AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File
Closing argument In a criminal tax fraud case against Donald Trump’s company Thursday, Trump’s attorneys did their best to blame everyone but Trump himself. He said it was to blame for the employees, some of whom had been employed by the Trump family for decades. Attorneys for both Trump-owned companies during the trial called out the former president’s name and discussed his role, but insisted it was minimal.
It could have been a serious tactical mistake.
Trump’s company, not Trump himself, is the defendant in this lawsuit. But as soon as prosecutor Joshua Steingras began his own closing statement, he hit Trump personally. “Donald Trump knew exactly what was going on with his executives,” Steingras told jurors. The cliffhanger provoked ferocious protests from Trump’s lawyers, and they were criticized by judges throughout the trial, Steingras said. and reiterated that everyone, including prosecutors, agreed that Donald Trump was not on trial.
But Judge Juan Marchan dismissed that objection and told Trump’s team late Thursday that they were the ones who opened the door to focus directly on the former president. “It was the defense who called out Donald Trump’s name so many times,” Marchan said.
It was one of several blatant mistakes Trump’s legal team made on Thursday, and the trial could end dramatically when Steingras finishes his closing statement on Friday. Trump’s lawyers have no chance to refute.
Their closing arguments began with rocky notes that they described as quotes from the trial transcript of key testimony provided by witnesses when they began showing jurors a series of slides on Thursday. Following objections from Steinglass, not all of these quotes were found to be accurate. In fact, at least one presented to the jury was one that prosecutors had previously challenged, and Marchan agreed to have it removed from the official record. The only thing actually removed from the text was the prosecutor’s objection and the judge’s words agreeing with that objection.
“There’s a problem with this and I don’t blame people for being upset,” Marchan told defense attorney Susan Nekeles, who represented the Trump Organization at the trial. Nekeles was allowed to edit her statement, but continued to be scolded by Marchand throughout the day for repeatedly crossing the boundaries of what a lawyer was allowed to speak to the jury.
The case focuses on millions of dollars in fringe benefits paid to top Trump Organization employees. Benefits such as cars, apartments, and even envelopes of cash, which prosecutors say the company provided in lieu of paying salaries. The company was able to pay more employees without paying This summer, Trump’s longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, pleaded guilty to lying on tax returns about compensation he received from the Trump Organization and pleaded guilty to 15 counts of tax evasion. He promised to testify against the company in exchange for a lighter prison sentence, but not against Donald Trump personally. Weisselberg will be found guilty after the trial concludes, but if prosecutors say he cooperated in their case, they are likely to serve time at Rikers Island Prison in New York City, 75. I would recommend five months in prison.
In closing arguments, Trump’s lawyers accused Weisselberg and Donald Bender, an outside accountant who helped prepare the company’s taxes, of all wrongdoing. Weisselberg confessed to tax evasion, according to Necheles and Michael van der Veen, who represents Trump Payroll Corp. (Trump Payroll Corp. is one of hundreds of subsidiaries of Trump’s business empire). and all his responsibility.
“Weisselberg did it for Weisselberg,” van der Wien repeatedly told the jury.
Both Necheles and van der Veen tried to belittle Weisselberg and Bender, accusing them of being greedy and, in Bender’s case in particular, incompetent. Both attorneys mockingly mimicked Bender’s voice on the stand.
The jurors looked unimpressed, staring at the lawyers with stony faces and bored expressions while they made their case.
On Friday, Steingglass will continue its closing arguments. A jury will begin deliberations on Monday.
