DA Alvin Bragg delivers Donald Trump a gift by going easy on Trump's criminal CFO, Allen Weisselberg
by Glenn Kirschner
Aug 19, 2022
First, the career prosecutors - Pomerantz and Dunne - who concluded there was enough evidence to charge and convict Donald Trump of multiple felon offenses resigned because New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg killed the criminal investigation into Donald Trump. Now, DA Bragg gives Trump's long-time Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg a sweetheart plea deal for the ages. Weisselberg pleaded guilty to 15 felonies but was gifted a sentence that likely will result in only 100 days in jail (assuming he earns good-time credit). Moreover, although Weisselberg said he would testify against the Trump organization, he told Bragg that he would not cooperate with the investigation into Donald Trump's crimes, nor would he testify against Trump. The plea deal Bragg gave Weisselberg is a travesty and a miscarriage of justice.
This video discusses how competent prosecutors deal with career criminals like Weisselberg when they are trying to develop them as a cooperating witnesses.
Transcript
0:00
injustice in a manhattan courtroom.
0:04
let's talk about the obscene sweetheart
0:06
deal new york district attorney alvin
0:09
bragg gave trump's corrupt chief
0:13
financial officer, alan weisselberg.
0:16
this one's offensive.
0:19
because
0:20
justice
0:22
matters.
0:30
[Music]
0:38
hey all, glenn kirschner here.
0:40
so friends, this is not going to be an
0:43
upbeat video,
0:45
because
0:46
yesterday was not a good day for justice
0:49
in a courtroom in manhattan.
0:52
district attorney alvin bragg delivered
0:55
an absolute gift to donald trump.
1:00
here is the reporting from the new york
1:02
times.
1:04
headline: "alan weisselberg, a top trump
1:07
executive, pleads guilty in tax scheme.
1:11
one of donald j trump's most trusted
1:13
executives pleaded guilty on thursday to
1:16
conspiring with mr trump's company to
1:19
carry out a long-running tax scheme,
1:22
an admission that painted a damning
1:25
picture of the former president's family
1:27
business, but
1:29
did not advance
1:31
a broader investigation into the former
1:34
president himself.
1:37
and alan weisselberg pleaded guilty to
1:40
15 felony crimes, so you would expect
1:44
he's going to prison for a very long
1:46
time.
1:48
get this:
1:50
under the terms of the plea deal, if mr
1:52
weisselberg testifies truthfully at the
1:55
upcoming trial -- that's against the trump
1:57
organization not, against donald trump --
2:01
he will receive a five-month sentence,
2:04
and likely serve as little as 100 days,
2:08
with time credited for good behavior.
2:11
mr weisselberg, who was facing up to 15
2:13
years in prison,
2:15
must also pay nearly 2 million dollars
2:17
in taxes, penalties, and interest.
2:21
this plea does not require mr
2:24
weisselberg to cooperate with the
2:26
district attorney's broader criminal
2:28
investigation of mr trump, and his
2:31
admissions will not implicate the former
2:35
president.
2:36
in refusing to cooperate against mr
2:38
trump, mr weisselberg fended off intense
2:42
pressure from the prosecutors."
2:45
boy, you know, it's a good thing alan
2:48
weiselberg didn't snatch a purse,
2:52
sell a 20 rock of crack cocaine, or
2:56
sell some loose cigarettes, because then
2:58
maybe he would have really been in tr ...
3:00
well, no, probably not. because alan
3:03
weiselberg is a rich, influential,
3:06
connected white male.
3:10
so he gets to set his own terms of the
3:12
deal with prosecutors,
3:15
even though he was involved in a 15-year
3:18
long criminal scheme to defraud
3:21
the taxpayers of the city of new york, of
3:23
the state of new york, and federal
3:24
taxpayers, though he hasn't been charged,
3:27
for some reason, with his federal tax
3:30
crimes.
3:34
let me talk for a few minutes, friends,
3:36
about
3:37
how we take defendants,
3:39
like alan weiselberg,
3:41
people who can
3:43
absolutely give us bigger criminal fish,
3:46
and try to convert them into cooperating
3:49
witnesses.
3:51
now,
3:52
in my many years in the homicide
3:54
practice at the u.s attorney's office in
3:56
d.c.,
3:58
I worked with and developed lots and lots
4:00
of cooperating witnesses. one of my
4:03
colleagues, one of my former assistant
4:05
u.s attorneys in the homicide section,
4:07
used to call me "the king of the
4:08
cooperators", and that was not a
4:11
compliment.
4:12
you know, defendants who have chosen a
4:15
life of crime, career criminals, can be
4:17
very, very challenging to work with, when
4:21
you're trying to convert them from
4:22
defendant
4:24
to cooperating witness.
4:26
why? because you have to take somebody
4:28
who has lived a life of crime,
4:30
convince them
4:32
to tell the complete truth about all of
4:35
their crimes,
4:37
and all of their friends crimes, and all
4:39
of their family members crimes, if their
4:42
family members were involved in their
4:44
criminal activities,
4:46
and then you could start to talk to them
4:48
about the crimes of the bigger criminal
4:51
fish, and work your way up that criminal
4:54
food chain.
4:56
and people who have chosen a life of
4:57
crime -- and make no mistake about it,
4:59
alan weisselberg chose a life of
5:01
crime -- white collar crime, though it may
5:03
have been -- it's very challenging to get
5:06
them to
5:08
become effective cooperators, to tell the
5:10
complete truth about their own crimes,
5:13
and then the crimes of others. but it can
5:16
be done,
5:17
and prosecutors do it every day. but
5:19
there's a formula.
5:21
there's a tried and true approach to how
5:23
you deal with a defendant that you're
5:25
trying to flip,
5:27
and convert to become a really quality
5:30
cooperating witness. here's what you do.
5:33
you take a guy like alan weisselberg and
5:35
you say, "look,
5:37
you are caught dead to rights in a
5:39
15-year criminal scheme to defraud in
5:41
the first degree. 15 felony counts you're
5:44
indicted on.
5:46
so you really only have two options, mr
5:48
weisselberg: one,
5:50
tell me the truth about everything you
5:51
did, everything your family did, and
5:53
everything donald trump did,
5:56
or
5:57
spend the rest of your life in prison
6:00
as a result of,
6:02
you know going to trial and being
6:03
convicted on all 15 counts. those are
6:05
your only two choices.
6:08
that's the way it works."
6:10
and if an allen weisselberg says, "i'm not
6:12
going to testify. i'm not going to
6:14
cooperate against donald trump. i'm not going
6:16
to tell you everything. but i will demand
6:20
a plea deal that would land me in jail
6:22
for only a hundred days, even though i'm
6:24
facing life, given my age."
6:28
prosecutors are supposed to say,
6:31
"no, i'll see you at trial."
6:35
but alvin bragg
6:38
blinked,
6:40
and decided he would let alan weiselberg
6:43
set the terms, and those terms included
6:47
only a hundred days
6:49
in jail, if he gets good time credit,
6:52
and he doesn't have to cooperate,
6:54
and
6:55
you know assist the prosecutors in
6:58
holding donald trump accountable for his
6:59
crimes?
7:01
that is
7:03
a deal that i have never seen the likes
7:05
of
7:06
in my 30 years as a prosecutor.
7:10
what motivated bragg to do that i have
7:12
no idea, but what i can tell you friends,
7:16
is it's an absolute
7:18
gift
7:19
to donald trump.
7:21
now i have heard some say,
7:23
"oh well, wait a minute, wait a minute,
7:25
alvin bragg has this very stealth-like,
7:29
double secret probation plan that will
7:33
end up, you know, using weisselberg -- even
7:36
though this deal looks really bad --
7:38
using weisselberg somehow against trump,"
7:42
to which i say that rings hollow. you
7:45
know why?
7:47
if alvin bragg had a stealth double
7:50
secret probation approach in what seems
7:53
to be a horrific plea deal,
7:57
then
7:58
would the top prosecutors, pomerantz and
8:01
dunn,
8:03
have resigned in protest,
8:05
with pomerantz in his resignation letter
8:08
essentially saying,
8:10
"we had enough evidence to indict and
8:12
convict donald trump on multiple
8:15
felonies,
8:17
but alvin bragg killed the case against
8:20
trump.
8:20
we resign."
8:23
no, it doesn't make sense that all of
8:26
this is part part of some
8:28
grander plan that nobody can really see,
8:32
where, you know, alvin bragg is the
8:34
prosecutorial mastermind. nonsense.
8:38
this was a sweetheart deal to alan
8:41
weiselberg
8:42
that is a gift to trump, for reasons that
8:45
i can't explain,
8:47
but i sure hope somebody investigates
8:51,
goes behind it, and finds out what the
8:54
heck is going on in the manhattan
8:57
district attorney's office.
9:00
now there are other topics we could talk
9:02
about, why this is such a horrific plea
9:04
deal,
9:05
and let me just touch on them for a
9:07
minute or two.
9:10
allen weisselberg said, "okay, i'll testify
9:12
against the trump organization, but i
9:14
won't testify or cooperate against
9:16
donald trump himself, to hold him
9:18
accountable for his crimes. well,
9:19
weisselberg is the trump organization, as
9:22
is donald trump, and his family members,
9:24
and weisselberg, the chief financial
9:26
officer, has already pleaded guilty to 15
9:29
felonies, corruptly
9:31
running the financial end of the trump
9:33
organization. so his offer to plead
9:36
against the trump organization, which is
9:38
pending trial,
9:40
it is indicted, the organization, and has
9:43
a trial date coming up in the fall, -- let
9:45
me predict, there won't be a trial.
9:47
they'll somehow settle their way out of
9:49
it --
9:51
but his agreement to
9:53
to testify against the trump
9:54
organization is not all that
9:56
earth-shattering.
9:58
but if he does have to testify as a
10:01
cooperating witness ,his testimony is
10:03
going to be,
10:06
is going to be
10:07
damaged
10:09
by this plea deal.
10:10
because
10:12
the defense attorneys for the trump
10:15
organization will be able to
10:16
cross-examine him on, "well, mr weisselberg,
10:18
wait a minute, wait a minute, you pleaded
10:19
guilty to 15 felonies. you should, by all
10:22
rights, have a sentence that results in
10:25
you being imprisoned for the rest of
10:26
your life, but the prosecutors gave you a
10:29
sentence that could result in just 100
10:30
days,
10:31
with good time, and the prosecutor said
10:34
you don't even have to testify against
10:36
the big fish, 'you don't have to cooperate
10:38
with us,
10:39
you, mr weisselberg, can just set your own
10:41
terms. whatever you want.'
10:43
mr weiselberg ,you're going to say
10:45
anything those prosecutors want you to
10:47
say when you're up on that witness stand,
10:49
because the last thing you want to do is
10:50
jeopardize
10:52
that hundred-day deal,
10:54
that also says you don't have to
10:56
cooperate against donald trump."
10:58
and the prosecutors will come back with,
11:00
"no, no, we told you you have to tell the
11:02
truth." and i've done this a thousand
11:04
times myself. and we mean it. but that
11:07
doesn't mean the jury has to buy it.
11:10
i mean, weisselberg got such a sweetheart
11:11
deal, that any defense attorney worth his
11:14
or her salt, will cross-examine him on
11:17
how "the fact that you got that
11:19
sweetheart deal means you're going to
11:20
say anything the prosecutors want you to
11:23
say, because you don't want to lose that
11:24
deal, because let's face it, if you told
11:26
the prosecutors that your truthful
11:28
testimony would clear the trump
11:30
organization, they probably wouldn't give
11:32
you that sweetheart deal.
11:35
you knew what they wanted you to say." i'm
11:37
just spinning out the typical defense
11:39
cross examination.
11:41
the point is,
11:42
his promise to testify
11:45
against the trump organization --
11:47
just who weisselberg wants to
11:49
testify against, and nobody else --
11:52
really damages his credibility as a
11:54
trial witness. the other thing people say
11:56
is, "well, he's pleaded guilty to all these
11:59
crimes, so that means he can no longer
12:00
plead the fifth."
12:02
right? because when you plead guilty, that
12:04
extinguishes
12:06
your fifth amendment right against
12:07
self-incrimination, because your
12:09
statements can't be held against you.
12:11
you've already been convicted .you've
12:13
pleaded guilty, and you don't still
12:15
have a privilege against
12:17
self-incrimination, because your
12:18
testimony can't incriminate you, because
12:20
those charges are done.
12:22
here's the thing: as an academic exercise,
12:25
that's true. that's accurate.
12:27
but the reality is,
12:31
once he pleads guilty, and his fifth
12:33
amendment rights regarding those crimes
12:35
are over, done with, extinguished,
12:39
you can compel him to testify. you can
12:42
force him to go into a grand jury, or
12:44
take the stand at trial, and testify, and
12:46
he can't plead the fifth, but you can't
12:49
compel him to tell the truth.
12:52
he could still go into a grand jury, or
12:54
take the stand at trial, and lie to
12:56
protect donald trump. he's been doing a
12:58
pretty darn good job of protecting
13:01
donald trump. and alvin bragg has let him
13:04
get away with it.
13:06
so, as an academic discussion it's great
13:10
that he can't plead the fifth, but you
13:12
can't compel him to tell the truth
13:14
about the crimes of donald trump. and
13:16
look, he's already gotten away with 15
13:18
felonies: 100 days for 15 felonies -- that's
13:22
laughable. do you really think he would
13:24
care about a perjury charge
13:26
if he lied about donald trump, even
13:28
though he was compelled to testify, and
13:31
couldn't plead the fifth? i don't think
13:32
he would bat an eye at a perjury charge,
13:35
after he just got away,
13:37
in a very real sense, with going
13:39
unpunished, largely unpunished, for 15
13:42
felonies.
13:43
a 15-year criminal scheme to defraud the
13:47
taxpayers of new york city, new york
13:49
state, and though, he hasn't been charged
13:51
federally,
13:52
the u.s taxpayers.
13:56
now, please don't misunderstand me, 100
13:58
days in jail, in prison and detention of
14:01
any kind, is horrific.
14:03
i don't care if you're 75 years old, i
14:05
don't care if you're 18 years old, it's
14:06
horrific.
14:08
but,
14:09
it is still a sweetheart deal
14:12
by which
14:13
alan weisselberg was allowed to set the
14:16
terms.
14:17
and
14:18
alvin bragg
14:21
caved,
14:22
willingly gave him that sweetheart deal?
14:24
i don't know what's behind
14:26
it, but i sure as as heck hope we
14:28
find out.
14:31
and let me finish with a public service
14:32
announcement, friends, and that public
14:34
service announcement is
14:37
that
14:38
donald trump
14:40
launched an armed attack on the u.s
14:42
capitol to stop
14:44
the peaceful transfer of presidential
14:47
power,
14:48
just in case we have
14:51
forgotten about that,
14:53
lost sight of that, when we're dealing
14:56
with injustice in a manhattan courtroom,
14:59
and we're dealing with
15:00
another investigation into donald trump
15:02
stealing classified information from the
15:05
federal government, and concealing it at
15:07
his florida home, because there's a lot
15:09
going on right now, but
15:11
i bring you that public service
15:12
announcement just to stay
15:15
focused,
15:16
um, on the fact that donald trump tried
15:19
to
15:20
steal the presidency,
15:22
and try to overthrow our democracy.
15:25
yeah, that's still in play.
15:27
and he still needs to be held
15:28
accountable for that.
15:32
because justice
15:34
matters.
15:37
hopefully tomorrow will be a better day
15:39
friends on the justice front. please stay
15:41
safe, please stay tuned,
15:43
and i look forward to talking with you
15:44
all again
15:45
tomorrow.
15:48
[Music]
For our Team Justice and Justice Matters merchandise shop, please visit:
shop.spreadshirt.com/glennkirschner
Please consider becoming a #TeamJustice patron at: https://www.patreon.com/glennkirschner
My podcast, "Justice Matters with Glenn Kirschner" can be downloaded where you get your podcasts. To subscribe to the podcast:
https://link.chtbl.com/JusticeMatters
Follow me on:
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/glennkirschner2
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glennkirschner2
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glennkirsch...