MSNBC legal analyst Cynthia Alksne said Monday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg had legal troubles in the case brought by Manhattan prosecutors because he was facing fellow Manhattan residents who pay taxes as a jury instead of Donald Trump’s supporters.
Alksne said, “This is a fraud case. There’s been a lot of Trump family, almost trial balloons on what the defense might be, sort after who cares defense. I think they will find people do care. People do care when you keep a second set of books. People do care when you refuse to pay your city taxes. People do care when you basically get cash under the table and don’t report it. He was getting that $30,000 a year in basically a bundle of cash. People do care.”
She added, “Beyond that, it highlights this defense that they are trying to pull. Who cares? People do care. The jury will hate him. Remember, he’s not going to have a jury of people who go to MAGA rallies. He will have a cross-section of people who live in Manhattan, who do pay Manhattan taxes, who don’t get free Mercedes, who don’t have somebody else pay for their children’s education and not have tax ramifications for that. I think he will be a very hated defendant, Mr. Weisselberg. I’m sure his defense attorneys have told him so.”
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