And it’s probably going to cost him
Trump’s former CFO, Allen Weisselberg, has been caught committing perjury in the earlier Trump Organization trial and is negotiating a plea deal with Manhattan prosecutors. The Judge in Trump’s fraud trial wants to know the details because Weisselberg was a major witness on the same topic in the civil fraud trial over which he presides. He does not seem happy:
In an email on Monday sent to attorneys for Trump, Weisselberg, the Trump Organization, as well as counsel for New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office, New York Justice Arthur Engoron explained he wanted answers before issuing his verdict.
“As the presiding magistrate, the trier of fact, and the judge of credibility, I of course want to know whether Mr. Weisselberg is now changing his tune, and whether he is admitting he lied under oath in my courtroom at this trial,” Engoron wrote.
“I do not want to ignore anything in a case of this magnitude,” Engoron added.
Engoron has asked the legal teams to respond by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Ultimately, Engoron noted, he might use the news as reason to invoke “falsus in uno”—which would discount the credibility of Weiselberg’s entire testimony.
“If you’re going to issue a ruling and if it turns out Weisselberg lied, that’s going to harm the Trump Organization when it comes time for the verdict,” former federal prosecutor Elie Honig told CNN on Thursday.
Oops.
Weisselberg isn’t going to “flip” by any meaningful definition of the term. He’s been paid millions by Trump to keep his mouth shut and he already did several months in jail for lying about his perks. But the