A lot of us love hearing the words “that is very bad news for ex-President Trump” and the Trump Organization.
It is especially true when it comes to prosecuting Trump and his family at the Trump Organization. There is a consensus that any resulting charge would involve some kind of fraud. There are some huge advantages for the prosecutors when proving fraud in that a lot of the evidence is sitting right in someone’s face, numbers written on paper when they should be other numbers.
There is one problem, though. The prosecutors must prove that the person charged knew of the altered numbers and agreed to alter the numbers. One doesn’t necessarily need an insider to prove the person’s state of mind. It just makes it infinitely easier to prove the person knew of the fraud and agreed. One sentence of testimony like: “He said, I approve of cheating on the values,” is pretty much enough.
Andrew Weissman is a former Mueller prosecutor who knows more about law than we’d ever even think to ask and he thinks there are indications that New York might have found their insider. Weisselberg went on The Beat Last Night to explain to Ari Melber, another good attorney:
“I’d like to throw out one more name, which is Jeff McConney, because I don’t think that’s gotten enough attention because last week the reports were that he went into the state grand jury and he is the controller of the Trump Organization.
“So, again, all speculation, but clearly you’re looking for an insider. That’s why there is so much focus on Allen Weisselberg trying to get somebody who is on the inside who would know where every penny went. Well, that’s the controller as well as the CFO. So if Jeff McConney is cooperating, that is really bad news potentially for Weisselberg and for the Trump Organization and other individuals up to and including the former president.”
“In other words, Manhattan may have found their insider, because it would be unusual to put somebody like McConney into the state grand jury, where he would be given immunity as soon as he testifies automatically, if they didn’t think that he had something useful to provide.
Watch:
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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak