Daniel Goldman, an attorney who played key legal roles in both impeachments of former President Donald Trump, brought some gloom and doom on the rest of us after the Trump Organization as well as Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg were charged by the Manhattan D.A’s office with a list of tax crimes. On Thursday, prosecutors charged the Trump Organization and Trump Payroll Corporation with 10 counts, and Weisselberg was hit with 15 felony counts connected with an alleged scheme stretching back to 2005. Weisselberg’s charges include one for grand larceny.
According to Mediate, Goldman said that Weisselberg, 73, is “not facing that much jail time,” and he added, “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.”
Even if he’s facing only 5 years, though, he would be 78 when he gets out of prison. He could literally die in prison.
At any rate, Gouldman added, “And so 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.”
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
Well, Andrew Weissmann, who was part of Robert Mueller’s team, disagrees, calling the charges the “tip of the iceberg.”
Prediction: the charges brought today in Manhattan are the tip of the iceberg. Note DA request for a protective order to keep discovery close to the vest while investigation continues.
— Andrew Weissmann (@AWeissmann_) July 1, 2021
Twitter users agree.
If we listen to Daniel Goldman or Jeffrey Toobin, they both suggest this Indictment are a NO NOTHING BURGER???? Really? Letitia James says this is just the BEGINNING.
— Mary (@lovealaska1105) July 1, 2021
Daniel Goldman is being a real negative nelly! I love him but it’s really pissing me off today😂😂
— Patti 🌼🌸🌷💙😷 ✌️🇺🇸🌹🌸🌼 (@mrspcarroll) July 1, 2021
Trump can bluster all he wants but I believe more than ever that he is fucked and will be personally taken down. The Manhattan DA clearly has exponentially more evidence he is working with and the protective order they want because of the “ongoing investigation” tells you a lot.
— Spiro Agnew’s Ghost (@SpiroAgnewGhost) July 1, 2021
I’m not optimistic that Weisselberg will flip but I am optimistic he’ll be convicted. The law is fairly clear on what is income & what is taxable. He’s a sophisticated executive; mistake is implausible. The company booked much of it as income. And juries hate rich tax cheats.
— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) July 1, 2021
“Juries hate rich tax cheats, Bharara tweeted. Yeah, because juries are made up of people just like you and me and not filled with wealthy dudes that cheat on their taxes, with the rest of us sometimes paying more in taxes than they do.
Featured image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr, under Creative Commons license 2.0