July 1, 2021

Willie Geist spoke with Washington Post reporter David Farenthold this morning about the pending charges against the Trump Organization.

"The district attorney and New York attorney general have obtained indictments against Allen Weisselberg. The specific charges will not be known until about 2:00 this afternoon, when the indictments are expected to be unsealed," Geist said.

"People say they're related to unpaid taxes. And potentially the Trump Organization as well. The Trump Organization will be also represented in court by one of its attorneys. The company has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and attorneys from both defendants declined comment yesterday. "

He asked Farenthold what he expects to see today.

"Well, I think we're finally going to get some sense about what prosecutors have, we've been hearing about the elephant for months and we haven't seen it. So we're going to see it, especially Allen Weisselberg who have heard that the charges relate to unpaid taxes, as you said, for benefits for a Trump executive, and is it for one apartment, one car or a pattern over many years?" Farenthold said.

"I think when we see that we'll start to understand the legal pressure on Weisselberg, which is really to understand the legal pressure on Trump. But Weisselberg flipping to reduce his own liability is one of the things that could happen."

"Obviously, you're saying this cannot happen in a vacuum. This could be the tip of the iceberg for the Trump Organization. What happens from here? Do you expect that Weisselberg will flip, leading to potentially charges on the former president?" Geist asked.

"Well, it's hard to know until we see how much jail time if any Weisselberg is facing. You remember Michael Cohen, there was a time when he was saying, I'll never turn on Donald Trump. Then he sees ten years in a federal case and that changed his mind and he became a witness against him. Until we see what Weisselberg is facing, it's hard to show the next course. I do think, I hope we'll see the district attorney or attorney general come out and say how they see these indictments. Do they view this as kind of the end, or is this just the beginning?"

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