Trump" rel="tag">Donald Trump calls charges against Allen Weisselberg a 'disgrace'

Donald Trump says New York has now 'taken over' the 'witch hunt' against him and called the charges against longtime CFO Allen Weisselberg a 'disgrace' motivated by politics.

'The political Witch Hunt by the Radical Left Democrats, with New York now taking over the assignment, continues. It is dividing our Country like never before!' he said in a statement after Weisselberg pleaded not guilty to charges that he failed to pay taxes for years on a company car, apartment and school fees for his grandchildren. 

The investigation has cost millions of dollars but could yield just tens of thousands of dollars in back tax. 

Trump also spoke with ABC News'  John Santucci in a phone interview and called Weisselberg a 'tremendous person'. He repeatedly said it was a 'shame' and that he 'couldn't believe it'. 

He also said New York prosecutors want Weisselberg to 'lie against Trump' and flip on the former president. 

Weisselberg is accused of failing to pay tax on $1.76 million of perks since 2005, according to the 25-page indictment.

The Trump Organization was also charged in a 15-count indictment, that included charges of conspiracy, grand larceny, tax fraud and falsifying business accounts. 

Assistant District Attorney Carey Dunne said: 'As spelled out in the indictment, this was a 15-year long tax fraud scheme.

'It was orchestrated by the most senior executives who were financially benefiting themselves and others.' 

The indictment accused Weisselberg of failing to pay tax on two leased Mercedes-Benzes, a rent-free apartment, bonuses and about $360,000 in school fees paid for by the Trump Organization.

Weisselberg, dressed in dark suit and open-necked pale blue shirt, cut a diminished figure in a crowded New York Supreme Court.

He was frequently invisible behind black shirted court officers and spoke only to enter a plea of not guilty. He was released on bail and will return to court on September 9.

The charges against the company and Weisselberg - whom Trump once praised as doing 'whatever was necessary to protect the bottom line' - were the first indictments delivered in a two-year investigation by the Manhattan district attorney's office.

Trump Organization lawyers believe they can strip out the school fees and some other items from the charges, possibly reducing the taxable amount to $800,000.

With a state income tax rate of about 10 percent, that means Weisselberg may face a tax bill of just $80,000. 

But the real target may be creating enough leverage to persuade him to 'flip,' according to Michael Cohen, who was sentenced to three years in prison for crimes related to his work as Trump's fixer.

'Weisselberg now knows what handcuffs feel like as well as being placed in a cell,' he told DailyMail.com.

'As the pressure by prosecutors increase on him and his sons, the smart money would be on Weisselberg cooperating for leniency.'

The charges could also complicate the Trump Organization's relationships with banks and partners, not to mention the political future of the former president. 

'The political witch hunt by the radical left Democrats, with New York now taking over the assignment, continues,' he said in a statement. 'It is dividing our country like never before.'

His office emailed another statement later in the afternoon, linking the case more directly to the votes of his supporters.

He asked: 'Do people see the radical left prosecutors, and what they are trying to do to 75M+++ voters and patriots, for what it is?'

New York Attorney General Letitia James said the developments were an 'important marker' in the investigation of the Trump Organization.

'This investigation will continue, and we will follow the facts and the law wherever they may lead,' she said.  

But Trump's son Eric blasted the investigation before the charges were unsealed, saying taxpayers' money had been wasted.

'It is an absolute abuse of power and a political vendetta,' he told DailyMail.com.

'They are petrified my father will run again in 2024.

'After five years, hundreds of subpoenas, three and a half million pages of documents, and dozens of witnesses, this is what they have?'  

The case against Trump's trusted lieutenant - who began work for the Trump family in 1973 - could give New York prosecutors an opening to pressure him into cooperating and offering evidence about the former president's financial dealings.

But so far Trump has shrugged off the threat and Weisselberg is not believed to have flipped on his boss.

Insiders say he is like a member of the family and are confident he will not give evidence against his employer.

'He's a great guy, just one of the best,' said one. 'Comes in, does his job, has the same lunch every day and goes home to his wife.'

Another source said Trump viewed Weisselberg, two years his junior, like a brother.

The indictment follows months of increasing pressure after the Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance, a Democrat, announced he was going to step down at the end of this 2021.  

Vance fought a long battle to get Trump's tax records and has been subpoenaing documents and interviewing company executives and other Trump insiders.

Trump did not respond to reporters' shouted questions about the New York case as he visited Texas on Wednesday, but earlier in the week, the Republican had blasted the prosecutors as 'rude, nasty, and totally biased' and said his company's actions were 'standard practice throughout the U.S. business community, and in no way a crime.'   

Just how essential Weisselberg would be to prosecutors is a matter of debate – with high-stakes relevancy Trump.

On Tuesday, top House Democratic impeachment lawyer Daniel Goldman tweeted that Weisselberg's cooperation is vital to whether prosecutors are able to go after Trump himself.

'As I've been saying for a while, if Allen Weisselberg does not cooperate with the Manhattan DA's office — and all indications are that he has not and will not — that office will not be able to criminally charge Donald Trump for any of the conduct under investigation,' Goldman wrote.

That drew a retort from longtime Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who has met numerous times with prosecutors in New York amid the probe. 

'Wrong! They have documents to prove more than you know or should be commenting on. Weisselberg is not the key to a Trump indictment,' Cohen responded. 

Another former federal prosecutor in New York, Daniel Alonson, later tweeted his own view that that potential charges being publicly discussed might not be enough to ensure Weisselberg's cooperation.

Cohen also reacted Wednesday to the news of a looming potential indictment,  calling it a 'Bad day for Trump Organization' but a 'good day for The United States of America!'

'Evading taxes on fringe benefits is important to prosecute - but by itself isn't the type of earth-shaking charge that typically leads defendants to cooperate,' he wrote.'

Trump's former spokesman Jason Miller took to Twitter to ridicule the way the investigation had fallen far short of its intended target.

'This is politically terrible for the Democrats,' he wrote.

'They told their crazies and their supplicants in the mainstream media this was about President Trump. Instead, their Witch Hunt is persecuting an innocent 80 year-old man for maybe taking free parking!'

Trump's lawyers have shrugged off the threat, saying it would be highly unusual for the district attorney to target a company over employee compensation or fringe benefits.

They met with prosecutors on Monday in a final push to persuade prosecutors not to bring charges. 

But reports suggest prosecutors have spent months building a case against Weisselberg, a senior executive, in the hope that he might flip, and offer evidence against his boss.  

Photographs on Tuesday captured a man in a suit carrying a cardboard banker's box with '45 Office' written on the outside. That is the same phrase the former president attaches to his post-presidential statements from his taxpayer-funded post-presidential office. Perched atop the case was a tan briefcase with a combo lock.  

Trump himself was spotted exiting his Fifth Avenue building in the afternoon, departing after longtime aide Dan Scavino, who helps organize Trump's social media strategy and served as his golf caddie decades ago.  

Trump's attorney Fischetti says he doesn't expect charges to be brought against the former president after meeting New York prosecutors on Monday.  

Weisselberg helped run the company when Donald Trump took the White House. 

He has been identified as one of the principal figures with legal exposure after prosecutors combed through company finances and picked through unusual pay and benefit packages including up to $500,000 in prep school tuition for his grandchildren. 

His former daughter-in-law, Jennifer Weisselberg, told CNN Monday night she is willing to testify to a federal grand jury

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