomo next year. It will likely be seen as an embarrassment to Giuliani, whose bid for governor of one of America’s biggest states has largely traded off his famous surname more than any meaningful experience of practical politics.

In a tweet, the New York Republican party said: “Our county chairs and committee members gathered in Albany just participated in a straw poll on their favored gubernatorial candidate in 2022. Congressman Lee Zeldin [got] 85%, former Westchester county executive Rob Astorino [got] 5% and Abstain [got] 10% #cuomosgottago.” Michael Carpinelli, the Lewis county sheriff, joined Giuliani in getting no votes.

Giuliani, who was kicked off the Duke golf team for being too much of an asshole for Duke, announced his candidacy for governor last month. He‘s never been held public office, and while he did work in the Trump White House, that likely won’t help him win votes in a state where the ex-president is near-universally reviled.

Things aren‘t looking great for Andy’s father, either

You may recall that Rudy Giuliani had his home and office raided in April as part of a federal investigation into his Ukraine dealings. Now, he can add a DOJ probe to the list too, according to Bloomberg:

Rudy Giuliani is the subject of a Justice Department inquiry into possible foreign lobbying for Turkish interests separate from a criminal probe of his activities in Ukraine, according to people familiar with the matter. For almost a year, the former New York mayor and personal lawyer to Donald Trump has been fielding questions about whether he was acting for Turkey when he pushed the Trump administration in 2017 to drop money-laundering charges against gold trader Reza Zarrab and also reportedly sought the deportation of exiled Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. Zarrab later pleaded guilty and implicated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a sanctions-evasion scheme, while Erdogan claims Gulen was behind a failed 2016 coup against his government.

The Turkey inquiry, which has not been previously reported, is not criminal, in contrast to the Ukraine investigation, which resulted in the Federal Bureau of Investigation seizing Giuliani’s electronic devices in April 28 raids on his Manhattan home and office. Though both matters focus on whether Giuliani lobbied the Trump administration on behalf of foreign interests, the Justice Department usually takes a softer approach when it thinks failure to register wasn’t intentional.

Robert Costello, an attorney for Giuliani, insisted to Bloomberg that Giuliani “never sought the cleric’s deportation, and he never represented Turkey,” adding that Giuliani’s only interactions with the country involved an attempt to get Zarrab released in exchange for Andrew Brunson, an evangelical pastor being held at the time by the Turkish government.

In other Giuliani woes, last week his law license was temporarily revoked over his 2020 election lies. He’s also being sued by Dominion Voting Systems for claiming the company was responsible for election fraud, and by various members of Congress who‘ve accused him of helping incite the attack on the Capitol. And speaking of January 6, in his new book, Landslide, author Michael Wolff reports that in the run-up to the insurrection, Giuliani was “was drinking heavily and in a constant state of excitation, often almost incoherent in his agitation and mania.” Which sounds about right! (Giuliani also reportedly insisted to Trump that Mike Pence had the ability to block the results of the election, saying, “There is no question, none at all, that the V.P. can do this. That’s a fact. The Constitution gives him the authority not to certify. It goes back to the state legislatures.”)

Elsewhere!

“Great Resignation” gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect (CNBC)

Months before collapse, Miami condo president warned of growing damage (Washington Post)

Biden to visit site of Surfside building collapse on Thursday (Politico)

Biden Wants to Dismantle Two Weapons the Richest 0.1% Use to Avoid Taxes (Bloomberg)

Maricopa County Will Replace Voting Machines “Audited” by Cyber Ninjas (Intelligencer)

Adams’s Lead Shrinks as Garcia Vaults to No. 2 in NYC Mayor Vote (Bloomberg)

The Family Behind the Covid Bleach Cure Was Making a Fortune (Bloomberg)

Biden Takes Agenda to Rural U.S. Where Trump Fans Abound (Bloomberg)

Man recaptures world record for wrapping wife in plastic wrap (UPI)

$50 billion accidentally deposited in Louisiana family’s bank account (NYP)

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