Former President Donald Trump’s long-serving chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, was indicted by a grand jury on charges that will be unsealed later today and surrendered to authorities in New York Thursday morning to face criminal charges. Weisselberg has worked for Trump for most of his adult life, so he might not flip on the twice-impeached one-term president. It’s anyone’s guess at this point. According to ABC News, the charges are believed to involve tax fraud related to employee fringe benefits, including Weisselberg.
“Mr. Weisselberg intends to plead not guilty and he will fight these charges in court,” Weisselberg’s attorneys said in a statement Thursday after Weisselberg surrendered to the authorities, the outlet reports.
The Trump Organization released a statement to address the charges, calling Weisselberga a “loving and devoted husband, father and grandfather who has worked at the Trump Organization for 48 years.”
And nowhere in this statement does the organization deny the charges against its CFO.
“He is now being used by the Manhattan District Attorney as a pawn in a scorched earth attempt to harm the former President,” the statement added. “The District Attorney is bringing a criminal prosecution involving employee benefits that neither the IRS nor any other District Attorney would ever think of bringing. This is not justice; this is politics.”
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You can read the statement below:
New – Trump Organization statement reacting to Allen Weisselberg who just surrendered to the Manhattan DA this morning — says in part he is being used as a “pawn in a scorched earth attempt to harm the former President. “ pic.twitter.com/WavgJWhy26
— John Santucci (@Santucci) July 1, 2021
Twitter users piled in.
He’s going to be pissed he’s referred to as “the former” Potus.
— Jim Kilgus (@KilgusJim) July 1, 2021
Funny, but I did not see the words “grand jury” mentioned in that statement. The Manhattan DA has done nothing that a jury of Weisselberg’s peers did not instruct.
— Jim Ignatowski (@JimIgnatowski5) July 1, 2021
They’re attempting to ‘harm’ him because he’s a ‘criminal’ who ‘committed crimes’. They always seem to leave that part out.
— T.J. Harley (@tj_harley) July 1, 2021
Did anyone tell Trump Org that it has the right to remain silent? Is this statement not a confession? In essence, “We admit to committing this crime, but come on, no one ever gets prosecuted for it.” https://t.co/NcJB12upAB
— ⚖️Dave Diamond Law🍷 Trump Killed John Prine (@davediamondlaw) July 1, 2021
If I were innocent and accused of a crime, I’d probably lead with “I have not committed any crimes,” but this reads more like, “Stop bothering us while we are doing crimes, we still have more crimes to do.” https://t.co/QJp1uUhfyH
— Norman Brannon (@normanbrannon) July 1, 2021
We’re unsure why the company didn’t address the charges but instead insisted that this is about politics. And it reads as if the company is saying that this happens all the time, so it’s cool.
Featured image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr, under Creative Commons license 2.0
