'Allen Weisselberg lied in sworn testimony': Reporter targeted by Trump drops bombshell

A reporter Donald Trump attacked this week as a "psycho" is making a bold allegation against his longtime money man.

Forbes senior editor Dan Alexander, who has extensively covered Trump's business career for years, published a new piece Thursday accusing the former president's accountant of lying under oath during the New York fraud trial.

"Allen Weisselberg, the longtime chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, lied in sworn testimony on Tuesday when questioned about Donald Trump’s penthouse atop Trump Tower," Alexander wrote.

Weisselberg repeatedly insisted that he never focused on Trump's penthouse apartment in his eponymous high rise, which the state attorney general alleges had been listed at 30,000 square feet on financial documents when it instead was just 10,996 square feet, testifying over and over that his employer's private residence was never a particular concern of his when calculating his net worth.

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"But that’s not true," Alexander wrote. "A review of old emails and notes, some of which the attorney general’s office does not possess, show that Weisselberg absolutely thought about Trump’s apartment — and played a key role in trying to convince Forbes over the course of several years that it was worth more than it really was. Given the fact that these discussions continued for years, and that Weisselberg took a very detailed approach in reviewing Trump’s assets with Forbes, it defies all logic to think he truly believes what he is now saying in court."

A Forbes reporter met with Weisselberg and Trump in 2009 to discuss his wealth, and the reporter's notes from that meeting indicate both men were fine with Trump's personal residence being left out of the valuation – but another reporter wrote in 2012 that Weisselberg demanded to know why the penthouse he had valued at $88 million had been excluded while the publication counted large private estates for other billionaires.

"Weisselberg had a point," Alexander wrote. "The penthouse wasn’t worth $88 million, but it was worth something. The reporter added it to the calculation with an estimated $64 million valuation."

But Weisselburg kept pushing in subsequent years, insisting it was worth $200 million and debt-free the following year, and the reporter agreed to value the penthouse at $90 million after the chief financial officer persuaded him it was 30,000 square feet, and additional emails and contemporaneous notes show he pushed yearly to inflate the value of that apartment with reporters.

"The next year, Forbes uncovered property records that showed that the penthouse was only 10,996 square feet, not 30,000 square feet or 33,000 square feet," Alexander wrote. "Reporters reached out to Weisselberg and others at the Trump Organization to ask about the discrepancy, emails that are now being used as evidence in the case."