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The 3 new stooges the GOP admires!??....LOL...🙄

GOP Committee Account Deletes 'Kanye. Elon. Trump' Tweet After Ye Praises Hitler

 
 
Matt Shuham
Thu, December 1, 2022 at 3:34 PM
 
 
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 17.
 
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 17.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 17.

A Republican congressional Twitter account quietly deleted a tweet shouting out Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, after the antisemitic superstar praised the genocidal Nazi leader Adolf Hitler on Alex Jones’ InfoWars show Thursday.

The Oct. 6 tweet ― which simply read “Kanye. Elon. Trump.” ― was deleted without comment from the House Judiciary Committee Republicans’ account as Ye appeared on Jones’ show, alongside the white nationalist Nick Fuentes, and repeatedly praised Hitler and the Nazi Party.

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On Jones’ show, Ye said “I see good things about Hitler,” and claimed that Nazis “did good things too.”

“We got to stop dissing Nazis all the time,” Ye said. During the broadcast, he wore a black mask that fully covered his face.

At another point he said: “The Jewish media has made us feel like Nazis and Hitler have never offered us anything of value to the world.”

Jones offered little pushback, at one point saying that Ye, who has lost billions in corporate deals amid a spree of antisemitic remarks, was “going through a Jobian trial,” a reference to the biblical Book of Job.

Elsewhere, Ye claimed that “woke culture is controlled by the Zionist media,” and declared: “I do love Hitler. I do love the Zionists. I love everyone.” Jones interjected: “That’s a good T-shirt, ‘I Love Hitler.’ I’m joking.”

The House Judiciary Committee Republicans account posted the “Kanye. Elon. Trump” tweet a few days after Ye wore a “White Lives Matter” shirt to a fashion show. At the time, Tesla CEO Elon Musk had just ended his attempt to back out of a deal he’d made to buy Twitter, giving in and offering his initial $44 billion for the company after Twitter pursued a lawsuit to enforce the deal.

In a statement Thursday, the Republican Jewish Coalition called Ye, Fuentes and Jones “messengers of hate.”

“Conservatives who have mistakenly indulged Kanye West must make it clear that he is a pariah,” the group said. “Enough is Enough.”

Neither the House Judiciary Committee’s Republican staff nor a spokesperson for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) ― the committee’s current ranking member, who is expected to become its chair when Republicans assume the House majority in a few weeks ― responded to HuffPost’s request for comment on the deleted tweet.

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27 minutes ago, DBP66 said:

The 3 new stooges the GOP admires!??....LOL...🙄

GOP Committee Account Deletes 'Kanye. Elon. Trump' Tweet After Ye Praises Hitler

 
 
Matt Shuham
Thu, December 1, 2022 at 3:34 PM
 
 
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 17.
 
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 17.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 17.

A Republican congressional Twitter account quietly deleted a tweet shouting out Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, after the antisemitic superstar praised the genocidal Nazi leader Adolf Hitler on Alex Jones’ InfoWars show Thursday.

The Oct. 6 tweet ― which simply read “Kanye. Elon. Trump.” ― was deleted without comment from the House Judiciary Committee Republicans’ account as Ye appeared on Jones’ show, alongside the white nationalist Nick Fuentes, and repeatedly praised Hitler and the Nazi Party.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

On Jones’ show, Ye said “I see good things about Hitler,” and claimed that Nazis “did good things too.”

“We got to stop dissing Nazis all the time,” Ye said. During the broadcast, he wore a black mask that fully covered his face.

At another point he said: “The Jewish media has made us feel like Nazis and Hitler have never offered us anything of value to the world.”

Jones offered little pushback, at one point saying that Ye, who has lost billions in corporate deals amid a spree of antisemitic remarks, was “going through a Jobian trial,” a reference to the biblical Book of Job.

Elsewhere, Ye claimed that “woke culture is controlled by the Zionist media,” and declared: “I do love Hitler. I do love the Zionists. I love everyone.” Jones interjected: “That’s a good T-shirt, ‘I Love Hitler.’ I’m joking.”

The House Judiciary Committee Republicans account posted the “Kanye. Elon. Trump” tweet a few days after Ye wore a “White Lives Matter” shirt to a fashion show. At the time, Tesla CEO Elon Musk had just ended his attempt to back out of a deal he’d made to buy Twitter, giving in and offering his initial $44 billion for the company after Twitter pursued a lawsuit to enforce the deal.

In a statement Thursday, the Republican Jewish Coalition called Ye, Fuentes and Jones “messengers of hate.”

“Conservatives who have mistakenly indulged Kanye West must make it clear that he is a pariah,” the group said. “Enough is Enough.”

Neither the House Judiciary Committee’s Republican staff nor a spokesperson for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) ― the committee’s current ranking member, who is expected to become its chair when Republicans assume the House majority in a few weeks ― responded to HuffPost’s request for comment on the deleted tweet.

Wake up….TRUMP 🤬😭…go to sleep TRUMP 🤬😭 TRUMP….TRUMP….TRUMP…TRUMP on yo mind!

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Trump's legal woes just keep piling up

79eb23cd6b681aff8b20cff5fa85e2f2
 
Luis Magana/AP Photo
 
Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein
Fri, December 2, 2022 at 3:05 PM
 
 

Two of Donald Trump’s top White House lawyers appeared before at least one grand jury Friday, visiting the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C. amid multiple criminal probes involving the former president.

Former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone exited the courthouse just before 2:30 p.m., spending about six hours behind closed doors. His former deputy, Pat Philbin, departed just after 4 p.m., spending about four hours with the grand jury.

It’s unclear precisely which investigation the pair were testifying about. Cipollone and Philbin have insight about Trump’s machinations ahead of Jan. 6, when he attempted to subvert his defeat in the 2020 election and seize a second term. But they were also both present in the final days of Trump’s White House as boxes of documents — including highly sensitive national security secrets — were packed and shipped to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

Both matters are the subject of criminal inquiries that are being considered by grand jurors in Washington D.C.

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Cipollone declined to take questions as he departed without his lawyer, Michael Purpura, and entered a waiting SUV. Philbin, who exited with Purpura, also declined to take questions.

For Trump, Cipollone’s appearance marks the latest setback in an extraordinary run of catastrophic legal and political developments.

It came a day after a federal appeals court panel threw out his lawsuit against the Justice Department following the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago estate. In recent days, Trump has seen top allies Lindsey Graham, Mark Meadows and Michael Flynn ordered to testify to an Atlanta-area grand jury investigating his efforts to overturn the election.

Last month, the Justice Department appointed former public corruption chief Jack Smith as special master to preside over the Trump-focused Jan. 6 and Mar-a-Lago probes.

On top of those legal woes, the Supreme Court cleared the way for House Democrats to obtain six years of Trump’s tax returns.

And Trump-world has been reeling in recent days amid widespread condemnation from allies and adversaries alike for hosting white supremacist Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Trump has also been on the losing end of asecret court battle to prevent some of his top ex-advisers from testifying to the grand jury, which may have cleared the way for Cipollone and Philbin to appear Friday.

The appearance of Trump’s White House lawyers underscores the acute legal threat he’s facing. Several other former Trump White House advisers have appeared before the grand jury in recent weeks, including Trump social media aide Dan Scavino and two former aides to ex-vice president Mike Pence.

Cipollone was a key witness to Trump’s frenzied final weeks in office, particularly as the outgoing president sought to undermine the transfer of power to Joe Biden. Cipollone testified to the Jan. 6 select committee after protracted negotiations but declined to discuss matters he viewed as covered by potential executive privilege.

If Cipollone was ordered to testify about those privileged matters to the grand jury, it would put prosecutors in possession of key evidence that lawmakers on the Jan. 6 panel were unable to obtain. Among the questions the select committee was unable to resolve, for example is why Cipollone did not attend a key final meeting about Trump’s effort to persuade Pence to disrupt the Jan. 6 counting of electoral votes.

Cipollone told the select committee he had planned to attend but ultimately did not. The reason, he said, was protected by privilege.

The day before he left office, Trump also designated Cipollone and Philbin as two of seven representatives to the National Archives, authorized to facilitate access to and manage his presidential records.

While it’s unusual for White House lawyers to testify before a grand jury involving presidential misconduct, Cipollone and Philbin are far from the first White House lawyers to face legal questioning. Trump’s first White Counsel Don McGahn was interviewed repeatedly by special counsel Robert Mueller and became a key witness to potential obstruction of justice by Trump.

Other top White House lawyers to have made appearances in the same courthouse include Bruce Lindsey, a longtime adviser to President Bill Clinton. Clinton's White House fought an unsuccessful court battle to block Lindsey's testimony in an independent counsel probe into alleged corruption at the Agriculture Department.

Lindsey was later called to testify before a grand jury overseen by another independent counsel, Ken Starr, as it looked into Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

A couple of decades earlier, White House counsel John Dean, testified to a grand jury investigating the Watergate scandal.

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3 minutes ago, DBP66 said:

Trump's legal woes just keep piling up

79eb23cd6b681aff8b20cff5fa85e2f2
 
Luis Magana/AP Photo
 
Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein
Fri, December 2, 2022 at 3:05 PM
 
 

Two of Donald Trump’s top White House lawyers appeared before at least one grand jury Friday, visiting the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C. amid multiple criminal probes involving the former president.

Former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone exited the courthouse just before 2:30 p.m., spending about six hours behind closed doors. His former deputy, Pat Philbin, departed just after 4 p.m., spending about four hours with the grand jury.

It’s unclear precisely which investigation the pair were testifying about. Cipollone and Philbin have insight about Trump’s machinations ahead of Jan. 6, when he attempted to subvert his defeat in the 2020 election and seize a second term. But they were also both present in the final days of Trump’s White House as boxes of documents — including highly sensitive national security secrets — were packed and shipped to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

Both matters are the subject of criminal inquiries that are being considered by grand jurors in Washington D.C.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

Cipollone declined to take questions as he departed without his lawyer, Michael Purpura, and entered a waiting SUV. Philbin, who exited with Purpura, also declined to take questions.

For Trump, Cipollone’s appearance marks the latest setback in an extraordinary run of catastrophic legal and political developments.

It came a day after a federal appeals court panel threw out his lawsuit against the Justice Department following the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago estate. In recent days, Trump has seen top allies Lindsey Graham, Mark Meadows and Michael Flynn ordered to testify to an Atlanta-area grand jury investigating his efforts to overturn the election.

Last month, the Justice Department appointed former public corruption chief Jack Smith as special master to preside over the Trump-focused Jan. 6 and Mar-a-Lago probes.

On top of those legal woes, the Supreme Court cleared the way for House Democrats to obtain six years of Trump’s tax returns.

And Trump-world has been reeling in recent days amid widespread condemnation from allies and adversaries alike for hosting white supremacist Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Trump has also been on the losing end of asecret court battle to prevent some of his top ex-advisers from testifying to the grand jury, which may have cleared the way for Cipollone and Philbin to appear Friday.

The appearance of Trump’s White House lawyers underscores the acute legal threat he’s facing. Several other former Trump White House advisers have appeared before the grand jury in recent weeks, including Trump social media aide Dan Scavino and two former aides to ex-vice president Mike Pence.

Cipollone was a key witness to Trump’s frenzied final weeks in office, particularly as the outgoing president sought to undermine the transfer of power to Joe Biden. Cipollone testified to the Jan. 6 select committee after protracted negotiations but declined to discuss matters he viewed as covered by potential executive privilege.

If Cipollone was ordered to testify about those privileged matters to the grand jury, it would put prosecutors in possession of key evidence that lawmakers on the Jan. 6 panel were unable to obtain. Among the questions the select committee was unable to resolve, for example is why Cipollone did not attend a key final meeting about Trump’s effort to persuade Pence to disrupt the Jan. 6 counting of electoral votes.

Cipollone told the select committee he had planned to attend but ultimately did not. The reason, he said, was protected by privilege.

The day before he left office, Trump also designated Cipollone and Philbin as two of seven representatives to the National Archives, authorized to facilitate access to and manage his presidential records.

While it’s unusual for White House lawyers to testify before a grand jury involving presidential misconduct, Cipollone and Philbin are far from the first White House lawyers to face legal questioning. Trump’s first White Counsel Don McGahn was interviewed repeatedly by special counsel Robert Mueller and became a key witness to potential obstruction of justice by Trump.

Other top White House lawyers to have made appearances in the same courthouse include Bruce Lindsey, a longtime adviser to President Bill Clinton. Clinton's White House fought an unsuccessful court battle to block Lindsey's testimony in an independent counsel probe into alleged corruption at the Agriculture Department.

Lindsey was later called to testify before a grand jury overseen by another independent counsel, Ken Starr, as it looked into Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

A couple of decades earlier, White House counsel John Dean, testified to a grand jury investigating the Watergate scandal.

O-201 🤬🤬😂😂😂😂

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USA TODAY

Criminal tax fraud trial of 2 Trump companies nearing a close as prosecutor suggests Trump knew of scheme

 
 
Kevin McCoy, USA TODAY
Thu, December 1, 2022 at 7:47 PM
 
 

NEW YORK – The criminal tax fraud trial of two companies in former President Donald Trump's business empire neared a close Thursday after defense lawyers attacked Allen Weisselberg, Trump's former top financial lieutenant, and a prosecutor told the jury Trump "knew exactly" what was going on with the companies.

In clashing closing arguments, the two sides focused on whether there was sufficient evidence that Weisselberg intended to provide some benefit to the Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corporation as he evaded taxes in a long-running scheme.

That question of intent, which is required for convictions of the companies under New York law, is expected to be at the heart of the jury deliberations scheduled to begin Monday.

Echoing the opening defense statements just over a month ago, Susan Necheles, the attorney for the Trump Corporation, told jurors: "We are here today for one reason and one reason only: the greed of Allen Weisselberg."

- ADVERTISEMENT -

No one from the Trump family knew about Weisselberg's "effort to evade taxes," an alleged scheme in which he acted "solely to benefit himself," Necheles said.

She also told the eight-man, four-woman jury to focus on legal instructions they will receive about a section of the New York state penal law that outlines circumstances needed to find a corporation guilty of committing a crime.

In this case, the law requires that prosecutors prove through trial evidence that Weisseberg – Trump's former chief financial officer – and/or Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney committed tax fraud crimes while acting within the scope of their jobs and "in behalf of the corporation."

What does that mean?

"It requires the people to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the high-ranking officer acted with some intent to benefit the corporation," Necheles said. "You are going to see there was no such intent. The purpose of Mr. Weisselberg's crimes was to benefit himself."

Necheles was followed by Michael van der Veen, an attorney for the Trump Payroll Corporation, the other company on trial. He, too, attacked the prosecution's star witness, loudly declaring: "Weisselberg did it for Weisselberg."

It's not enough for prosecutors to show that the disgraced executive cheated on his taxes by failing to declare off-the-books company perks as income and getting an unmerited paycheck from Trump's firm for his wife so she could qualify for Social Security benefits," van der Veen told jurors. 

The government also must show an intent to provide some benefit for the Trump firms "and the evidence is there was no intention of benefit for the Trump Payroll Corporation," van der Veen said.

Joshua Steinglass, a Manhattan assistant district attorney, delivered a contrasting argument as he began the prosecution's closing arguments. He told jurors that a "tremendous amount of evidence" introduced during trial showed Weisselberg "intended to benefit the companies, and that is enough" to justify convictions.

The companies' culture enabled Weisselberg to evade taxes with virtual impunity, said Steinglass. The disgraced executive had a willing co-schemer in McConney, who grudgingly testified for the government under a grant of immunity from prosecution, Steinglass said.

The two men cooperated in a scheme that let Weisselberg and another top executive lower their salaries, and then use the savings to cover company-paid perks with pre-tax dollars, trial evidence showed.

"It's was a win-win. Getting cash into executives' pockets and keeping (payroll) costs low," argued Steinglass.

The only losers were federal, state, and city tax agencies, he added.

A guilty verdict could hit the companies with up to an estimated $1.6 million in criminal penalties and tar the reputation of Trump's namesake firms with a conviction.

Allen Weisselberg stands between President-elect Donald Trump  and Donald Trump Jr. in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York on Jan. 11, 2017.
 
Allen Weisselberg stands between President-elect Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr. in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York on Jan. 11, 2017.

The case arises from a July 2021 indictment that accused Weisselberg of participating in a more than decade-long tax fraud scheme that benefited top executives while producing financial benefits for the companies. Weisselberg is no longer CFO of the Trump Organization, though he is employed by the Trump business empire.

The alleged crimes included untaxed perks that enabled Weisselberg and other top Trump executives to get company-paid Manhattan apartments and luxury cars, which they did not report as income. They also received thousands of dollars in tax-free payments.

Trump was not charged in the case, and he did not appear in court during the trial. However, he criticized the prosecution in a Thanksgiving week posting on Truth Social. The ending phase of the trial comes just weeks after Trump announced he is running for president again in 2024 and amid a flurry of other developments in civil and criminal matters involving Trump.

The closing arguments by defense lawyers included statements that Trump knew nothing about the alleged scheme, an apparent effort to distance him from the case. Acting Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan ruled those statements opened the door for Steinglass to address the issue when the trial resumes on Friday.

Despite denials by the former president, Trump knew what was going on among his top executives, argued Steinglass, who suggested he would elaborate later.

Weisselberg pleaded guilty in August to all 15 charges against him as part of an agreement with prosecutors. He admitted he concealed $1.76 million in income through the alleged scheme. The deal is expected to enable Weisselberg to serve roughly 100 days in jail, far less than the maximum 15-year prison term he could have faced.

That made Weisselberg the trial's focal point. He was the star witness for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. And he was the chief target of attack for the Trump companies' legal teams.

Weisselberg, 75, helped both sides score points.

Former CFO Allen Weisselberg leaves the courtroom for a lunch recess during a trial at the New York Supreme Court on November 17, 2022 in New York City.
 
Former CFO Allen Weisselberg leaves the courtroom for a lunch recess during a trial at the New York Supreme Court on November 17, 2022 in New York City.

Still receiving his six-figure salary on a paid leave from the Trump Organization, he testified under cross-examination by defense lawyers that he'd acted out of his own greed, seeking pre-tax dollars. The defense characterized his conduct as a Weisselberg plot that was hidden from the companies.

In one of the trial's most dramatic moments, defense lawyer Alan Futerfas noted that Weisselberg had worked for the Trump family for nearly 50 years, becoming the most trusted person in the organization who lacked the Trump surname.

"Mr. Weisselberg, did you honor the trust that was placed in you?" Futerfas asked.

Weisselberg admitted he had not.

"And you did it for your own personal gain?" the defense lawyer asked.

"I did," said Weisselberg, who appeared to fight back tears.

But during direct examination by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, Weisselberg acknowledged that the companies had received some benefit from the alleged tax scheme.

Reducing his salary to cover some tax-free perks paid by the company benefited him – but also produced lower payroll costs, as well as savings in the Medicare portion of payroll taxes that are paid by employers, Weisselberg testified.

Steinglass highlighted that evidence in his closing argument.

"The Trump Corporation paid less to their people. How about that for a benefit?" asked the prosecutor. "You can pay your people less if you let them evade taxes."

Trump Organization senior vice president and controller Jeffrey McConney returns to the courthouse after a break in the company's trial, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022, in New York.
 
Trump Organization senior vice president and controller Jeffrey McConney returns to the courthouse after a break in the company's trial, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022, in New York.

The jury also will have to make decisions about other issues, including McConney's role. During his testimony, he described himself as a non-manager who simply followed instructions from Weisselberg, who was his boss.

"Who was I going to tell?' McConney testified, adding that he feared losing his job if he spoke out.

Steinglass ridiculed that self-portrait as he addressed jurors. He highlighted a secret financial log that McConney used to keep track of salary reductions requested by Weisselberg and others and corresponding company-paid perks.

The log amounted to a second set of books, one for the IRS, another for the companies, he said. McConney wasn't a low-level company soldier, "he was a co-conspirator," argued Steinglass.

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1 hour ago, DBP66 said:
USA TODAY

Criminal tax fraud trial of 2 Trump companies nearing a close as prosecutor suggests Trump knew of scheme

 
 
Kevin McCoy, USA TODAY
Thu, December 1, 2022 at 7:47 PM
 
 

NEW YORK – The criminal tax fraud trial of two companies in former President Donald Trump's business empire neared a close Thursday after defense lawyers attacked Allen Weisselberg, Trump's former top financial lieutenant, and a prosecutor told the jury Trump "knew exactly" what was going on with the companies.

In clashing closing arguments, the two sides focused on whether there was sufficient evidence that Weisselberg intended to provide some benefit to the Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corporation as he evaded taxes in a long-running scheme.

That question of intent, which is required for convictions of the companies under New York law, is expected to be at the heart of the jury deliberations scheduled to begin Monday.

Echoing the opening defense statements just over a month ago, Susan Necheles, the attorney for the Trump Corporation, told jurors: "We are here today for one reason and one reason only: the greed of Allen Weisselberg."

- ADVERTISEMENT -

No one from the Trump family knew about Weisselberg's "effort to evade taxes," an alleged scheme in which he acted "solely to benefit himself," Necheles said.

She also told the eight-man, four-woman jury to focus on legal instructions they will receive about a section of the New York state penal law that outlines circumstances needed to find a corporation guilty of committing a crime.

In this case, the law requires that prosecutors prove through trial evidence that Weisseberg – Trump's former chief financial officer – and/or Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney committed tax fraud crimes while acting within the scope of their jobs and "in behalf of the corporation."

What does that mean?

"It requires the people to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the high-ranking officer acted with some intent to benefit the corporation," Necheles said. "You are going to see there was no such intent. The purpose of Mr. Weisselberg's crimes was to benefit himself."

Necheles was followed by Michael van der Veen, an attorney for the Trump Payroll Corporation, the other company on trial. He, too, attacked the prosecution's star witness, loudly declaring: "Weisselberg did it for Weisselberg."

It's not enough for prosecutors to show that the disgraced executive cheated on his taxes by failing to declare off-the-books company perks as income and getting an unmerited paycheck from Trump's firm for his wife so she could qualify for Social Security benefits," van der Veen told jurors. 

The government also must show an intent to provide some benefit for the Trump firms "and the evidence is there was no intention of benefit for the Trump Payroll Corporation," van der Veen said.

Joshua Steinglass, a Manhattan assistant district attorney, delivered a contrasting argument as he began the prosecution's closing arguments. He told jurors that a "tremendous amount of evidence" introduced during trial showed Weisselberg "intended to benefit the companies, and that is enough" to justify convictions.

The companies' culture enabled Weisselberg to evade taxes with virtual impunity, said Steinglass. The disgraced executive had a willing co-schemer in McConney, who grudgingly testified for the government under a grant of immunity from prosecution, Steinglass said.

The two men cooperated in a scheme that let Weisselberg and another top executive lower their salaries, and then use the savings to cover company-paid perks with pre-tax dollars, trial evidence showed.

"It's was a win-win. Getting cash into executives' pockets and keeping (payroll) costs low," argued Steinglass.

The only losers were federal, state, and city tax agencies, he added.

A guilty verdict could hit the companies with up to an estimated $1.6 million in criminal penalties and tar the reputation of Trump's namesake firms with a conviction.

Allen Weisselberg stands between President-elect Donald Trump  and Donald Trump Jr. in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York on Jan. 11, 2017.
 
Allen Weisselberg stands between President-elect Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr. in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York on Jan. 11, 2017.

The case arises from a July 2021 indictment that accused Weisselberg of participating in a more than decade-long tax fraud scheme that benefited top executives while producing financial benefits for the companies. Weisselberg is no longer CFO of the Trump Organization, though he is employed by the Trump business empire.

The alleged crimes included untaxed perks that enabled Weisselberg and other top Trump executives to get company-paid Manhattan apartments and luxury cars, which they did not report as income. They also received thousands of dollars in tax-free payments.

Trump was not charged in the case, and he did not appear in court during the trial. However, he criticized the prosecution in a Thanksgiving week posting on Truth Social. The ending phase of the trial comes just weeks after Trump announced he is running for president again in 2024 and amid a flurry of other developments in civil and criminal matters involving Trump.

The closing arguments by defense lawyers included statements that Trump knew nothing about the alleged scheme, an apparent effort to distance him from the case. Acting Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan ruled those statements opened the door for Steinglass to address the issue when the trial resumes on Friday.

Despite denials by the former president, Trump knew what was going on among his top executives, argued Steinglass, who suggested he would elaborate later.

Weisselberg pleaded guilty in August to all 15 charges against him as part of an agreement with prosecutors. He admitted he concealed $1.76 million in income through the alleged scheme. The deal is expected to enable Weisselberg to serve roughly 100 days in jail, far less than the maximum 15-year prison term he could have faced.

That made Weisselberg the trial's focal point. He was the star witness for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. And he was the chief target of attack for the Trump companies' legal teams.

Weisselberg, 75, helped both sides score points.

Former CFO Allen Weisselberg leaves the courtroom for a lunch recess during a trial at the New York Supreme Court on November 17, 2022 in New York City.
 
Former CFO Allen Weisselberg leaves the courtroom for a lunch recess during a trial at the New York Supreme Court on November 17, 2022 in New York City.

Still receiving his six-figure salary on a paid leave from the Trump Organization, he testified under cross-examination by defense lawyers that he'd acted out of his own greed, seeking pre-tax dollars. The defense characterized his conduct as a Weisselberg plot that was hidden from the companies.

In one of the trial's most dramatic moments, defense lawyer Alan Futerfas noted that Weisselberg had worked for the Trump family for nearly 50 years, becoming the most trusted person in the organization who lacked the Trump surname.

"Mr. Weisselberg, did you honor the trust that was placed in you?" Futerfas asked.

Weisselberg admitted he had not.

"And you did it for your own personal gain?" the defense lawyer asked.

"I did," said Weisselberg, who appeared to fight back tears.

But during direct examination by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, Weisselberg acknowledged that the companies had received some benefit from the alleged tax scheme.

Reducing his salary to cover some tax-free perks paid by the company benefited him – but also produced lower payroll costs, as well as savings in the Medicare portion of payroll taxes that are paid by employers, Weisselberg testified.

Steinglass highlighted that evidence in his closing argument.

"The Trump Corporation paid less to their people. How about that for a benefit?" asked the prosecutor. "You can pay your people less if you let them evade taxes."

Trump Organization senior vice president and controller Jeffrey McConney returns to the courthouse after a break in the company's trial, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022, in New York.
 
Trump Organization senior vice president and controller Jeffrey McConney returns to the courthouse after a break in the company's trial, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022, in New York.

The jury also will have to make decisions about other issues, including McConney's role. During his testimony, he described himself as a non-manager who simply followed instructions from Weisselberg, who was his boss.

"Who was I going to tell?' McConney testified, adding that he feared losing his job if he spoke out.

Steinglass ridiculed that self-portrait as he addressed jurors. He highlighted a secret financial log that McConney used to keep track of salary reductions requested by Weisselberg and others and corresponding company-paid perks.

The log amounted to a second set of books, one for the IRS, another for the companies, he said. McConney wasn't a low-level company soldier, "he was a co-conspirator," argued Steinglass.

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3 hours ago, Warrior said:

Bet you $1,000 if you can show me one post where I said Trump won. You in? or just another GBB fraud on this board.

was the election fair and square?....do you believe Biden won by 7 million votes?....or was it fixed?.....like Trump continues to say 2+ years later....

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38 minutes ago, DBP66 said:

was the election fair and square?....do you believe Biden won by 7 million votes?....or was it fixed?.....like Trump continues to say 2+ years later....

Never said Biden didn’t win, you claim I did in your post. $1,000 if you can find one post where I’ve said Trump won the 2020 election like you said. Drop a pair or STFU. You won’t because you and GBB are frauds. 

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8 minutes ago, Warrior said:

Never said Biden didn’t win, you claim I did in your post. $1,000 if you can find one post where I’ve said Trump won the 2020 election like you said. Drop a pair or STFU. You won’t because you and GBB are frauds. 

don't be a pussy answer the questions....🙄

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18 minutes ago, DBP66 said:

don't be a pussy answer the questions....🙄

Typical, you claim in your post I think Trump won the election. I make a simple bet show me where I’ve ever posted Trump won the election- don’t back up now bitch, man up and put your $$ where your mouth is or STFU. Bitch 

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